Pupils, Police and Integrity: Lessons in Responsibility

There’s something disturbingly symmetrical about the timing of last Sunday’s account of cheating at La Jolla High School coming in the midst of the San Diego Police Department’s ticket-fixing controversy.

Though quite different on the surface, both deal with the inability of people to accept responsibility for their actions. Both betray an attitude that says: “The rules that apply to others don’t apply to me.” And both probably involve people who see themselves as having a high degree of integrity.

To its credit, La Jolla High School and its principal, J.M. Tarvin, have examined the cheating problem and are attacking it head-on. Other schools, both public and private, should do the same.

The La Jolla study found that 65% of the students had cheated on at least one of their last 10 assignments or tests. A statewide survey last year found that 60% admitted cheating regularly.

Students and teachers interviewed for The Times’ story on the cheating survey made much of La Jolla High’s tough academic standards and competitive nature.

We hope those interviewed and those who read the comments recognized them as rationales for unacceptable behavior, not legitimate reasons for it.

Principal Tarvin correctly points out that most parents want their children to be honest and want them to succeed, but that those goals can often come into conflict.

What parents and teachers must also convey to young people is that their quality of life will not only be determined by what college they attend or job they get, but also by how easy it is for them to look at themselves in the mirror.

Neither ticket-fixing nor copying someone’s homework approximates the Brinks job.

But both play a significant role in undermining the basic fairness and integrity of our society.