ETHICS—Michael Josephson, right, founder of Character Counts, shares pleasantries with Cal Johnston, left, chair of the local Boys & Girls Clubs, and Albert “Bud” Marley, former superintendent of Las Virgenes Unified School District. Josephson gave a keynote address during a Boys & Girls Clubs of Conejo & Las Virgenes breakfast meeting last week. Josephson emphasized the importance of instilling ethical behavior in children. STEPHANIE BERTHOLDO/Acorn Newspapers Survey results that revealed unethical and sometimes dangerous behavior among U.S. high school students were unveiled to the public at a recent Boys & Girls Clubs seminar in Agoura Hills.

Lying, cheating and stealing among today’s teens is rampant, according to a survey conducted in 2008 by the Josephson Institute, a nonprofit organization founded by Michael Josephson whose Character Counts program helps public school students focus on ethical and moral behavior.

Josephson presented the survey results at the inaugural “It Just Takes One” campaign breakfast hosted April 21 by the Boys & Girls Clubs of Conejo & Las Virgenes.

The event was at the Renaissance Hotel.

Josephson said parents face many hurdles when it comes to teaching values to their children. Raising kids with a focus on good character rather than winning at all costs presents a difficult but necessary challenge, he said.

The survey results were compiled in the 2008 Report Card on the Ethics of American Youth. The report was based on a survey of 30,000 students in high schools across the United States, said Josephson.

According to the report, 82 percent of students surveyed said they have lied to their parents, while 64 percent said they have lied to their teachers. Another 64 percent said they’ve cheated on exams.

More than one-third of the respondents also said they have cheated on assignments, specifically on essays that required research. The students copied information from the Internet and submitted plagiarized material.

Nearly a quarter of the students surveyed have stolen from their parents or a relative, and 30 percent of students said they have shoplifted from retailers.

A large number of students also admitted to binge drinking, drug use and early sex, sometimes by force. Eleven percent of the high school girls surveyed said they’ve been forced to have sex at least one time, and 14 percent of the girls said they’ve been pregnant at least once. Fifteen percent of all high school students have had sex with at least four different partners.

Josephson said the numbers of students exhibiting such behavior was “staggering.” But he added that 26 percent of the students surveyed said that they had lied on at least one survey question.

“These are really conservative numbers,” Josephson said. There were probably a higher number of students who lied about lying on the survey, he said.

Josephson said complacency in society can be blamed for the rise in unethical behavior among children.

“Children need to be actively engaged,” he said. Too often children are allowed to “fall off the cliff.” Parents must find ways to anticipate the challenges their children face and stop them from making poor decisions that could hurt them for years to come, he said.

Josephson said the Boys & Girls Clubs has come to the rescue of many children.

“You can’t say there’s no room on the plate—it is the plate,” he said of the need for parents to take the time to focus on what matters in the lives of their children.

Qualities that children need to incorporate into their lives include trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring and citizenship, he said.

Stephanie Fleishman, an eighthgrade student at Colina Middle School, was named the club’s Youth of the Year for her leadership abilities, teamwork, service and commitment to her family and community.

Una Grunfeld, a parent from Club Chaparral in Calabasas, told guests about her struggle to find meaningful after-school activities for her children as a single working mother.

“I was still thinking day care when I came to Chaparral,” Grunfeld said. As it turned out, the program at Chaparral Elementary School provided her 9-year-old child with much more than a place to hang out after school.

“What I teach at home is being reinforced at the club,” Grunfeld said. “He has a whole new sense of confidence. . . . It’s priceless.”

Grunfeld said that many boys are being raised without male role models and the example of manhood they receive from watching television is less than desirable. The Character Counts program used at the club has had a lasting effect on her son, she said.

The breakfast raised money for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Conejo & Las Virgenes.

Cal Johnston, the oganization’s chair, said donations by honorees Joel and Joan Smilow and others have allowed the club to pay off its debt for the club at Colina Middle School in Thousand Oaks and start on a new club at Lindero Canyon Middle School in Agoura Hills.