Results of a national survey released Monday reveal an increasing number of cheating is on the rise in U.S. high schools.
The study, conducted by the Josephson Institute for Ethics, a nonprofit organization in Los Angeles, asked nearly 30,000 high school students from 100 randomly selected high schools questions about lying, stealing and cheating.
Educators interviewed for a Monday Associated Press article said they thought cheating may stem from increased anxiety and pressure.
Linda Behar-Horenstein, a UF professor from the College of Education's department of educational administration and policy, disagrees.
"They need to learn time management, use their resources and ask for help," she said. "It's just excuse-making."
Behar-Horenstein said she believes if parents and teachers disciplined cheating more heavily, then they could begin to find a solution.
She credited the rise in cheating to students' lack of role models.
"The media identifies celebrity icons in trouble with the law as an everyday occurrence," Behar-Horenstein said. "And the response is so what, who cares?"
According to the results, 64 percent of students said they cheated on a test at least once last year, up from 60 percent in 2006.
More than half of those students - 38 percent - said they cheated two or more times in the past year.
Thirty-six percent of students admitted to using the Internet to plagiarize an assignment, an increase from 33 percent in 2006, according to a news release from the institute.
Also, 35 percent of boys and 26 percent of girls admitted to stealing during the past year, with both figures up three percentage points from the 2006 survey.
Dishonesty doesn't stop there. Eighty-three percent of students from public schools and religious private schools admitted they lied to a parent about something significant in the past year, according to the release.
But these numbers could be higher than the collected data: About one in four students admitted to lying on one or more of the survey's questions.
The survey's margin of error is 0.7 percent, according to the release.
Behar-Horenstein said she was saddened by the students' dishonesty.
Behar-Horenstein said there is a correlation between students who cheat in high school and students who cheat in college.
"If kids are actively cheating in high school, it won't stop in college," she said. "It's an ethical and moral dilemma."
