Download Evaluating another International Baccalaureate Learner Profile: This

Evaluating another
1. International Baccalaureate Learner Profile: This 10-trait chart expresses the goals of
IB schools for their students. There are more than 755,000 IB students at 3,371 schools in
141 countries. So clearly, there are a lot of people who value the Learner Profile.
2. The Five Pillars of Islam: These expectations show Muslims how to live life properly,
according to that faith. There are more than 1.3 billion Muslims in the world. So clearly,
there are a lot of people who value the Five Pillars of Islam.
3. Stages of Development: This six-stage progression discusses how humans’ morality and
decision-making matures over time. A recent study of psychologists revealed that experts
consider Lawrence Kohlberg the 30th-most important psychologist in human history. So
clearly, there are a lot of people who value his Stages of Development.
4. The 10 Commandments: These expectations show Christians and Jews how to live life
properly, according to those faiths. There are more than 2.1 billion Christians in the world
and over 14 million Jewish people. So clearly, there are a lot of people who value the 10
Commandments.
5. The Eightfold Path: This process shows Buddhists how to attain a perfect balance and
harmony with the universe. There are more than 360 million Buddhists in the world. So
clearly, there are a lot of people who value The Eightfold Path.
Your job is to use these codes of conduct and measurement within cultures to evaluate an
individual. Be honest. Be specific. And support your ideas with evidence.
IB LEARNER PROFILE
Use the 10 elements of the IB learner profile below to judge what kind of IB student the
individual would be. Rank the individual’s abilities in those 10 elements, with 10 being the one
he’d be best at and one being the one he’d be worst at. For each of the 10 elements, use specific
examples to support your choices.
The aim of all IB programmes is to develop internationally minded people who, recognizing their
common humanity and shared guardianship of the planet, help to create a better and more
peaceful world. IB learners strive to be:
They develop their natural curiosity, acquire the skills necessary to conduct
inquiry and research and show independence in learning, and actively enjoy
learning and this love of learning will be sustained throughout their lives.
They explore concepts, ideas and issues that have local and global
Knowledgeable significance. In so doing, they acquire in-depth knowledge and develop
understanding across a broad and balanced range of disciplines.
They exercise initiative in applying thinking skills critically and creatively to
recognize and approach complex problems, and make reasoned, ethical
Thinkers
decisions.
They understand and express ideas and information confidently and
creatively in more than one language and in a variety of modes of
Communicators
communication. They work effectively and willingly in collaboration with
others.
They act with integrity and honesty, with a strong sense of fairness, justice
and respect for the dignity of the individual, groups and communities. They
Principled
take responsibility for their own actions and the consequences that
accompany them.
They understand and appreciate their own cultures and personal histories, and
are open to the perspectives, values and traditions of other individuals and
Open-minded
communities. They are accustomed to seeking and evaluating a range of
points of view, and are willing to grow from the experience.
They show empathy, compassion and respect towards the needs and feelings
of others. They have a personal commitment to service, and act to make a
Caring
positive difference to the lives of others and to the environment.
They approach unfamiliar situations and uncertainty with courage and
forethought, and have the independence of spirit to explore new roles, ideas
Risk-takers
and strategies. They are brave and articulate in defending their beliefs.
They understand the importance of intellectual, physical and emotional
Balanced
balance to achieve personal well-being for themselves and others.
They give thoughtful consideration to their own learning and experience.
They are able to assess and understand their strengths and limitations in order
Reflective
to support their learning and personal development.
Inquirers
LPTs
Inquirers
Knowledgeable
Thinkers
Communicators
Principled
Open-minded
Caring
Please
rank on a
scale of 110 with 10
being a
distinct
strength
and 1
being a
distrinct
weakness
Evidence to support your ranking
Risk-takers
Balanced
Reflective
Choose two LPTs represent opportunities for growth for this individual. Which are they?
How could this individual pursue growth in those areas?
1.
2.
Five Pillars of Islam
1. Shahadah is a statement professing monotheism and accepting Mohammad as Allah's
messenger. The shahadah is a set statement normally recited in Arabic, translated as: "[I profess
that] There is no God but Allah, and Mohammad is the Prophet of Allah." How well would this
individual fare with the expectation of this Pillar? Use specific examples to support your
response.
2. Salat is the requirement to pray five times a day at fixed times during the day. The times of
day to pray are at dawn, noon, mid-afternoon, sunset, and night. Each salat is performed facing
towards Mecca. Salat is intended to focus the mind on Allah; it is seen as a personal
communication with Allah, expressing gratitude and worship. According to the Qur'an, the
benefit of prayer “restrains [one] from shameful and evil deeds”. The prayers are essentially
expressions of adoration of God, but the worshipper may add his own personal request. The most
commonly repeated prayer is the short first Sura, or Section of the Qu'ran, beginning, 'Praise be
to Allah, Lord of Creation, the compassionate, the merciful'. How well would this individual
fare with the expectation of this Pillar? Use specific examples to support your response.
3. Zakat or alms-giving is the practice of charitable giving by Muslims based on accumulated
wealth, and is obligatory for all who are able to do so. It is considered to be a personal
responsibility for Muslims to ease economic hardship for others and eliminate inequality. Zakat
consists of spending 2.5% of one's wealth for the benefit of the poor or needy, including slaves,
debtors and travelers. A Muslim may also donate more as an act of voluntary charity, in order to
achieve additional divine reward. There are four principles that should be followed when giving
the Zakat:
1. The giver must declare to Allah his intention to give the Zakat.
2. The Zakat must be paid on the day that it is due. If one fails to pay the Zakat, people
think he is refusing to fulfill God's wishes.
3. Payment must be in kind. This means if one has a lot of money then he needs to pay 2.5%
of his income. If he does not have much money, he needs to pay in a different way. For
example, if he has a lot of cattle, then he pays in cattle instead of money.
4. The Zakat must be distributed in the community from which it was taken.
How well would this individual fare with the expectation of this Pillar? Use specific examples
to support your response.
4.
Ritual fasting is an obligatory act during the month of Ramadan. Muslims must abstain
from food and drink from dawn to dusk during this month, and are to be especially mindful of
sins. The fast is meant to allow Muslims to seek nearness to Allah, to express their gratitude to
and dependence on him, to atone for their past sins, and to remind them of the needy. During
Ramadan, Muslims are also expected to put more effort into following the teachings of Islam by
refraining from violence, anger, envy, greed, lust, harsh language, gossip and to try to get along
with people better than normal. In addition, all obscene and irreligious sights and sounds are to
be avoided. Fasting during Ramadan is obligatory, but is forbidden for several groups for whom
it would be very dangerous and excessively problematic. These include pre-pubescent children,
those with a medical condition such as diabetes, elderly people, and pregnant or women. Other
individuals for whom it is considered acceptable not to fast are those who are ill or traveling.
Missing fasts usually must be made up soon afterward. How well would this individual fare
with the expectation of this Pillar? Use specific examples to support your response.
5.
The Hajj is a pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca. Every able-bodied Muslim is obliged
to make the pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in their lifetime if he or she can afford it. The Hajj
is mandatory for both males and females. The main rituals of the Hajj include walking seven
times around the Kaaba, touching the Black Stone, travelling seven times between Mount Safa
and Mount Marwah, and symbolically stoning the Devil in Mina. The pilgrim, or the haji, is
honored in their community. For some, this is an incentive to perform the Hajj. Islamic teachers
say that the Hajj should be an expression of devotion to Allah, not a means to gain social
standing. The believer should be self-aware and examine their intentions in performing the
pilgrimage. This should lead to constant striving for self-improvement.
How well would this individual fare with the expectation of this Pillar? Use specific examples
to support your response.
Stages of Moral Development
Lawrence Kohlberg was an American psychologist, who specialized in research on moral education and
reasoning. He is best known for his theory of stages of moral development. His six stages can be grouped
into three levels of two stages each: pre-conventional, conventional and post-conventional. It is extremely
rare to regress backward in stages—to lose the use of higher stage abilities. Stages cannot be skipped;
each provides a new and necessary perspective, more comprehensive than its predecessors. Like Bloom’s
Taxonomy, these stages are a ladder.
Pre-conventional: This level of moral reasoning is especially common in children, although adults can
also exhibit this level of reasoning. Reasoners at this level judge the morality of an action by its direct
consequences. The pre-conventional level consists of the first and second stages of moral development,
and is solely concerned with the self. Someone with preconventional morality has not yet adopted
society's rules regarding what is right or wrong, but instead focuses largely on external consequences that
certain actions may bring.
Stage one (obedience and punishment driven), individuals focus on the direct consequences of their
actions on themselves. For example, an action is perceived as morally wrong because the doer is
punished. "The last time I did that, I got spanked. So, I will not do it again." The worse the punishment
for the act is, the more "bad" the act is perceived to be. It lacks recognition that others' points of view are
different from one's own. Has the individual accomplished this Stage of Moral Development? Use
specific examples to support your response.
Stage two (self-interest) espouses the "what's in it for me" position, in which right behavior is defined by
whatever is in the individual's best interest. This reasoning shows a limited interest in the needs of others,
but only to a point where it might further the individual's own interests. As a result, concern for others is
not based on loyalty or respect, but rather a "you scratch my back, and I'll scratch yours" mentality. Has
the individual accomplished this Stage of Moral Development? Use specific examples to support
your response.
Conventional: This level of moral reasoning is typical of adolescents and adults. Those who reason in a
conventional way judge the morality of actions by comparing them to society's views and expectations.
Conventional morality is characterized by an acceptance of society's conventions concerning right and
wrong. At this level, an individual obeys rules and follows society's norms even when there are no
consequences for obedience or disobedience. Adherence to rules is somewhat rigid, and a rule's
appropriateness or fairness is seldom questioned.
In Stage three (conformity driven), the self enters society by fulfilling social roles. Individuals are
receptive to approval or disapproval from others as it reflects society's judgment of that perceived role.
They try to be a "good boy" or "good girl" to live up to these expectations, having learned that there is
inherent value in doing so, not just for reward. Stage three reasoning may judge the morality of an action
by evaluating its consequences in terms of a person's relationships, which now begin to include things like
respect, gratitude and the "golden rule". "I want to be liked and thought well of; apparently, not being
naughty makes people like me." Desire to maintain rules and authority exists only to further support these
social roles. Has the individual accomplished this Stage of Moral Development? Use specific
examples to support your response.
In Stage four (authority and social order obedience driven), it is important to obey laws and social
conventions because of their importance in maintaining a functioning society. Moral reasoning in stage
four is thus beyond the need for individual approval exhibited in stage three; society must learn to go
beyond individual needs. If one person violates a law, perhaps everyone would—thus there is an
obligation and a duty to uphold laws and rules. When someone does violate a law, it is morally wrong;
culpability is thus a significant factor in this stage as it separates the bad domains from the good ones.
Most active adult members of society remain at stage four, where morality is still predominantly dictated
by an outside force. Has the individual accomplished this Stage of Moral Development? Use specific
examples to support your response.
Post-Conventional: This level, also known as the principled level, consists of stages five and six of
moral development. There is a growing realization that individuals are separate entities from society, and
that the individual's own perspective may take precedence over society's view. Because of this level's
"nature of self before others", the behavior of post-conventional individuals, especially those at stage 6,
can be confused with that of those at the pre-conventional level. People who exhibit postconventional
morality view rules as useful but changeable and ideally can maintain the general social order and protect
human rights; rules must not be obeyed without question. These people live by their own abstract
principles about right and wrong-principles that typically include such basic human rights as life, liberty,
and justice. They may disobey rules inconsistent with their own principles. Contemporary theorists often
speculate that many people may never reach this level of abstract moral reasoning.
In Stage five (social contract driven), individuals are viewed as holding different opinions, rights and
values. Laws are regarded as social contracts rather than rigid orders. Those which do not promote the
general welfare should be changed when necessary to meet "the greatest good for the greatest number of
people". This is achieved through majority decision and inevitable compromise. Thus democratic
government is based on stage five reasoning. Has the individual accomplished this Stage of Moral
Development? Use specific examples to support your response.
In Stage six (universal ethical principles driven), moral reasoning is based on abstract reasoning using
universal ethical principles. Laws are valid only insofar as they are grounded in justice, and a
commitment to justice carries with it an obligation to disobey unjust laws. Rights are unnecessary, as
social contracts are not essential for moral action. Decisions are not reached hypothetically in a
conditional way, but rather categorically in an absolute way. This involves an individual imagining she
would do in another's shoes, if she believed what that other person imagines to be true. The individual
acts because it is right, and not because it is instrumental, expected, legal, or previously agreed upon.
Although Kohlberg insisted that stage six exists, he found it difficult to identify individuals who
consistently operated at that level. Has the individual accomplished this Stage of Moral Development?
Use specific examples to support your response.
10 Commandments
Note: There are slight differences in the reading and order of these commandments according to
different sects of Judaism or Christianity. This is considered the oldest version. This is not to say
that other versions are inaccurate.
1. I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of
bondage.
2. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or
any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in
the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the
LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the
third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them
that love me, and keep my commandments.
3. Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him
guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
4. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But
the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor
thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy
stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and
all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day,
and hallowed it.
5. Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy
God giveth thee.
6. Thou shalt not kill.
7. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
8. Thou shalt not steal.
9. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his
manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.
Use the 10 commandments to evaluate the individual. How many does he observe? How many
does he break? Use specific examples to support your response.
Commandment
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Evidence to support your assessment
The Four Noble Truths &
The Eightfold Path
Siddhartha Gautama, an Indian prince, was born as a Hindu, but founded Buddhism and became
the Buddha by trying every path to Enlightenment (bodhi). Hindus believed that society is based
on levels (castes) and the way to move up was to live a good life by doing one’s sacred duty
(dharma), die and have the soul be reincarnated (samsara) into a higher caste and eventually a
complete, perfect liberation from the world (Nirvana). But Siddhartha tried everything he could
think of to find Enlightenment in his lifetime. His journey became the foundation of Buddhism
and is based largely on the Four Noble Truths and The Eightfold Path.
The Four Noble Truths are the essence of the Buddha’s teachings and presented in the manner
of a medical diagnosis and remedial prescription – a style common at that time:
1. Life as we know it ultimately is or leads to suffering/uneasiness (dukkha) in one way or
another.
2. Suffering is caused by craving or attachments to worldly pleasures of all kinds. This is
often expressed as a deluded clinging to a certain sense of existence, to selfhood, or to the
things that we consider the cause of happiness or unhappiness.
3. Suffering ends when craving ends, when one is freed from desire. This is achieved by
eliminating all delusion, thereby reaching Enlightenment (bodhi);
4. Reaching this liberated state is achieved by following the path laid out by the Buddha.
Each section of The Eightfold Path starts with the word samyak, a Sanskrit word meaning
correctly, properly, or well, but frequently translated into English as right. The entire path is,
therefore, about living what Buddhists consider the right way. The path is presented in three
groups (Prajñā, Śīla, and Samādhi):

Prajñā is the wisdom that purifies the mind, allowing it to attain spiritual insight into the
true nature of all things. It includes:
1. dṛṣṭi: viewing reality as it is, not just as it appears to be
2. saṃkalpa: trying to renounce, pursuing freedom and harmlessness

Śīla is the ethics or morality, or abstention from unwholesome deeds. It includes:
3. vāc: speaking in a truthful and non hurtful way
4. karman: acting in a non harmful way
5. ājīvana: a non harmful livelihood

Samādhi is the mental discipline required to develop mastery over one’s own mind. This
is done through the practice of contemplative and meditative practices, and includes:
6. vyāyāma: making an effort to improve
7. smṛti: awareness to see things for what they are with clear consciousness, being aware of
the present reality within oneself, without any craving or aversion
8. samādhi: correct meditation or concentration
Use The Eightfold Path to judge what kind of Buddhist this individual would be. Which of the
eight folds would he handle well? With which folds would he struggle? For each of the eight
components, use specific examples to support your assessment.
Fold
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Evidence to support your assessment