Dman,
My old private, prep high school is now facing a crisis. It always ran on
the 'honor code.' Given honor that we would be honest and not cheat, we
lived up to that standard. We may have done a lot of things in our
generation [drugs/alcohol, etc.] that were illegal, but by and large,
cheating was 'beneath us.' Some residue of integrity was left in us,
however marred by the 'lusts of the flesh.' :-)
The crisis? Up to a third of the senior class now faces expulsion because
of a massive cheating scandal. The fabric of the integrity seems to have
been shredded by the climate of moral and ethical relativism that pervades
our social ethics. I mean, after all, what does the word "is" really mean.
:-) If all is really relative then is is a relative term as well.
A few years ago, I wrote a piece that points to the philosophy of modern
education as a root cause. It's called, "Why Johnny Can't Think." Using
values clarification and self esteem, we've gutted ourselves of the need for
accountability, responsibility and integrity. My wife is a teacher in the
school system, and often her hands are tied. One of her co-teachers said of
the self-esteem program's end results: "Now the kids are dumb as doorknobs
and PROUD OF IT!" I.e., they don't need or want the teachers to tell them
what to do, and say that the teachers have no right to tell them what's
right or wrong. All authority is gone. What makes me feel good is right,
anything that makes me feel uncomfortable or unhappy is wrong. Therefore,
video games, good; homework, bad.
Here's an excerpt from the article:
"The problem with a steady diet of this type of literature [fantasy lit. vs.
classical lit.] is that it does not teach a child to distinguish between his
own impulses and right and wrong. Without guidelines in social morality, the
child is left to decide for himself right and wrong based upon what he feels
like inside. The phrase "you do what you think is right," is the operative
principle of humanistic morality. This values clarification model is used in
health, sex ed., drug awareness, and through literature it invades every
other area of education. But what happens to a generation that likes drugs
because it feels good or is willing to kill because someone makes them feel
bad?
"As a generation of children is inundated with this world view, they
gradually lose their ability to think ethically, make moral decisions, or
restrain their behavior. Instead of being taught to sacrifice themselves for
the benefit of others, they are taught to think selfishly. As a result, many
of today's youth see other people as an obstacle to obtaining their desires;
so, if they see a jacket or sneakers they like, they are willing to kill for
it and take what they want. They have no self-restraint. They have not been
taught it. Many of those teenagers arrested for murder now define
justifiable homicide as 'he got in my face,' or 'he made fun of me.' They
show no remorse nor do they show any concern that murder might not be the
right thing to do. The concentration is on 'me, my wants, and what makes me
feel good.' "
http://www.scholarscorner.com/Scriptum/misc.htm#Johnny
And the students
have no compunctions about switching email addresses without warning or
about failing to sign their notes or their attached assignments.
Most of the whole generation (probably it includes more of you reading
this than are here of my generation and ilk) is down the toilet, I'm
sorry to say. I catch them with regularity plagiarizing, and often they
express no guilt and state no apology. And these are not brilliant
plagiarism jobs, I can tell you! Somebody who can't differentiate
"there" from "their" or "they're" for six English papers in a row,
and suddenly he's sending in an article verbatim out of the _Atlantic
Monthly_.
Oh: two weeks ago some student stole, out of a classroom where I'd left
them, my overcoat and gloves (inherited from my father, the both) and a
wonderful winter beret that was a present from my girlfriend from this
last Christmas.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jefferis Peterson, Pres.
Web Design and Marketing
http://www.PetersonSales.com
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