Our Centers for Ethics:

The Ethics of American Youth: 2004

Josephson Institute Report Card

According to a national survey of high school students by Josephson Institute, nearly two-thirds cheated on exams and more than quarter stole from a store within the past 12 months.

The 2004 Report Card on the Ethics of American Youth, a biennial national survey conducted by Josephson Institute, reveals high levels of cynicism about the ethics of successful people and the prevalence of cheating among them. Two-thirds of boys and more than half of girls agree that "In the real world, successful people do what they have to do to win, even if others consider it cheating." In addition, half the boys and a third of the girls agree that "A person has to lie or cheat sometimes in order to succeed."

Michael Josephson, founder and president of Josephson Institute, said of the study: "Although the Report Card continues to contain failing grades, there is reason for hope. For the first time in 12 years, the cheating and theft rates have dipped and students’ stated devotion to ethics is the strongest we've seen. While this results in a troubling inconsistency between words and actions, character education efforts should be able to build on the fundamental appreciation of ethics, character and trust to achieve continuing improvements in conduct."

Among the highlights:

• Character is key. Young people are almost unanimous in saying that ethics and character are important on both a personal level and in business, but they express very cynical attitudes about whether a person can be ethical and succeed.
  
• Goodness is more important than wealth. Ninety percent (90%) agree that "being a good person is more important than being rich," but twice as many boys disagree with this statement as girls (15% vs. 5%).
  
• Trust is more important than popularity. Ninety-one percent of all the students say it’s very important to have trusting personal relationships; only 19 percent say it’s crucial to be popular.
  
• Good morals are more important than good looks. Eighty-four percent say good moral character is very important as opposed to only 42 percent who rate physical attractiveness as very important.
  
• Helping others is more important than having money. Seventy-three percent say helping someone is very important; only 28 percent say being wealthy is.
  
• Being honorable is more important than being famous. Seventy percent say it’s very important to “be thought of as ethical and honorable” while only sixteen percent feel the same way about being famous.
  
• Lying has decreased. In the previous Report Card (2002), 83 percent of the students said they lied to a teacher in the past year; in 2004, that figure had dropped to 62 percent.
  
• Cheating has gone down. In the 2002 survey, 74 percent of the students admitted that had cheated on a test in the past year; in 2004, 62 percent said they had done so.
  
• Stealing has diminished. In 2002, 38 percent confessed that they had stolen from a store in the past year; in 2004, only 27 percent said they had done so.

The report was based on written surveys administered by randomly selected high schools throughout the country in 2004. It includes responses from 24,763 high school students. The margin of error is +/- 3 percent.