By SCRIPPS HOWARD

ETHICALLY CHALLENGED: According to a new report, lying, cheating and stealing by high school students continues to increase alarmingly. - AP

October 23, 2002 --

High-school students are not only cheating, lying and stealing more, but they are less ashamed of it than ever, according to a national survey released yesterday.

Of 12,000 students polled by the Josephson Institute of Ethics, 74 percent admitted to cheating on an exam once in the past year. Nearly four of 10 adolescents acknowledged stealing from a store during that time, and 93 percent confessed about lying to their parents or relatives.

These are the highest figures since the JIE started its biennial surveys in 1992. The study's publication coincides with the start of National Character Counts! week in 36 states.

Josephson researchers said they were most alarmed by the students' acceptance of their immoral actions.

Nearly half the respondents approved of lying occasionally to save money, while 37 percent were willing to lie to land a good job.

And virtually all of them - 95 percent - thought they would get away with the dishonesty.

"We adults have nobody to blame but ourselves," said Tom DeCair, spokesman for the nonprofit institute, which is based in Marina del Rey, Calif.

"Parents cheat on taxes, teachers deceive and sleep with their students, corporate CEOs swindle money . . . Even priests have violated the trust of children. We are raising today's cheats and thieves to become tomorrow's leaders."

Students say there are a variety of ways to break the rules: writing notes on their hands, desks and shoes; inputting answers into their calculators before a quiz; plagiarizing term papers - sometimes by copying an essay wholesale from one of dozens of "cheat sheet" Web sites.

Low self-esteem can heavily influence a teenager's character. That's the opinion of Paul Rodriguez, a California principal. Some students use illegal means to improve their grades, he said, because they feel a need to be recognized by their parents and classmates.

The drive toward academic excellence also becomes a negative excuse for cheating and lying, the Josephson study indicated. Honors students might justify ethical lapses as a necessity for keeping up with rigorous studies, said DeCair.

He also worried about elementary- and junior-high-school students. Children often imitate their older siblings, he said, prompting illegal behavior at an ever younger age.

Ethical behavior must be enforced in every place - at home, in school, at church, through scouting groups, on the ball field - the Josephson survey concluded. DeCair also stressed that offenders must be duly punished, with penalties that include suspension or expulsion from school.