Notes for the Facilitator

Currently, the issues of cheating and academic integrity are rampant in both public and private schools. High achieving students will openly state that everyone does it, and if they are to succeed on the path to college, they have to do it too. I talked to a senior recently who applied early to Brown along with a classmate. The classmate cheated on a regular basis. He discussed the situation with his parents and decided to stick to his ethics. He is bitter and angry about his decision because his classmate was accepted and he was not. He feels if he had cheated, he would have been the one accepted. On the other hand, lower achieving students feel cheating is one of the only ways to keep afloat in increasingly stressful learning communities. They feel in competition for limited resources and opportunities for both help and success.

The other factor that is relevant here is a growing separation between “self” and “community.” Loyalty to self is becoming increasingly more emphasized than loyalty to a larger community. One’s own purpose is trumping a larger one. The fact that my students go from class to homework to “myspace” and then go to sleep isn’t helping.

Our communities need reminding that character education and ethical behavior reflect more an attitude or approach than a program or honor code. Instead of talking about inappropriate or appropriate behavior in our schools, we need to talk about right and wrong. We need to realize that our kids need to feel a loyalty and larger sense of purpose in connection with their schools or communities. If they don’t feel that, understanding the significance of ethical behavior becomes more than a challenge; it becomes next to impossible.