Ethics Boundaries Still Appear Fuzzy

"As pressure has increased and as the competition to get into college and to excel has grown, that has led to more stress among students, and then they resort to cheating," said Christopher S. Garran, principal of Walter Johnson High School in Bethesda, where students and parents must sign an academic integrity pledge.

Lindsay Deutsch and Danny Fersh, reporters for the Pitch, the school's student newspaper, became so concerned about the problem that they conducted a voluntary survey, in which 74 percent of students admitted to cheating.

Fersh, 16, said that no students said they bought term papers or cheated on major exams but that some said they occasionally cut corners on homework assignments, such as copying homework, or quizzes, when they might ask previous test-takers about the questions.

"When you're up against a deadline, it's 1 a.m. in the morning and you've got five hours of work to do and no way to stay awake, people decide the risk is worth it," he said.

Garran said there have been isolated incidents of cheating at school. He said that in some cases, the advent of the Internet, text messaging and other technology has muddied the definition of what is appropriate. But he added that it is up to teachers and parents to be clear where the boundaries are.

That's part of the reason why, for the first time, teachers at Seneca Valley High School in Germantown will include computer ethics in the annual Senior Ethics Day next month. The goal is to get students thinking about what's appropriate when it comes to online behavior, said Nancy Sommer, who helps coordinate the program.

Steve Miller, who teaches Advanced Placement government and economics at Walter Johnson, said he doesn't think there's been an increase in cheating so much as a change in attitude.

"Students seem to think there's an unspoken agreement about certain types of cheating," he said. "I don't think that's true. I think teachers are appalled by it in almost every case."

Josephson said that the percentage of students who lie, cheat or steal could be higher than the survey found. When asked, 27 percent of the students admitted that they lied on at least one survey question.