Lying, cheating, stealing – the status quo?
Tuesday, December 2nd, 2008Warning: constant() [function.constant]: Couldn't find constant TT_TH8US_LEN in /home/psblogs/public_html/wp-content/plugins/tweet-this/tweet-this.php on line 1821
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The 2008 “Ethics of American Youth” study from the Josephson Institute finds the rates of lying, cheating and stealing among kids is higher than ever. The study, which has been done every two years since 1992, surveyed 29,000 high school students.
Thirty percent of the kids surveyed reported stealing from a store in the past year. Kids in honors programs, at private schools or in service programs like the YMCA, had a slightly lower level of theft. Forty-two percent of kids admitted to lying. In addition, the study reported, “cheating in schools continues to be rampant and it’s getting worse.” Sixty-four percent of those surveyed admitted to cheating on a test.
Read more of the survey here: http://charactercounts.org/programs/reportcard/index.html
And finally, from the survey, “as bad as these numbers are, it appears they understate the level of dishonest exhibited by America’s youth. More than one in four confessed they lied on at least one or two questions on the survey.”
Now here’s my take. Number one, I wonder how these rates compare to the level of cheating/lying/stealing of my generation (that’s Gen X) and other past generations? Number two, the Josephson Institute also markets and sells Character Counts, the biggest character education program in the U.S. So if our kids are lying, cheating and stealing more, we need to buy a new program to reform them, right?
What’s your take?
Scripps Interactive Newspapers Group
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