Peace Education in the K-12 Curriculum Considering the Moral Theory of Kohlberg

K- 12 curriculum tends to have graduates that are holistically trained and developed. In this sense, they advocate peace education as an aspect of their curriculum. Peace education is the study of both the causes and consequences of war and peace; transmission of knowledge about and skills to achieve and maintain peace, and the obstacles that stand in the way (Hirao, 1987; Reardon,1988). Peace education tackles about the whole process and aspects of attaining peace from conflicts. In Kohlberg’s individual moral developmental stages (1976), stage one is identification of bad acts and those are against the law, as prohibited by external punishments. To teach this to students is to be interactive with the use of dialogue. A teacher may use the Socratic Method or the question and answer method. It can also be imparted through watching film strips and videos. Stage two is the establishment of right and wrong. It can be taught same as in stage one. You can also do role playing in this. Stage three is the good girl/good boy stage when they reflect concerns for the opinions of others. This will take discussions about given scenarios. Stage four is concern for social order. Laws are seen as agreed upon duties that should be followed for the social good. In this stage, deliberations and critical learning will take place as laws are present. Stage five recognizes differing but equal moral values, holding certain principles as non relative in the interest of fulfilling a kind of social good. This will also take deliberations and critical learning and observation. Also, teaching this age peace education will take gamut of understanding other cultures thus learning other cultures’ norms and beliefs is essential. Stage six embraces a set of universal and self chosen ethics. The law is based on such ethics and should therefore be followed. Teach children to be a law abiding citizen. All the said approaches in teaching peace education can be appropriately applied in this stage especially the discussions, film viewing and cultural exposures such as fieldtrips and cultural exhibits. This is all for the critical learning of the students so they know what is all about peace and conflict; that they will choose peace over conflicts.