Ethics Survey Contradictions

Most teenagers know that being ethical means “not to lie, not to cheat and not to steal” says 16-year-old Colleen Brady. But according to a survey of 25,000 teens by the Josephson Institute, almost two-thirds say they’ve cheated on exams. Sixteen-year-old Chris Kelleher says he’s “(cheated) on a test occasionally, but only when it’s like a pass or fail situation.”.

According to the survey, a quarter said they occasionally steal. “I still think about those things and wish I hadn’t done them,” says 18-year-old Ainslee Mardsen. “But I know I’m ethical enough to stop myself at a certain point.”

How can kids lie, cheat and steal still call themselves ethical? Experts say it’s simply a reflection of the world around them. They see sports stars who lie, business people who cheat, and sometimes “their parents, for instance, might be allowing certain petty vices into their own lives, or even major ones … and the parents seem to be doing well by it. They see hypocrisy sometimes among their parents, and kids take that seriously,” says Andrew Cohen, the associate director of the Jean Beer Blumenfield Center for Ethics at Georgia State University.

In fact, almost 60 percent of kids surveyed agreed with the statement: “Successful people do what they have to do to win, even if others consider it cheating.”

“They take any route they can take just to get what they want,” says 18-year-old Christina Mitchell.

Experts say parents need to explain how honesty and ethics are a critical part of self-esteem. And, they add, when you do make mistakes talk about the feelings of guilt and what you’re doing to correct it.

The mission of the Josephson Institute of Ethics is “ to improve the ethical quality of society by advocating principled reasoning and ethical decision making.” The Institute surveyed nearly 25,000 high school students for their opinions on ethics. Among the findings:

• Ninety percent said being a good person is more important than being rich.
• Eight-four percent said cheating and lying are not worth the consequences of a tarnished character.
• Fifty-nine percent said they frequently volunteer to help others or perform charity work.
• In fact, over half of the teens surveyed found being charitable to be an essential or very important quality.
• Nearly three-fourths felt the same of helping others.
• Even though 92 percent of the teens said “ people should play by the rules even if it means they lose,” 13 percent said “it’s not cheating if everyone is doing it.”

Of the students surveyed, 98 percent said trust and honesty are essential in personal relationships, and 94 percent said these same qualities are essential in the workplace. However, 59 percent believed successful people do what they have to do to win, even if others consider it cheating. And 42 percent said that sometimes a person has to lie or cheat in order to succeed. Almost a quarter of the teens said people who are willing to lie, cheat or break the rules are more likely to succeed than people who are not. But only 28 percent rated being wealthy as essential or very important.

Considering this, it’s hard to believe that 62 percent admitted that they cheated on exams and more than one in four had stolen from a store within the past year. Additionally, 40 percent admit they “sometimes lie to save money.” The Josephson Institute cites “high levels of cynicism about the ethics of successful people and the prevalence of cheating in the ‘real world’” as reasons for these discrepancies. Consider the following statistics:

• Despite some of these startling statistics, 92 percent of the surveyed students claimed satisfaction with their own ethics and character, and 74 percent said they are better than most at doing what is right.

• Overall, 84 percent found having a good moral character to be essential or very important.
• Seventy percent wanted others to view them as ethical and honorable.
• Nearly all respondents (98 percent) agreed that “it’s important for [them] to be [people] with good character.”

One quarter of those surveyed stated physical violence, including bullying, fighting and intimidation, was an issue at their school, and nearly a third felt it was okay to hit or threaten a person in anger. Still, 80 percent felt “very safe” while at school.

Of the students surveyed, 84 percent agreed that “most adults in [their lives] consistently set a good example of ethics and character.” And 91 percent felt their “ parents/guardians always want [them] to do the ethically right thing, no matter what the cost.” Both of these statistics increased nearly 10 percent since 2002.

Only 6 percent of those surveyed believed their parents/guardians would prefer they cheat to avoid bad grades. Parents should:

• Establish and enforce clear boundaries for acceptable behavior.
• Model appropriate, ethical behavior for their child.
• Remember that teens consistently cite their parents as important influence on all types of decision-making. In fact, nearly 70 percent of the teens in this study said pleasing parents is essential or very important.

The Christian Science Monitor
Josephson Institute of Ethics
Talk With Your Kids