Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform > Hyde Schools
The Cheating Crisis in our Schools
Anonymous:
http://www.strugglingteens.com/artman/p ... 1119.shtml
Nov 20, 2008
THE CHEATING CRISIS IN OUR SCHOOLS
By: Malcolm Gauld
Most American students cheat.
In nationwide surveys on college campuses, about seven in ten students admitted to some cheating. Three in five high school students admitted that they had cheated on an exam, and more than four in five admitted copying another student's homework in the past 12 months.
There is a cheating crisis in our schools, and the problem is not confined to low-achieving or unmotivated students. Cheating is common among most types of students; boys, girls, athletes, smart kids, student leaders, even those with "strong religious beliefs." Why are so many students cheating?
Malcolm Gauld is President of Hyde Schools, which consists of prep schools in Maine and Connecticut and public schools in Washington DC and Bronx,NY. The schools have led the way in character-building education for 40 years, and have been featured on CBS's 60 Minutes, ABCs 20/20 and PBS.
Gauld and his wife Laura are also the award-winning co-authors of the parenting book The Biggest Job We'll Ever Have (Scribner). Gauld is recognized as one of the nation's leading experts on character education and parenting.
Our culture has become preoccupied with achievement, the Gaulds explain. Pressure for grades to win parents' approval and gain admission to colleges leads many students to cheat. While many students are pushed to succeed by parents and a grade-based system that starts naming winners at an early age, students also feel pulled by a desire to get on a path to top colleges and high-paying jobs.
But there are serious ramifications to winning at any cost, according to Laura, including lack of character in students and also the lack of self-esteem.
"Never kid a kid," Malcolm says. They will never misread our true expectations of them. They know we have created an educational system that values their aptitude more than their attitude, their ability more than their effort, and their talent more than their character. They are surrounded by signs that tell them that what they can do is more important than who they are.
Unfortunately, an environment that values only achievement can make it extremely easy for test scores and awards to lure good kids into a false sense of fulfillment. This is not the genuine self-esteem that is earned from the learning process, which includes mistakes and some hardship, and it can leave kids feeling empty.
"In a character culture, achievement is valued, but principles are valued more," says Laura. "That is, what you stand for is more important than merely how you stack up against others."
In addition to this pressure for external achievements, Malcolm Gauld identifies another debilitating grip on today's kids, which is the result of a prevalent mindset in our homes, schools and culture, that asserts that kids need to feel good about themselves all of the time.
Applied to education, this mindset seems to say, If we make kids feel good about themselves, they will do great things, explains Malcolm. But, in fact, it is the other way around. When kids do well, and do it honestly, they will feel good about themselves.
"Character is inspired, not imparted," Malcolm continues. We cannot pour it into our kids or our families. Self-esteem and real, authentic self-esteem is essential, and once earned, it can never be taken away. Our children should graduate from schools with a healthy amount of it.
Hyde School graduate Dana Wappler, 20, agrees.
"Hyde School helped instill a sense of responsibility in me," Wappler says. "If your character comes first, everything else flows from that."
At this time, Hyde School's famous Attitude over Aptitude philosophy is now branching out into the public schools, from Washington, DC to New York City.
About the author:
Malcolm Gauld is President of Hyde Schools. For more information, complete bios and photos, contact Rose Mulligan, 207-443-7379, or www.hyde.edu.
Anonymous:
--- Quote ---At this time, Hyde School's famous Attitude over Aptitude philosophy is now branching out into the public schools, from Washington, DC to New York City.
--- End quote ---
LOL. Its a virus!
Anonymous:
Hyde is a mind virus. Mal builds a construct of a social structure that Hyde is the antidote for. There are just two problems with this.
1) The situation that Mal describes only exits in the collective conscience of the Hyde Community.
2) Hyde is not a solution for anything. Hyde is just another, different problem.
Ursus:
Disregarding that little piece of obfuscation in the first line, namely, "In nationwide surveys on college campuses...," I do believe that the actual origin of Malcolm's cheating figures (noticeably not sourced) may be -- at least in part -- the following survey undertaken by the "Character Counts!" people.
I am just a little curious, considering the embargo date of the press release, in contrast to the publication date of Malcolm Gauld's "Essay" on the Struggling Teens website, how Malcolm "managed" to get these results earlier? :D
-------------- • -------------- • --------------
PRESS RELEASE — EMBARGOED UNTIL: November 30, 2008
Contact:
Rich Jarc, Executive Director, vfox@jiethics.org, 310-846-4817 or 310-849-6994 (cell)
JOSEPHSON INSTITUTE’S REPORT CARD ON AMERICAN YOUTH:
There’s a Hole in Our Moral Ozone and It’s Getting Bigger
Survey of 29,000 high school students reveals entrenched habits of dishonesty in the workforce of future – stealing, lying, and cheating rates climb to alarming rates
LOS ANGELES – Josephson Institute’s 2008 Report Card on the Ethics of American Youth, a report on the attitudes and conduct of 29,760 high school students, reveals entrenched habits of dishonesty in today’s young people — and that doesn’t bode well for the future when these youngsters become the next generation’s politicians and parents, cops and corporate executives, and journalists and generals.
STEALING. In bad news for business, more than one in three boys (35 percent) and one-fourth of the girls (26 percent) — a total of 30 percent overall — admitted stealing from a store within the past year. In 2006 the overall theft rate was 28 percent (32 percent males, 23 percent females).
* Students who attend private secular and religious schools were less likely to steal, but still the theft rate among non-religious independent school students was more than one in five (21 percent) while 19 percent who attend religious schools also admitted stealing something from a store in the past year.
* Honors students (21 percent), student leaders (24 percent) and students involved in youth activities like the YMCA and school service clubs (27 percent) were less likely to steal, but still more than one in five committed theft.
* Twenty-three percent said they stole something from a parent or other relative in the past year (the same as 2006) and 20 percent confessed they stole something from a friend. Boys were nearly twice as likely to steal from a friend as girls (26 percent to 14 percent).
LYING. More than two of five (42 percent) said that they sometimes lie to save money. Again, the male-female difference was significant: 49 percent of the males, 36 percent of the females. In 2006, 39 percent said they lied to save money (47 percent males, 31 percent females).
* Thirty-nine percent of students in private religious schools admitted to lying as did 35 percent of the students attending private non-religious schools.
* More than eight in ten students (83 percent) from public schools and religious private schools confessed they lied to a parent about something significant. Students attending nonreligious independent schools were somewhat less likely to lie to parents (78 percent).
CHEATING. Cheating in school continues to be rampant and it’s getting worse. A substantial majority (64 percent) cheated on a test during the past year (38 percent did so two or more times), up from 60 percent and 35 percent in 2006. There were no gender differences on the issue of cheating on exams.
* Students attending non-religious independent schools reported the lowest cheating rate (47 percent) while 63 percent of students from religious schools cheated.
* Responses about cheating show some geographic disparity: Seventy percent of the students residing in the southeastern U.S. admitted to cheating, compared to 64 percent in the west, 63 percent in the northeast, and 59 percent in the midwest.
* More than one in three (36 percent) said they used the Internet to plagiarize an assignment. In 2006 the figure was 33 percent.
IT’S WORSE THAN IT APPEARS.
As bad as these numbers are, it appears they understate the level of dishonesty exhibited by America’s youth. More than one in four (26 percent) confessed they lied on at least one or two questions on the survey. Experts agree that dishonesty on surveys usually is an attempt to conceal misconduct.
Despite these high levels of dishonesty, these same kids have a high self-image when it comes to ethics. A whopping 93 percent said they were satisfied with their 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."
A complete set of data generated by the survey is available at http://charactercounts.org/programs/reportcard
This report addresses honesty and integrity and is the first based on the extensive data gathered. Additional reports, to be issued in the coming months, will focus on violence, drug use, and other issues. Some will analyze the impact of sports, religious convictions, and other factors on young people's values, attitudes, and behavior.
—————————————————————————————————————
Following a benchmark survey in 1992, Josephson Institute has conducted a national survey of the ethics of American youth every two years. Data was gathered through a national sample of public and private high schools. Surveys were conducted in 2008. For the general questions (over 20,000 responses), the accuracy is well within +/- 0.007 or 0.7%; for breakdowns of 10,000 the accuracy is +/- 0.98%; and even when there are just 1,000 responses, the accuracy is +/- 3.1%. Almost all standard errors of differences are much less than 1% for even small samples. These statistics have been verified by the Department Chair, Decision Sciences & Marketing, Graziadio School of Business & Management, Pepperdine University.
About Josephson Institute of Ethics
Josephson Institute of Ethics, a nonpartisan, nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization based in Los Angeles, CA, created and administers the CHARACTER COUNTS! Coalition, a partnership of more than 900 educational and youth-serving organizations committed to improving the ethical quality of America’s young people through character education. CHARACTER COUNTS! is the nation’s most widely implemented approach to character education.
An extensive library of materials for teachers, parents, coaches, and others interested in character education, as well as transcripts of Institute president Michael Josephson’s daily radio commentaries, are available at no charge at http://www.charactercounts.org.
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Anonymous:
I would suspect the source. This is self reported cheating. how where the questions couched etc.
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