Teens across the country-and some right here at home-readily admit they cheat on their homework.

The 2004 Report Card on the Ethics of American Youth, a bi-annual national survey of students in grades 9 through 12, reports that more than 62 percent of teens say they cheated on exams within the year prior to the survey. Eighty-three percent had copied another's homework and 35 percent passed off information found on the Internet as their own at least once.

Why teens cheat

Teens justify cheating in many ways. Some of their top explanations include:

• Pressure to perform. As a college education becomes more and more important for future success, strong and struggling students alike are getting the message from lots of sources-family, teachers, college admissions counselors - that grades do count.
   
• "The pressure to do well is up. The demand to do good is down, way down, particularly if it's the kind of do-gooding that doesn't show up on a college application," said Harvard University professor Dr. Dan Kindlon in a recent article in The New York Times. Kindlon is also the author of Too Much of a Good Thing: Raising Children of Character in an Indulgent Age.
   
• Lack of motivation. Teens can fail to see the connection between what they are learning now and what they'll be doing five years from now. When the learning doesn't seem relevant, is repetitive-think memorization of the periodic table of the elements-or just plain "boring," teens can feel justified in getting through it in the quickest way possible. This can mean sharing work with friends and finding ways to cheat during exams.
   
• "Everybody else is doing it." During the teen years, peer pressure can be intense. Wanting to measure up and fit in can often sway even the most ethical kids to do things they know are wrong. And honest students who don't cheat might fear getting lower grades than their peers who do.

Cheating goes high-tech

Crib notes written on hands and cheat sheets sticking from the top of binders are so "old school" compared to the technology many teens now use to cheat at school.

The Internet has made researching topics much easier for students, and there are many legitimate online study aids such as Sparknotes and CliffNotes that can give students a leg up academically.

However, the Internet has also made it faster and simpler for students to plagiarize (e.g., copy what they find when researching online into a research paper, and then pass it off as their own.) Computer-based instant messaging (IM) and cell phone's text messaging also make it possible for students to privately "collaborate" with friends on school work-even tests- that they should be completing on their own.

Helping stem the cheating trend: What families can do

Despite teens' admissions about cheating, the majority of the 24,763 students surveyed for the recent Report Card on the Ethics of American Youth, gave themselves high marks for character-74 percent said their own ethics were better than those of their peers. And almost all-98 percent-said that honesty, ethics and good character are very important personal traits.

Though this inconsistency might seem puzzling, researchers say that many kids view cheating as a necessary evil. After all, many of the successful-and high-paid-giants of sports, business, politics and entertainment have gotten where they are by bending the rules (a.k.a. cheating). And often, kids convince themselves that if they aren't caught cheating, then it isn't wrong.

So what can you as a parent do to discourage your teen from cheating? Here are some ideas:

• Talk with your teens about cheating in a non-confrontational way (e.g., starting the conversation with a line like "Hey, I just read some overwhelming statistics about teens and cheating" vs. "Have you ever cheated with your schoolwork?") Popular movies and news reports that feature those who cheat can help spark a conversation. Let teens know you understand there can be a lot of pressure to perform well at school, and that the temptation to get through by cheating might be powerful. But also let them know that you believe cheating is wrong, that it short-changes them academically and is not the way you want them to achieve school success.
   
• Frequently check the Internet bookmarks/search history on your family computer. There are hundreds of Web sites that offer access to term papers and other research papers, including Cheater.com, CheatHouse.com and Ezwrite.com among others. If you find that someone in your family has been visiting these types of sites, determine who it was and then ask why. This lets kids know that you are keeping track and that you care about what they see and do online. For more information on plagiarism and the Internet, link to http://www.plagiarized.com/.
   
• Familiarize yourself with the school district's policy on cheating and the laws regarding plagiarizing and copyright infringement. Sometimes the threat of being found out, having to pay fines and possibly even serve jail time are enough to keep teens on the straight and narrow.

For permission to reprint this article, please contact the Capital Region BOCES Communications Service by e-mailing dbushsuf@gw.neric.org.

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