Ethics Survey 2008

The Josephson Institute did The Ethics of American Youth Survey, and the results are in! You can read the full article here, but let me give you a couple of highlights.

There were 29, 760 high school students surveyed.
35% of the boys and 26% of the girls (30% overall) admitted to stealing from a store this last year.
42% said that they sometimes lie to save money.
64% said they cheated on a test this last year (38% did so two or more times)

You might think that those numbers sound bad, but get this:

More than 26% said that they lied on one or two questions on the survey (The site states, "Experts agree that dishonesty on a survey is an attempt to conceal misconduct.")

And the best part (or maybe the scariest part):

93% said that they were satisfied with their personal ethics and character

There is so much that I would like to say about this article. I would love to discuss how I am not surprised. I would love to take a few paragraphs to talk about how it is getting this way. I would be more than happy to offer discourse on where this is going and how bad it could get.

Instead of writing our all of that, I am simply going to take a moment to challenge you (and me) with two thoughts:

Number 1 - Re-evaluate your own moral character. Where do you stand in these areas? Have you become satisfied with your own "personal ethics"?

Number 2 - Pray for this generation. Pray specifically for those in that generation who are trying to match their ethics with the ethics of the cross. It is a challenging world to live in, and students who take a stand for what is right are getting to be more and more alone. Pray for them today.

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Every baby starts life as a little savage. He is completely selfish and self-centered. He wants what he wants when he wants it: his bottle, his mother's attention, his playmate's toys, his uncle's watch, or whatever. Deny him these and he seethes with rage and aggressiveness which would be murderous were he not so helpless. He's dirty, he has no morals, no knowledge, no developed skills. This means that all children, not just certain children but all children, are born delinquent. If permitted to continue in their self-centered world of infancy, given free reign to their impulsive actions to satisfy each want, every child would grow up a criminal, a thief, a killer, a rapist.

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