Adults have often viewed teenagers as rebellious and morally questionable. So, it is no surprise that a study by the Josephson Institute shows a new generation of teens as ethically barren.
The trends seen in the study may lead to greater future consequences than the usual teenage rebelliousness.
According to the study, 64 percent of high school students have cheated on a test in the past year; 30 percent have stolen from a store. These statistics include 18-year-olds, legal adults.
While it may be understandable to want to do whatever it takes to succeed, students are stopping at nothing to achieve a better grade or wear the
latest fashions.
Requiring a high school ethics class is needed to curb the problem.
Teens are achieving success in entirely the wrong ways. The effects these trends could have on future professional and personal practices in the real world are more than worrisome.
Twenty percent of high schoolers say they have stolen something from a friend in the past year or, in other words, they have stolen from someone who trusted them. If people think corruption exists in business today, wait until workers
raised in an environment where cheating and stealing are the norm take the wheel.
A required ethics class is the only way every teenager can be taught to change this pattern of wrongdoing. High schoolers should be told not only what they are doing is wrong, but also why it is wrong. They should understand the consequences their actions can have on themselves and others.
Ethics should be taught much like math, science and English because they are essential to maintaining integrity in any career and especially in every day life. The temptation to cheat and lie to get ahead does not go away with age; rather the stakes increase. It could be argued that ethics are even more important than the so-called core subjects. While not everyone will use chemistry in their future jobs, every student will need ethics.
Though many teenagers make a conscious decision to rebel against the values of their parents, they must realize that at some point they will need a career. Employers do not jump at prospects with criminal records or those with a history of taking shortcuts.
It is in a student’s best interest to do his homework rather than copying. It may mean more work now, but strong ethics will get one farther in life than eliminating 30 minutes of work will.
An ethics class will help students make these kinds of realizations. It could be either a full or half credit course required for all freshmen, but it should include decision making skills, moral basics and the consequences of unethical behavior like plagiarism.
Ideally, the curriculum would not overlook seemingly elementary ideas like stealing and lying, realizing that the majority of students do these things on a daily basis.
An effort to convince high school students to change their unethical habits would not only benefit today’s students but tomorrow’s society as well.
The degeneration of moral values among teens needs to be addressed before America produces the most corrupt generation in history.