The Josephson Institute of Ethics does a survey of American middle school and high school students every two years. They ask questions about ethical behaviors and, for a decade, the results kept getting more and more depressing. From 1992 to 2002, the Ethics of American Youth surveys found high schoolers getting worse about cheating, stealing, and lying. In the 2004 survey, however, there was a marked turnaround. Confirming that the 2004 results were not a fluke, the 2006 survey showed the trend to better behavior continuing. In 2002, 74% of high schoolers admitted cheating on a test within the last year. By 2006, the percentage of cheaters was down to 60%. 38% admitted having shoplifted at least once in the past year in 2002. In 2006, only 28% had shoplifted. 93% had lied to their parents in 2002; in 2006 that number dropped to 81%. 2008 results are not available yet; it will be interesting to see if these positive trends continue.
No one should celebrate that more than 80% of high school kids admit lying to their parents or that 6 out of 10 cheated and almost 3 out of 10 shoplifted. These stats are a case of being better, but not yet good.
Christian teens have to understand that they are called by the Lord to rise above the moral standards of the world around them. It is not enough to behave as well as everybody else. Your job is to let your light shine to the people around you who are living in the world of darkness. Leading others in the right way begins by doing right yourselves.
For more information about the survey, go to http://tinyurl.com/teenethics
Note:
The above article was written for my church bulletin this week. It isn't the article I started out to write, but I like to report stories that offer a glimpse of optimism that things are getting better. I was reading last night in Bill O'Reilly's 2003 book, Who's Looking Out for You? He cited the 2002 Josephson statistics as evidence for the decline in values in American culture. Just before introducing the Josephson statistics, O'Reilly commented, "But America is paying a heavy price for letting the good times roll, a price seen most vividly in the behavior of children and especially public high school students."
Before writing the article I had planned, I thought to check the Josephson Institute's web site to see if updated statistics were available. It was a pleasant surprise to see that 2004 and 2006 results from the biennial surveys showed a definite improvement in several character markers among U. S. high schoolers.
I think Mr. O'Reilly's basic point is still valid. Our culture does continue in moral decline, and that decline is evident in the behavior of high schoolers as well as just about every other element of society. However, it is delightful to find an occasional ray of sunshine amidst all the doom and gloom. Hopefully, the Josephson survey results from 2004 and 2006 are not an aberration, but instead are the beginning of a trend toward better character in America's youth. Historically, things like this tend to run in cycles and it is high time the cycle started turning around toward an increase of morality and virtue in the lives of the American people.
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John, though there is some variation in the stats, my guess is there's a basic philosophical and religious shift in the values of students specifically and in American society in general. Relativism is taking its tool, and I see no major signs that people are jettisoning this basic view of the world. On the contrary, considering politics is front and center at the moment, it's hard to see how the most liberal U.S. senator could clinch the Democratic nomination for president, with such a dissonant history and message, were it not for the present worldview of the American people.
Here I am raining on your ray of light.
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