30% of High School Students Do WHAT?

January 28, 2009, 12:32 AM Post Comments

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Nearly one-third of high school students have committed a crime--specifically, stealing something from a store. In addition, fully 64 percent admit they have cheated on a test. That's the word from a large survey of nearly 30,000 U.S. high school students from 100 randomly-selected public and private high schools nationwide conducted by the Josephson Institute, a Los Angeles-based ethics institute. Even though they confess to lying, cheating and stealing, these students still insist they are good people with sound ethics, suggesting young Americans are apathetic about ethical standards, reports The Associated Press.

More than half and up to 80 percent of college students cheat. What's interesting is who does NOT cheat.

Perhaps the most alarming finding is the one about theft. The survey found that 35 percent of boys and 26 percent of girls (30 percent overall) said they had stolen something from a store within the past year. In addition, 20 percent said they had stolen something from a friend, while 23 percent confessed to stealing something from a parent or other relative. "What is the social cost of that--not to mention the implication for the next generation of mortgage brokers?" Michael Josephson, the institute's founder and president, told AP. "In a society drenched with cynicism, young people can look at it and say 'Why shouldn't we? Everyone else does it.'"

Conventional wisdom holds that teens have oral sex to maintain 'technical virginity.' Or do they?

Are today's kids less honest than those of previous generations? While some educators refuse to believe that, some point to more intense pressures today that could prompt many students to take the easy way out. "The competition is greater, the pressures on kids have increased dramatically," Mel Riddle of the National Association of Secondary School Principals, told AP. "They have opportunities their predecessors didn't have (to cheat). The temptation is greater."

Find out the surprising (some might say shocking) No. 1 way to make teenagers happy.

Other findings from the survey:
-- Cheating in school is common and increasing. While 64 percent of students admitted to cheating on at least one test in the previous year, 38 percent said they did so two or more times, up from 60 percent and 35 percent in a 2006 survey.
-- Thirty-six percent said they used the Internet to plagiarize an assignment, up from 33 percent in 2004.
-- Forty-nine percent of boys and 36 percent of girls admitted they occasionally lie to save money.

If your teenager listens to THIS kind of music, beware! He or she is more likely to have sex at an earlier age.

But the kids still think they're good and do the right thing! Even though so many freely admit to lying, cheating and stealing, a stunning 93 percent of the students indicated they were satisfied with their personal ethics and character. Seventy-seven percent affirmed that "when it comes to doing what is right, I am better than most people I know."

You won't believe how many girls ages 14 to 17 have sex just to keep their boyfriends from getting angry.