It is wrong to lie, cheat and steal. But what if you lie, cheat and steal – and think it is right?
A Josephson Institute survey of 29,760 high school students across the United States found that:
- 30 percent admit to having stolen from a store during the past year; one-fifth said they had stolen from a friend, and 23 percent said they had stolen from a parent or other relative.
- 36 percent admit to having used the Internet to plagiarize an assignment.
- 64 percent admit to having cheated on a test during the past year; 38 percent said they did so two or more times.
- 42 percent said they sometimes lie to save money.
- 83 percent admit that they “sometimes lie to a parent about something significant.”
While these statistics are shocking on their face, several factors make the situation even worse than it appears:
- Dishonesty is increasing; in every category, the percentage of students admitting to dishonesty has increased over the past three years.
- The actual number of dishonest students is probably greater than the survey reveals. Twenty-six percent admitted having lied on one or more of the survey questions. As Institute founder Michael Josephson said, “The figures are conservative. A kid who cheats might not admit he lied on the survey, but a student who never cheats would not say he lied on the survey.”
Equally depressing are the explanations given by professionals. Mel Riddle of the National Association of Secondary School Principals says, “The competition is greater, the pressures on kids have increased dramatically. They have opportunities their predecessors didn’t have [to cheat]. The temptation is greater.” Peter Anderson, principal of Andover High School in Andover, Mass., explains: “This generation is leading incredibly busy lives – involved in athletics, clubs, so many with part-time jobs, and – for seniors – an incredibly demanding and anxiety-producing college search.” Bill Habermehl, superintendent of the Orange County, Calif., Department of Education, says teachers can’t teach morality and ethics because they are too busy preparing students for standardized testing and meeting state academic standards: “Our teachers are under such extraordinary pressure that they don’t have time.” He also says parents are part of the problem: “Most parents would say, ‘That’s not my child.'” Josephson commented, “We’re not trying to say kids are moral mutants. They are the product of an indifferent and apathetic society that is letting more and more people get away with it.”
And some of the proposed solutions are no better. Betsy Arrow of Orange County’s Institute for Character Education says, “We’re looking at it much more globally than just one issue like cheating. When you get a group of staff and students working on these issues, you can solve almost any problem,” a questionable observation if they do not start with the right principles and values. Riddle says, “We have to create situations where it’s easy for kids to do the right things. We need to create classrooms where learning takes on more importance than having the right answer.” The problem is, the real world is full of situations in which it is not easy to do the right thing.
Twenty-seven centuries ago, around 700 B.C., the Old Testament prophet Isaiah had a very different explanation: “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter” (Isaiah 5:20). His words are most relevant to today. Incredibly, 93 percent of the surveyed students said they were satisfied with their own personal ethics and character, and 77 percent said that “when it comes to doing what is right, I am better than most people I know.” We may have failed to teach our children right from wrong, but we’ve done a great job of teaching self-esteem!
For years, teachers and professors have been telling young people that there are no absolutes; is it any wonder that many would conclude that the prohibitions against lying, cheating and stealing aren’t absolute either? For years, our children have been brainwashed into believing that actions formerly held to be sinful, like sodomy, are merely alternative lifestyles; is it any wonder that some would decide that lying or stealing is an alternative lifestyle? For years, proponents of situational ethics have proclaimed that various acts may be right or wrong depending on the situation; is it any wonder that, in an exam situation in which a student has failed to study and faces academic pressures to get into college, he might conclude that cheating is the right thing to do in this situation? For years, teachers have pounded into their students’ minds the theory that humans are merely animals evolved from lower forms of animals; is it any wonder that some of them act like animals?
When I was at West Point, the school motto was very straight and simple: “A Cadet does not lie, cheat, or steal.” That sounds very much like the words of the God of our Fathers, who declared, “Thou shalt not steal” (Exodus 20:15) and “Thou shalt not bear false witness” (20:16). But when we forget God, we lose the only true basis for morality and ethics, and we are cast upon the shifting sands of moral relativism in which anything goes, including lying, cheating and stealing. Those things are still wrong, even if you think they are right.
To teach character to our children, we need to return to the God of our Fathers and the moral foundation of His Word.
