As reported Sunday on MSNBC, high school kids break ethical boundaries frequently–including lying, cheating, and stealing. With 30% of students having stolen something from a store in the last year and 64% admitting to having cheated on a test, one has to wonder: why are our nation’s youth okay with breaking the rules?

The MSNBC article quotes one administrator who blames it on the pressures and competition of growing up as a teen today. The researchers conducting the study have surmised that the reason for all this cheating and stealing is because there is a sense of moral acceptability for these behaviors, the standard “well if she can do it, why can’t I?” line. This hypothesis is supported by the data that say that 93% of students say they are satisfied with their own ethical character.

However, what I find interesting, and missing, from this survey is any questioning about whether these respondents were ever caught or punished for their misdeeds. My hypothesis (untested as it is) is that high school students are willing to engage in unethical behaviors because they don’t believe that there are any negative consequences attached–be they punitive or the long-term erosion of their moral character. “If I can get away with it, why not?” is the standard line I would guess is going through a good number of teens’ heads these days.

Moreover, because they are still children, they don’t think about the long-term effects of their behavior or conceive of any kind of universalization principle that would give them pause. I doubt very many teens have ever considered, “What would happen not just if I steal, but if everyone else around me also started stealing? What kind of world would we have?” That kind of navel gazing is sadly unlikely among teens who are more focused on driver’s licenses and playing PlayStation 3 games than their moral fiber.

These results are troubling, for sure, and the real question remains can this trend be turned around? One has to hope so–otherwise this next generation is likely to suffer from a skewed sense of what is ethical, not just in school but in life.

Summer Johnson, PhD

(Hat tip to Art Caplan for the lead on this article.)