Kids are cheating in school more and more and they're getting really good at it
Check out these examples: Last January, students at Saratoga High School in California were caught using a high-tech device to steal a teacher's computer password so they could access the answers to tests.
At Salem High School in New Hampshire, a student was suspended for scanning report cards into their home computer and changing the grades not only for themselves, but for other students at a fee of $50 bucks per grade. And a survey of students at Texas A&M found that 80% admitted to cheating.
So why are kids cheating now more than ever? David Callahan is a psychologist and the author of "The Cheating Culture" and he says it's because kids feel more pressure to get ahead than in previous generations. There's more competition.
There's also a premium placed on brand-name colleges--Kids think if they don't get into Harvard or Stanford that they'll never get what they want out of life, so they'll cheat to get there.
Another factor that's compelling kids to cheat: Their sense of right and wrong is getting skewed.
Kids have seen their parents cheat on their taxes, they see athletes taking steroids to win, and they watch CEOs of big corporations cheating to get ahead--So in their minds they think, 'why not me?'
The most common form of cheating is downloading information off the internet. Any student can google the words 'term paper' and find millions of websites where they can buy a paper.
So what can be done?
So far 900 colleges and 3,200 high schools have hired services like Turn It In .com which scans students' papers against 6 billion pages of documents. If you're plagiarizing, you'll be caught in seconds.
But other educators think we need to teach kids about ethics starting in kindergarten. They also think teachers need to be more hands-on--Such as requiring outlines and rough drafts of papers in advance.
What I want to know is, what's going on with our kids? I know we have a lot of students listening-- Are you tempted to cheat? Do you know someone who does? Tell me about it toll free 866-865-TESH.
At Salem High School in New Hampshire, a student was suspended for scanning report cards into their home computer and changing the grades not only for themselves, but for other students at a fee of $50 bucks per grade. And a survey of students at Texas A&M found that 80% admitted to cheating.
So why are kids cheating now more than ever? David Callahan is a psychologist and the author of "The Cheating Culture" and he says it's because kids feel more pressure to get ahead than in previous generations. There's more competition.
There's also a premium placed on brand-name colleges--Kids think if they don't get into Harvard or Stanford that they'll never get what they want out of life, so they'll cheat to get there.
Another factor that's compelling kids to cheat: Their sense of right and wrong is getting skewed.
Kids have seen their parents cheat on their taxes, they see athletes taking steroids to win, and they watch CEOs of big corporations cheating to get ahead--So in their minds they think, 'why not me?'
The most common form of cheating is downloading information off the internet. Any student can google the words 'term paper' and find millions of websites where they can buy a paper.
So what can be done?
So far 900 colleges and 3,200 high schools have hired services like Turn It In .com which scans students' papers against 6 billion pages of documents. If you're plagiarizing, you'll be caught in seconds.
But other educators think we need to teach kids about ethics starting in kindergarten. They also think teachers need to be more hands-on--Such as requiring outlines and rough drafts of papers in advance.
What I want to know is, what's going on with our kids? I know we have a lot of students listening-- Are you tempted to cheat? Do you know someone who does? Tell me about it toll free 866-865-TESH.
