From this USA Today article: “Students Cheat, Steal, but Say They’re Good”
“In the past year, 30% of U.S. high school students have stolen from a store and 64% have cheated on a test, according to a new, large-scale survey suggesting that Americans are too apathetic about ethical standards.
Cheating in school is rampant and getting worse. Sixty-four percent of students cheated on a test in the past year and 38% did so two or more times, up from 60% and 35% in a 2006 survey.”
Other findings:
• Thirty-six percent said they used the Internet to plagiarize an assignment, up from 33% in 2004.
• Forty-two percent said they sometimes lie to save money — 49% of the boys and 36% of the girls.
Despite such responses, 93% of the students said they were satisfied with their personal ethics and character, and 77% affirmed that “when it comes to doing what is right, I am better than most people I know.”
Why and how can this be? Well the answer is Marylyn Manson of course! Since his career faded out of the popular eye, this world has gotten a lot safer hasn’t it? Kidding, my point is that you can’t blame pop-culture for the primary reason for these sorts of issues.
Whose fault it is? Everybody’s. From parents, to teachers, to youth pastors, to marketers, to toll-both collectors to the students themselves.
We create this incredible pressure on our students that they have to win at any cost, make money at any cost, look great at any cost, live the American dream at any cost. Cheating, lying, stealing becomes part of the pragmatism to achieve that.
We create this huge pressure and then celebrate the brief positive moments that result. All the while they stress out, cry themselves to sleep, tear ACL’s, go through eating, sleeping, and emotional disorders so we can clap proudly at graduation.
Also, some of this is the human sinful condition. (So to the person who might comment, “People are sinful. Read Romans 3:23, it’s that simple…”) – yes, I understand that but I think it’s even deeper and more complicated.
What’s the solution? Sorry this is a blog so there aren’t too many solutions on these types of posts but I’d like to throw this out there. What if did our part to help get rid of competition? Aren’t pick-up games more fun when you don’t really keep score? Professional games that keep score are only fun for the winning team and its fans, right? Is there a Cubs fan here that can yell a tearful “amen”? (Until last month, Phillis fans were too depressed to even get on the internet, now they’re the most joyful people I know.)
As a youth pastor, I tell our students that I won’t pray for their grades or their class rankings (or that they get the lead in a play or the solo in elite choir), but will pray for their work ethic, stress, and time management skills. As others have, I try to expose the “straight A” student as not the ideal life. Nor is it the gamer or the first chair cello player. What good is it for a person to graduate Valedictorian but lose his/her soul?
I want to be careful here and not be responsible for encouraging a generation of underachieving Bart Simpsons but a show full of Lisa’s is quite boring and not well-lived from my perspective. Back to the point, we must do our part to discourage the succeed at any cost, competitive game that we seem to be caught up in. More to say, but thoughts?
Wow! This is exactly what I’ve ever wanted to say to students and parents!
Of course, someone will come on and take you too literally, “Well, competition is a good thing.” But we are killing our kids and pushing them to do so many things, and then complain that we never see them or aren’t at dinner.
It is everyone’s fault. Our environments do shape us. I know I’ve cheated before because I thought my parents would be disappointed in me if I didn’t get good grades. However, if you actually asked my parents, they would never say that was acceptable.
Maybe parents need to sit down with their kids and tell them their expectations. My dad did this once, and he said to me, “I don’t care if you get A’s. I care if you do your best.” That goes back to praying for one’s work ethic not their end result. Maybe we need to pray for the means, not the end?