The Cheating Culture

[LuluLovesDisney]

Well, Bicker, count me in.

I just ordered it, too.

 

[Kendra17]

Not true. I am a teacher and I am required to teach THREE "Character Education" lessons a year and describe them in an essay, include my lesson plans and send them to a director in the school. Yes, I teach in public school. We are not allowed to proselytize, teach religion, show favoritism to certain religious beliefs, etc. However, teaching children the consequences of lying, stealing and cheating is perfectly acceptable and encouraged by many schools. In fact, my boss laminated a poster explaining "Academic Integrity" and asked all teachers to post it in their rooms. Mine's prominently displayed.

My character lessons this year were on:

Acceptance of others (different colors, religions, etc.)

Self sacrifice (giving up something you want, or even your own safety, for someone else)

and

Choosing between what you think is right and what you are told to do (by a friend, a law, a promise, etc.)

While we have a long way to go, this is certainly not unconstitutional- it's a requirement for us.

I don't want to speak for the poster you were responding to, but I took his post to mean that we teach moral relativity these days. What is right for you and me, for instance, may not be right for somebody else. We don't speak of an inherent truth or any moral absolutes.

Murder used to be wrong. Now, however, there are gray areas when people are sick or infirm. (Or, of course, abortion, although some don't deem this murder). So, when we used to say, murder is wrong. . . now we speak of some killing as almost necessary, benevolent, or beneficial.

That's what I took his post to mean.

Many children these days are very hesitant in saying something is wrong or bad. They are taught tolerance to the point where some don't want to seem close-minded for taking a moral stance.

 

[va32h]

Another factor, IMO, is the over-zealous self-esteem movement that preaching "shame is bad". We mustn't ever make people feel badly about themselves, no matter what they do!

Once, when I was scolding my oldest dd for something she had done, she cried out "you are making me feel bad!". I replied that she ought to feel bad when she has done something wrong, that means she has a conscience.

Shame is not intrinsically bad. People without shame are sociopaths. Shame and the fear of shame are two of the things that reinforce appropriate behavior in public.

In another interesting book, Freakonomics, the author, an economist, writes about a gentleman who runs a business delivering bagels to various offices, and leaving an "honor box" for the employees to leave payment.

Smaller offices tend to be more honest - that is, more likely to pay. Why? The data suggests that in small offices, as in small towns, the rate of crime is lower because people are less likely to steal among a community where everyone or most everyone knows them. It would be embarrassing to be caught (i.e. more shameful).

There is also this notion that anything is okay as long as you didn't do it on purpose. How many times have you heard "why should I have to pay because someone tripped on my lawn/got bitten by my dog/got hit by my car - it was just an accident!"

Just because something is an accident does not mean that no one is responsible for the consequences. But don't even get me started on the complete lack of personal accountability and responsibility in our society.

 

[ead79]

This thread is very interesting and has gotten me thinking about my high school experience.

Several students at my high school (back in the late 90's when I was a student) were interviewed by a local news station about the prevalence of cheating. The high school I attended was the best public high school in the state and one of the best in the country in terms of academics. The interviewers selected a few of the the "good, smart" students for the interview, as they wanted to get their feedback. One of the students they interviewed was in many of my classes, was the student government president, and was considered to be a very good kid. She openly admitted to cheating many times and said that she felt it was necessary to cheat in order to compete academically at our high school. She seemed to think that she needed to cheat in order to get into a good college.

I remember watching the interview and being absolutely appalled as well as furious. I had a GPA of 4.1 in high school and had a class rank of around 35 (I told you the school I attended was rigorous, LOL). I remember thinking how much my class rank would've gone up if the cheaters were punished appropriately. The girl they interviewed implied that absolutely everyone cheats. That is simply not true. I earned my grades. I wouldn't say that the teachers turned a blind eye to the cheating, just that they didn't try very hard to catch cheaters. I think there was a fear of punishing cheaters because they didn't want to "ruin" students' futures by lowering their grades or putting detention on their records. I find this to be so sad. Where is the personal responsibility? The teachers wouldn't have been "ruining" the students records--the students did that themselves by cheating.

Sorry for the long story--your post just made me remember that.

I think that part of the reason that cheating has become more accepted and more common in today's society is the emphasis on the individual instead of the group. The "it's all about me" mentality. So many people I come in contact with on a daily basis seem to think primarily of themselves and their desires/needs. People constantly cut me off in traffic because their time is worth more than my time. People speak rudely to cashiers because they are only there to "serve" them. People push in lines at WDW because it's more important that they ride the ride first than the others in line ride first. People want instant gratification and think only of their own interests. It's sad to me that we don't value helping others and putting others first as a society. I guess all we can really do is try to set an example for others with our own behavior.

 

[salmoneous]

I think the 10 Commandments have something to say about all that. Since it is now unconstitutional to teach our children that lying, stealing and cheating are wrong, well, I'm not surprised by the devolution of our society. The value of a human life has been degraded as well.

For the record, it isn't unconstitutional to teach children that lying, stealing and cheating is wrong. It is unconstitutional for the government to tell people which god to worship. The 10 Commandments don't tell people that cheating is wrong. The 10 Commandments do tell people which god to worship.

 

[cardaway]

For the record, it isn't unconstitutional to teach children that lying, stealing and cheating is wrong. It is unconstitutional for the government to tell people which god to worship. The 10 Commandments don't tell people that cheating is wrong. The 10 Commandments do tell people which god to worship.

Maybe if they cut it down by a few.

 

[Missy1961]

Bicker,

People defending cheating are looking for justification for their actions. Many times people will post about "cheating". I've never figured that one out. The pattern is always the same. First they post that they are cheating and ask if everyone thinks it's ok. Usually other cheaters will post and say they are doing nothing wrong. Those are the enablers. They're the ones the cheater wants to post.

Next you'll get the morally superiors saying that cheating is wrong. A bunch of morally superiors will then jump on the cheater. Pretty soon the cheater's sycophants will jump on the morally superior posters defending the cheater's right to cheat.

Here's where the tables are turned. The cheater becomes the victim. The morally superiors become the bad guys and the cheater has received his justification.

People might actually listen to the morally superiors except they're so darned arrogant.

End of my analysis

Good analysis!

 

[bicker]

Maybe if they cut it down by a few.

Now there's a good idea! Maybe we could add a few too. Think anyone'll mind?

 

[disneylizzy]

You can thank the "worst generation" - the hippies and yippies and other 60's radicals for discarding the best aspects of our culture and embracing treason, selfishness, cowardice and social changes which eliminated personal accountability, duty to one's country and fellow man as well as any sort of moral responsiblity for their own actions. Yes, even the lack of courtesy in our present time can be laid at their feet. Yes, the 60's were a dark and evil blotch on the history of the world. That is the legacy of the 60's.

While I agree with this, I think you have to factor Nixon in there, too. Nixon and his administration lied and cheated and it was all there in black and white on our TV screens. I was a teenager, but I think this was the beginning of the end of moral decency.

The whole attitude is "everybody does it" and "I better do it too if I don't want to be left behind".

 

[bicker]

Well the book has finally arrived, and I'm going to start reading it tonight. None too soon, IMHO. The flagrant disdain for honesty and integrity is really an abomination. I hope the book provides some very good insights into why this is, and what we, as a culture can do to better push back the rising tide of selfishness and transgressive nature.

 

[momof2inPA]

What amazes me is the complete lack of business ethics in our current culture. Everyone is always trying to not violate the letters of the laws, while completely violating the spirits of the laws, followed by a quick trip to church on Sunday. I don't think the Bible would condone this type of behavior.

 

[bicker]

As you alluded to, businesses typically comply with the "letters of the" law, if not what some would interpret as its "spirit". By contrast, many members of the general public seems to have little concern about violating letters or spirit. I cannot help that the lack of integrity in the general public, which goes deeper than that in the business realm, is what drives those in positions of power in the business realm to violate "spirit". After all, each and every business decision-maker is also a member of the general public, which is a much larger and arguably stronger force in our society.

 

[momof2inPA]

As you alluded to, businesses typically comply with the "letters of the" law, if not what some would interpret as its "spirit". By contrast, many members of the general public seems to have little concern about violating letters or spirit. I cannot help that the lack of integrity in the general public, which goes deeper than that in the business realm, is what drives those in positions of power in the business realm to violate "spirit". After all, each and every business decision-maker is also a member of the general public, which is a much larger and arguably stronger force in our society.

I think it's the opposite. Business and government are setting the example of cheating and lying being ok. Some call it spin, I call it lying. That violates the spirit or honest reporting.

 

[bicker]

Well, maybe they're feeding off each other, and both are feeding off the media (both news [sensationalistic journalism] and entertainment [glorifying dishonesty in films, for example]). It's probably a vicious circle of each using the visible transgressions of the other as rationalization for their own bad behavior.

 

[salmoneous]

What amazes me is the complete lack of business ethics in our current culture. Everyone is always trying to not violate the letters of the laws, while completely violating the spirits of the laws, followed by a quick trip to church on Sunday. I don't think the Bible would condone this type of behavior.

Reading posts on the DIS, it seems clear that many people don't care about the spirit of the law or even the letter of the law. Their standard is "what can I get away with." Take a look at the DDP threads where people are saying, "I know Disney has now made the rule clear in writting, but until they put an enforcement mechanism in place the rule doesn't count".

 

[Nancyg56]

I am always amazed by the number of people who feel that if there is a monetary reward it is okay to "bend the rules". I was a QA analyst for a call center that took work outsourced from other companies. I monitored account managers selling computer products for a large company. They violated every restriction that the company placed on us, and it was absolutely tolerated up the chain right to our director. You see, they all got a commission based on th esales, so it was not in their financial interest to stop the cheating. Well, we lost the contract. End of commissions, end of their jobs.

I had been taking a business management class and the instructor was teaching ethics, and success through ethics. My experience in this project detailed the reasons why in the long term, cheating in business is not profitable.

 

[ford family]

If a person believes that we are just evolved animals, then behaving like animals only follows and should come as no surprise.

That's a pretty offensive assumption you are making. I believe that we are evolved from animals and I have no problem understanding, living by and then passing on a moral code.
In fact, it was the need for that moral code in the evolution of society that created the opportunity for religion to be invented.

ford family

 

[DIXIEDIVAMOM]

Amen!!! Just look at the way people drive now!!!!

 

[JoyG]

The problem with the book is that the people who really need it don't know it as they don't think of themselves in that light.

This statement is inspiring me to start another thread...