Mrs. Young shared an article with me recently that came from the San Diego Tribune. The article, an opinion piece, was titled, “High school scandal.”[1] I would like to it with you today.
“'Our worst technological nightmare has just occurred,” the memo began. The assistant principal at Rancho Bernardo High, Keith Koelzer, described how eight Advanced Placement students hacked into the school's network, stole tests, altered grades and changed transcripts. “They are all smart,” he concluded, “but they have no wisdom.”
He recounted the heartbreak of one boy's parents, the shamed silence of an uninvolved classmate who knew a month earlier but did not speak up.
This scandal has clouded eight bright futures; it has disgraced Rancho Bernardo High and the acclaimed Poway Unified School District. While an embarrassed district tried to hide the scandal, don't place the ethical failure on the schools. Remember, “It takes a village to raise a child.”
By contrast, an ethical success story has occurred each year since 1990 in the East County. The East County Chamber of Commerce and Grossmont Union High School District bring 150 high school seniors and 40 adult facilitators together for a morning of discussions on ethical situations. The lead case study this year was from Harvard in 2005. Some 119 high school seniors used a stolen password to peak in and see if they had been accepted for admission. Some 119 seniors lost their Harvard careers to an ethical lapse.
Doug Deane, president of DSD Business Systems of San Diego, is ethics program director. Next year's ethical dilemma, he expects, will be from Rancho Bernardo High.
Typically, on issues like this, Deane said, “The kids have super-optimism, that they will not get caught. They have a sense of entitlement, they deserve it.” Typically, their support system fails them.
The ethics program, while unique, costs under $1,000, and Deane and the East County chamber are quite willing to share.
Children learn ethics from adults: coaches, youth organization leaders, Sunday School teachers and more. They also learn from peers. What if a classmate had had the courage to speak up?
It does take a village.”
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