When it comes to honesty, trust, respect and responsibility, a recent study shows that Greencastle-Antrim School District students “are like all kids across the nation,” according to one administrator.

The 2006 Report Card on the Ethics of American Youth by the Josephson Institute of Ethics compared the answers of 636 Greencastle-Antrim High School students with students nationwide.

Students participating in the study answered 62 questions ranging from how safe they feel at school to whether it is worthwhile to cheat on a test…

The final question on the survey asked students how many of the questions they answered with total honesty. About 75 percent of Greencastle students said they answered every question honestly, while out of about 35,000 students who took the survey nationwide, only 73 percent said they answered every question honestly.

Greencastle was on par with the nation ethically, but not on every question of the survey...

This was the first time Greencastle-Antrim students participated in the study, and Crider said the data will prove invaluable…

“The study puts numbers and data to the ethical concepts we teach,” Crider said. “It tells me our character education program is working.”

Beginning in primary school, Greencastle-Antrim School District teaches Character Counts!, a program that stresses to students the importance of six pillars of character — trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring and citizenship…

The above excerpts are from an article that ran in the Herald-Mail. To read the full article, click here.