Cheating on rise as American morals decline

By: Robert Bell and Caitlin Street, Staff Writers

Posted: 2/17/06

The current morality of many people in the United States regarding honesty, integrity and values is in serious decline, said David Callahan, author of "The Cheating Culture: Why More Americans Are Doing Wrong to Get Ahead."

Callahan spoke to students and faculty at the Reynold's Center Wednesday. He cited several examples of everyday dishonesty.

Studies show that two-thirds to three-quarters of high school students admit to some cheating, he said. Employee theft accounts for losses of more than $60 billion each year, while dollars lost to tax evasion totals are roughly equal to the U.S. gross domestic product.

"I guess what surprised me as I dug into this dark side of American life, is that a lot of the people who were cutting corners to get ahead academically, professionally and financially, these are normal people," he said. "This is not some kind of 'them' problem, this is an 'us' problem."

Many of the people who would cheat on their taxes are not the kind of people who would even think of stealing so much as a candy bar from a convenience store, he said.

One reason for this sort of contradiction is that many people are going through life with two separate moral compasses,

Callahan said. The first compass dictates decisions people make regarding sex, drugs, violence or drunk driving. The second compass guides behavior when it comes to getting ahead in school, work or money matters, he said. The second compass has developed because America has changed in the last few decades, Callahan said.

"When it comes to money and success, we have become more cut throat," he said. "It's more of a dog-eat-dog society."

There are several temptations that people in the "cheating culture" succumb to get ahead, Callahan said. The first reason is that there is a vast income gap today in America that didn't exist decades ago, he said.

Pay for people at the top of the corporate world is so much more than for those at the bottom that the natural persuasion is to do whatever it takes to make more money, he said.

And this trend isn't just limited to corporations, Callahan said. Athletes nowadays make much more money than they ever have before, which tempts some players to use steroids, he said.

"Sluggers today make more money in a single year than somebody like Mickey Mantle or Willie Mays made in an entire lifetime," Callahan said.

The top one percent of Americans today makes more money than the bottom 100 million Americans put together, he said. Therefore it isn't surprising that so many people are cutting corners to get ahead, he said.

There has been a tendency to demonize CEOs after financial scandals such as those at Worldcom and Enron, but Callahan doesn't think that those involved in the corruption are necessarily bad people.

"I don't think they're that much different from anybody else," he said. "I think that, for the most part, they are ordinary people who were subjected to extraordinary temptation."

The second reason that cheating is more tempting these days is that people are afraid, Callahan said. "People are afraid of falling behind and seeing those hopes for a secure and comfortable life slip away," he said. "And they are afraid for some pretty good reasons."

Workers are under a great deal more pressure than ever before, while pensions are becoming a thing of the past and 47 million Americans don't have health insurance, he said.

"These days, there are a lot of people who did everything right, who are feeling pretty anxious about having that American dream, that comfortable life and bringing home the bacon," Callahan said.

Callahan used the example of baseball again, citing players who weren't necessarily stars, but rookies and average players. Many of them felt the temptation to use steroids to keep ahead of the rest, out of fear of getting dropped from teams, Callahan said.

In years past, failed players could at least have the security of getting a middle-class union job with a pension and health care if baseball didn't work out, Callahan said. But that isn't the case anymore.

"If you're a washed up baseball player with only high school or college degree, you're in trouble," he said. "And so I think the heat is on for some of these players."

If people are given the choice between a very abstract concept like personal integrity, and a very real concept like financial security, many people will go for financial security, Callahan said.

Another reason why people are tempted to cheat is simply because nobody is looking, Callahan said.

"Nearly every area where you find rampant cheating, you find sleeping watch dogs," he said. "And in some cases, watchdogs that have been put to sleep."

Many key government oversight agencies like the Internal Revenue Service and the Securities and Exchange Commission are shamefully understaffed, Callahan said.

"The SEC knew what was going on during the late 90's with the earnings reporting problems," he said. "But they just couldn't do anything about it."

Failure to punish cheating can lead to another temptation, and that is that everybody is doing it, Callahan said. When cheating is so rampant and nobody is getting caught, even people of high personal integrity may begin to have doubts about their values, he said.

"People may begin to think to themselves, 'Why should I be the chump who dots every I and crosses every T?'" Callahan said.

But despite all of the widespread corruption in the United States, Callahan maintains that he is an optimist.

"I do think that we can build a fairer, more honest America," he said. "And I see two principle strategies for doing this. One is to change society and two is to change ourselves."

Callahan spoke of the broken social contract in the United States, and listed three recommendations to fix it.

The first is that anyone who works hard and plays by the rules should be able to have a secure life in the wealthiest country in the world, Callahan said. It isn't fair that so many people are swimming in debt or are only one major illness away from personal bankruptcy, he said.

"I think we need to invest more in higher education so that four years of college doesn't leave students with four decades of debt," he said. "Student debt is a huge source of insecurity."

The second recommendation would be that anyone who cheats, rich or poor, should be held to the same standard of justice. Too many people at the top who cheat get away with a slap on the wrist, which makes everyone else cynical, Callahan said.

"We need to change this by waking up some of these sleeping watchdogs, sharpening their teeth and getting them on the case," he said.

The third recommendation would be that every person would have a say in how the rules of society are made, he said.

"If the rules were more fair, people would cheat less," Callahan said.

Callahan said businesses are making advancements in ethics today.

"I think a lot of innovation is happening in business ethics," he said. "Those ethics can make a difference."

In addition to sponsoring the lecture, the Walton College of Business has updated its curriculum to counteract unethical business practices.

"Ethics and Corporate Responsibility," a required course that deals with business ethics was added last semester. Walton College professor Jon Johnson, who taught a section of the course last fall, said he hoped it would provide students with some kind of ethical guidance.

"The class is structured to begin with ethical decision-making at the individual level, then moving to ethical decision-making as it relates to business management, and moving up to the level of the firm and the role that it plays in the community and larger society," Johnson said. "We are simply hoping to expose students to all of the ethical issues involved at each of these levels, and to give them insights into their own ethical approaches."