I am alarmed at the results from the recent survey of close to 30,000 students by the Josephson Institute, a Los Angeles-based ethics institute, which can be read by visiting:
http://charactercounts.org/programs/reportcard/index.html.
The basic findings found that, on average, 30% of students acknowledged stealing from a store in the past year, with boys more likely than girls to do it. There were 1/5th who indicated they stole something from a friend. The study also found that cheating is rampant with 64% indicating they cheated on a test in the past year. Another 36% indicated they used the Internet to plagiarize an assignment.
…..Yet, 93% of those surveyed said they were SATISFIED with their personal ethics and character.
The study findings suggest dire implications for those of us who are getting ready to accept the next generation of high school students on to our respective campuses? Talk about Gen-Disconnect?!
Yikes! How will we handle students who do things that are at odds with true ethical behavior? What is it about the way we will teach them that will enable them to find it easy to cheat? Will large classes make it easier to cheat than in small ones? Does more online learning make it easier to cheat than sitting in a classroom? Will this phenomena be tied to one discipline or all of them on a college campus? What does it suggest they are capable of doing once they are out of school and owning/managing foodservice or lodging businesses? The prospects are frightening indeed!
In any event, the facts of the survey (especially its generalizablity) suggest that we are going to have to be more vigilant as to whether or not students are doing their own work less we be fooled that they are “learning” from us in our classrooms and laboratories?
Perhaps we can have a roundtable discussion based on this study at the upcoming Summit in Charleston. If interested send an e-mail to Mick La Lopa at mlalopa@fooded.org.
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