Tuesday, December 2, 2008

You've Been Very, Very Bad





According to a recent study conducted by the Josephson Institute (yeah, I haven't heard of it, either), today's teens are a bunch of budding criminals.

Of the thirty-thousand high school students surveyed, 30% said they had stolen something from a store in the past year. 42% said they sometimes lie to save money. And a whopping 64% claim to have cheated on a test in the past year.

Even more frightening? 26% of the students said they had even lied while taking the survey!

(See more of the results here.)

The Josephson Institute seems to believe that these numbers are evidence that society is crumbling around us. What do you think? Do these results seem accurate to you? The only thing that really shocks me about all of this is that people would be so honest while taking a survey.

23 comments:

WrittenChaos said...

I read about this in the newspaper, and the article said that the people conducting the survey think people cheat more often nowadays because we are so much more stressed. I believe it!

Kitty said...

XD 26% lied while taking the survey

Random Irregular said...

The survey results don't surprise me. And the fact that are they being honest whilst participating in the survey? Psaw!

Nellie said...

Bad, bad bad. Not good AT ALL.

And the 26% who lied while taking the survey? What if that was a lie? *gulps*

Meredith said...

Oh, yeah, we're all a bunch of criminals. (I bet the people who did the survey did each of those things when they were kids) But what about The Rebelution?
http://therebelution.com

Some Lost Melody said...

Wow. I would never do any of that stuff. If you are going to lie why wouldn't you lie about lying on the survey? I don't get liars. xD

Queen Of Useless Information said...

I think its depressing that adults really think that kids are just little criminals. My dad saw that survey in the paper and was freaking out and basically said that us kids are just evil and that adults give us to much independence.

Ren (All By MySHELF) said...

I would never think of stealing anything... in real life. I have thought about mastermind heists on a few occasions, but only for books. I plan to write two or three series about teenage spies.

Hazel said...

OK, I admit it. I'm a hardened criminal. I shoplift, deal drugs, cheat, vandalize, forge signatures, rob banks, burglarize houses,joyride in stolen cars, and lie about it on surveys. When I get too bored, I stalk and kill random strangers and stash the bodies in my closet. I can't help it! I'm a teenager! Aaaaah!

jenna said...

Hah, that's cool!
Nellie, They couldn't have lied on the last one, because then they have lied. (I think.)

eternal espionage said...

Maybe some people were lying about lying on the survey?... lo :D or maybe they took it anonymously?

Irregular Kiki said...

Meredith: I totally agree with you. Okay, shoplifting, maybe not everyone does it - it's actually a real crime, a bad one. But cheating in tests? Almost everyone I know does it!

LittleChar said...

I think after you cross any line in regards to the law you've crossed it.
everybody sins
we are all very likely candidates for criminal genius :)

Nellie said...

Hazel: So THAT'S where the unbearable stink is coming from! Rotting bodies!XD

Irregular Kiki: Do YOU cheat, or just your friends? :P

invisible turtle said...

Maybe they would have gotten different results if they surveyed different people. How do they know those results were out of the ordinary, anyway?

Maybe the people who lied said that they HAD stolen something/cheated/lied to save money. You never know.

dangerous said...

Lolz, though unsurprising.

TheMog said...

I have heard of this survey before and even filled one out once in high school.

It is possibly the most useless and least reliable survey I have ever seen.

Irregular Kiki said...

Nellie: I do cheat. Whether it's giving answers to another person, or getting them from another person, I'm being honest, I do cheat. But not always of course. Just in desperate situations.

falcon said...

Leave it to adults to be boring and call us criminals.

I mean, really, the correct term is "scam artists"
XD

Undiscovered Universe said...

OK, so if some of the people lied while taking the survey, the results are bogus. End of story.
Not to mention, if there are 26% who lied, wouldn't that mean that there would be more who lied about lying? Making the survey even more bogus!
Adults these days think we are all a bunch of criminals. Which is totally wrong, they're is no reason kids now would lie/cheat/etc more then kids in the 80's or whatever.
Not to mention they say we are criminals, then go off and talk about not being bias.

Wow that came on a bit strong, didn't mean it to be so blunt, sorry! :)

42 said...

I mean, honestly. I've never stolen any thing from a store.

42 said...

Oh wait, never mind.

Anonymous said...

Teenage Crimewave. Believe it or not I have seen that movie. It was without a doubt the worst movie I have ever seen. Next to Plan 9 from Outer Space, that is.