Mr Riddle, who for four decades was a high school teacher and principal in northern Virginia, agreed that more pressure could lead to more cheating, yet spoke in defense of today's students. -- ST FILE PHOTO
NEW YORK - IN THE past year, 30 per cent of US high school students have stolen from a store and 64 per cent have cheated on a test, according to a new, large-scale survey suggesting that Americans are too apathetic about ethical standards.
Educators reacting to the findings questioned any suggestion that today's young people are less honest than previous generations, but several agreed that intensified pressures are prompting many students to cut corners.
'The competition is greater, the pressures on kids have increased dramatically,' said Mr Mel Riddle of the National Association of Secondary School Principals.
'They have opportunities their predecessors didn't have (to cheat). The temptation is greater.'
The Josephson Institute, a Los Angeles-based ethics institute, surveyed 29,760 students at 100 randomly selected high schools nationwide, both public and private. All students in the selected schools were given the survey in class; their anonymity was assured.
Most US high school students are between the ages of 14 and 18.
Michael Josephson, the institute's founder and president, said he was most dismayed by the findings about theft.
The survey found that 35 per cent of boys and 26 per cent of girls - 30 per cent overall - acknowledged stealing from a store within the past year. One-fifth said they stole something from a friend; 23 per cent said they stole something from a parent or other relative.
'What is the social cost of that - not to mention the implication for the next generation of mortgage brokers?' Mr Josephson remarked in an interview.
'In a society drenched with cynicism, young people can look at it and say 'Why shouldn't we? Everyone else does it.'
Other findings from the survey:
Cheating in school is rampant and getting worse. Sixty-four per cent of students cheated on a test in the past year and 38 per cent did so two or more times, up from 60 per cent and 35 per cent in a 2006 survey.
36 per cent said they used the Internet to plagiarise an assignment, up from 33 per cent in 2004.
42 per cent said they sometimes lie to save money
49 per cent of the boys and 36 per cent of the girls.
Despite such responses, 93 per cent of the students said they were satisfied with their personal ethics and character, and 77 per cent affirmed that 'when it comes to doing what is right, I am better than most people I know.'
Mr Riddle, who for four decades was a high school teacher and principal in northern Virginia, agreed that more pressure could lead to more cheating, yet spoke in defense of today's students.
'I would take these students over other generations,' he said.
'I found them to be more responsive, more rewarding to work with, more appreciative of support that adults give them.'
'We have to create situations where it's easy for kids to do the right things,' he added.
'We need to create classrooms where learning takes on more importance than having the right answer.'
Mr Josephson contended that most Americans are too blase about ethical shortcomings among young people and in society at large.
'Adults are not taking this very seriously,' he said. 'The schools are not doing even the most moderate thing. ... They don't want to know. There's a pervasive apathy.'
Mr Josephson also addressed the argument that today's youth are no less honest than their predecessors.
'In the end, the question is not whether things are worse, but whether they are bad enough to mobilise concern and concerted action,' he said. -- AP
