will look better to prospective employers when I finish my undergrad or post grad work. When my employer sees my work ethic, he/she will be impressed, and I’ll advance in my career, thus attaining the satisfaction of a job well done. I’ll be able to pass these valuable lessons along to my own children when they are old enough to understand the meaning of honest work. And, yes, I might just make more money while I’m at it.
Perhaps more of us should read Daniel Goleman’s ground-breaking work, Emotional Intelligence. In a longitudinal study of valedictorians and salutatorians, most had attained only moderate success several years after graduating high school.8 Furthermore, the SAT, he says, has proven to be a rather poor predictor of future success, along with grade point averages. And by “success” Goleman is not necessarily talking about college. Let’s look beyond college, and carefully consider what really matters to employers: honesty, a good work ethic, ability to get along with peers, ability to take criticism well, being a team player, having a can-do attitude, punctuality, living a drug-free life and many more.
Honor in Our Schools: Chemo at Work
One of the greatest achievements at our high school in the past dozen or so years—even beyond all of our state titles in athletics—has been the formation of our honor council. Eleven students, two faculty members and I sit on the council. We only hear cases involving lying, cheating and stealing. We don’t hear many cases, but I’d be lying if I said we didn’t have any. In my twelve years serving the honor council, I’d say that 99% of the students who come before us admit to what they’ve done upfront. I’ve often joked that our council can draw the truth from a student quicker than sodium pentothal, and I don’t believe that’s an exaggeration. For the most part, our cases involve instances of academic dishonesty, and we hear the same justifications in case after case: I had too much homework last night. Teachers expect too much of students. I don’t even like this class. I had four tests today and could only study for three. Everyone in the class cheats. (Aside from hyperbole, this is the bandwagon fallacy in all its glory.) I’m under a lot of pressure to get into a good school. I forgot to study for this test so I made a cheat sheet. Our honor council members cringe when they hear these excuses.
High Achievers
A well-publicized survey discovered that 80% of the students listed in Who’s Who Among American High School Students have cheated.8 Kate Kessler, in her essay Helping High School Students Understand Academic Integrity, calls it “academic misconduct.” I think that’s a very appropriate term and one I wish more schools would use.
The pressure to stay on top is as real as the pressure to avoid the sewer. Ivy League-bound students cheat just the same as those who are headed for other schools, and many of us in education find that disturbing. Again, let’s listen to the undercurrents from those on top: Of course I cheat. Do you have any idea how much pressure we’re under to get to the top and stay there? I can’t mess up on one test or I’m dead meat. There are plenty of other students chomping at my heels. I do poorly on a test and I might ruin my class ranking. I CAN’T lose my class ranking.
Deal-Making Feeds Justifications
After the bell rang ending 4th period one day, a girl edged up to the front of the room and informed me that she had to make a 3.0 or her parents would not take her car shopping. I smiled, gathered up my belongings, and told her I thought she was more-than-capable of achieving a 3.0 if she put her mind to it. “You don’t understand,” she said, “I need an ‘A’ in this class.” I paused, and then told her, rather firmly, not to concern me with any private deals struck at her family dinner table. Talk about your motivation to cheat. What’s a plagiarized paper when you can be shopping for a Mustang by term’s end?
In Emotional Intelligence, Daniel Goleman socks it to American parents, while he praises Asians for the work ethic they instill in their children. If an Asian child comes home with a 70 on a math test, for example, the parents might ask the child how much time he/she spent studying. If the answer is thirty minutes, the parents inform the child he/she will now study one hour for all math tests. If the next grade is an 85, the parents up the ante to an hour-and-a-half.9 The lesson is a powerful one, and makes it clear that time and effort will solve most problems. Excuses, on the other hand, will solve nothing. We’ve all heard the expression If at first you don’t succeed… Unfortunately, American children too often follow the words of W.C. Fields: If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Then quit. There’s no sense in being a damn fool about it.
Giving Our Kids Built-In Excuses
As American parents, some of us (and I do emphasize some) have a bit of soul-searching to do. We say things, to our kids like, “It’s okay, honey. I know you’re not very good at math. I know you struggle with English. I’ll call your teacher tomorrow morning and straighten things out.” On the other hand, according to Goleman, that same conversation involving an Asian parent might sound a whole lot different: “Get back in that room and study some more.” Consider the countless American parents who have said, “I’ll call the principal. In the meantime, Mommy will write your report for you.” What message is the parent sending the child?
Our honor council recently saw a young man accused of cheating on a Geometry test. He admitted to the deed, claiming he rarely understood anything in the class. “I didn’t know any of the answers, so I had to look at someone’s paper. I couldn’t just sit there and do nothing,” he said. Little did he know the teacher had passed out two versions of the test, and he had all the correct answers to the wrong test. The kids on the council felt so bad for the boy they assigned him several hours of work in our school’s tutoring program. A few of them personally offered him help if he wanted it. His mother had a simple take on the situation that, unfortunately, did not even remotely address the honor issue. “I know he struggles with math,” she said. And that was that. If that isn’t a tacit excuse for academic misconduct, I don’t know what is.
Our parents are very supportive of our educational mission. They genuinely want their children to earn a top-notch education, and earn it the honest way. But I know there will always be some who see the school thing as a bottom line business: grades, class rank, teacher recommendations, college acceptance, and diploma—by any means. I often wonder what they’re thinking as they watch the commencement exercises, and the graduates parading across the stage. The parents whose sons and daughters earned the diploma the honest way, can be proud of a job well done. But what can the others, the members of TheWinning Class, pride themselves on? The bottom line, apparently. Talk about the pressure to cheat. Talk about your need to have a little chat with Leon Festinger.
Конец
