Survey says: Too many kids admit cheating

It wouldn't be wise to put too much stock into a survey conducted by a high school class, but we don't see reason to doubt the one conducted by a Grand Island Senior High School modern problems class.

Four students created and distributed about 1,900 surveys, got about 1,200 back and found 1,120 of those usable -- that's already a success rate that should impress anyone who's ever tried to conduct a survey.

But the results weren't very encouraging.

According to the results, 48 percent of students said that they did not cheat in the past year, but that could be interpreted to mean that 52 percent had cheated over that time.

Forty percent said they cheated five or fewer times, 5 percent said they cheated 6-10 times, and 7 percent said they had cheated more than 10 times.

There was little difference between boys and girls.

If they're telling the truth, the high rate of cheating can probably be blamed on a number of factors -- laziness and lack of high moral standards are the first that come to mind.

But new pressure to compete and strict testing standards may also be counted among the causes.

And, reforms that create added pressure for educators to "teach to the test" certainly don't encourage strict enforcement of cheating rules.

We doubt a similar survey conducted anywhere else in the state would product results that were much different from those found in Grand Island.

Somehow, appreciation for a true education that can't necessarily be measured by test scores must be restored. Along the way, the truth of the old cliché that cheaters are only cheating themselves must be made to sink in.