Moral Reasoning Taps Is a Movie About

Moral Reasoning

Taps is a movie about a private military high school, where the school is facing closure. To prevent this the adolescents attending the campus take over the school; in terms of adolescent moral reasoning, the boys involved impulsively react instead of thinking things through. They arm themselves, feeling like they are taking initiative and working together as a team to accomplish a common goal. They react just as they are taught, to be a team and to foster group dependence and unity.

The conflict involves actor Timothy Hutton, a sort of commandant of the cadets, who wanted to barricade the school long enough to talk to their leader to stop them from closing to school. He wanted to wait until his leader could tell them or order them to stand down. Tom Cruises character was an aggressor, and opened fire on the national guard and ended up being shot. The bulk of the film focuses on the premise of the main cadets arguing about the proper course of action. One wanted to keep the situation as is an not do anything rash; One wanted to take aggressive action, was impetuous and impulsive. This is natural adolescent moral reasoning. Yet a third main character wanted to wait and see like the initial leader, and Tom Cruise was attempting to sway him to his side.

For many years researchers have been examining how gender influences moral reasoning. Studies suggest that girls may have reacted differently to the above situation than the boys did (Diver-Stamnes & Thomas, 1993). In a study conducted of males and females, females more often advocated caring and compassionate responses in cases where wrongdoing was evidenced, whereas the male participants were more likely to advocate an "eye for an eye" type thinking (Diver-Stamnes & Thomas, 1993).

Research conducted in the area of moral reasoning among adolescents shows that generally adolescents "formulate dilemmas" of their own that are very different in some circumstances from reality or the situation at hand (Binfet, 1995; from Pehkonen & Tirri, 2002). Frequently adolescents focus on themes related to interpersonal relations (Pehkonen & Tirri, 2002), as evidenced by the movie Taps where the youths involved are struggling to form interpersonal relationships and act on a united front. Other dilemma themes common to adolescents include issues of ownership and public welfare (Pehkonen & Tirri, 2002). Adolescent girls are more likely to demonstrate "emotional and spiritual sensitivity" in their reflection of moral dilemmas, and more able to use "elegant mathematical reasoning" than boys are (Pehkonen & Tirri, 2002). Adolescent boys are more likely to reflect on their own expertise and experience as a basis for argumentation; girls are also more likely to consider moral dilemmas with a greater deal of empathy and "role-taking ability" than boys the same age level (Pehkonen & Tirri, 2002).

In the situation of TAPS, if girls had been involved, there would have been more likely to based their moral sensitivity and decisions not only upon their interpersonal needs and experiences, but also back their decisions by more rational though processes. It is likely that a group of girls would have likely involved more critical thinking, logic and sensitivity. It is likely that more options for escape or negotiation would have been uncovered if girls were working together, as they would have reacted less on instinct or based on their experiences with their leader or situation. They might have acted as a calming force for the boys and prevented the violence that occurred.

Studies have also shown that girl adolescents are traditionally raised with a sense of comfort expressing their needs for close contact relations whereas boys typically are encouraged to achieve separation which may affect their moral reasoning (Marcia & Skoe, 1994). Women traditionally assume a pattern of "prosocial" behavior that promotes negotiation (Marcia & Skoe, 1994). If all girls were present in TAPS, it is likely that they would have come to a mutually acceptable situation that took into account a better outcome for both the guardsmen and themselves.