I am an admitted news junkie, much to my wife's chagrin. A good evening for me is flipping between Fox News and CNN to see what the various talking heads have to say about the Presidential election or more recently, the country's economic state. This week I have turned on CNBC in the morning as I get ready for the day, not because of concerns for my own meager 403B account, but because I am anxious to know what the experts think lies ahead both in the short term and in the extended future.
While the current economic crisis can be looked at a number of different ways, you haven't heard this much: at the heart of this issue is a moral problem -- too many people who settle for the expedient and ignore what is right. From CEO greed to people who bought houses with the idea they could simply walk away when things got tough, the sons and daughters of the Greatest Generation are proving to be anything but.
What does this have to do with education? Who's Who Among American High School Students has been surveying students for a long time. One recent report said that: "This survey spans three decades (1970-2000) and is the most comprehensive database available online of the attitudes and opinions of high-achieving teens on a range of subjects, including cheating.
In the 1999 survey, 84 percent of the high school students judged cheating to be “common” among their peers. That high percentage was not surprising in light of the fact that 78 percent of the same students confessed they themselves had cheated. Ninety-five percent of the students who cheated said they did not get caught."
By the way, this survey was of students regarded as among the country's best. We are seeing a generation of cheaters grow before our eyes. Students appear to be cheating at such a prolific rate, one wonders whether years from now the concept of cheating in school will even be an issue. The problem is that if you learn to cheat, to steal, to mislead for personal gain (even if it is to avoid a zero on an assignment) when does the moral compass kick in to say taking advantage of a client in even a small way is wrong. If in the small episodes of life cheating is accepted and penalties avoided, why are we amazed at the hubris of corporate titans and their golden parachutes? Parents who rush to the defense of their cheating students with cries of "your making mountains out of molehills" miss the point: we are creating tomorrow's moral climate today.
At Faith we will continue to fight the good fight. Giving in would be expedient, but never right.
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5 comments:
Great comments, Kevin. Your thoughts should be required reading for both parents and students, as well as all teachers. Well said!
Yes, lets talk cheating....Its ok to be able to dress like the "mafia" for homecoming week, who lie, cheat, steal, extort and murder, but thats Ok to spot light them in our Christian school! Of course its not ok to dress like a homeless person or a prostitute. We live in sin city remember, and our children are supposed to be learing christian values. Please do not teach our children that cheating is wrong (which of course it is) but then allow them to dress like the mafia?? Please.. And explain to a New Yorker what exactly is dressing like the mafia anyway. If you go by the Holloween costumes you would look like a wallstreet worker wouldnt you?? lets proofread our "news and notes" before they are sent out.
Please, no disrespect to anyone, but "The path to enlightenment, is to lighten up" .
Ok, this has nothing to do with your blog, which I enjoy...Am I the only one who gets flipped to "edline" when I click on the safety pledge link? Thanks!
We moved the safe community pledge list to Edline because you need a password to access the information, which limits it to our community. It is a layer of protection that is probably not necessary (no one to our knowledge has abused the information previously), but we erred on the side of caution.
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