Morning in the office. I'm finally listening to that Pat Metheny CD, One Quiet Night. Getting the day started.

Yesterday read that over 40 percent of college students plagiarize papers from the Internet. Most students see cheating as morally wrong, but "socially acceptable," I read as well. All very depressing. I noticed that many articles I read about the subject made some sort of reference to the Enron scandal.

There are a number of reasons this all happens, of course. We live in a culture where most believe that one can (and often should) do whatever they can get away with. Many write about how difficult school (particularly college) is, or how important it is to get good grades. Of course we can explore the moral and ethical dissipation of our world. And as we know, success breeds success. If students continue to get away with cheating, then they often feel they will always get away it. Few realize (or care) that "getting away with it" at school does not mean that you will do so in life. Many students tell themselves that since the class is one they "won't really use" in real life (whatever the heck that means), it is certainly okay to cheat to through.

Why would we hire a doctor who gets answers for his Algebra class? Do I really want to go to a lawyer who cannot do the critical thinking required to write a literature paper because he was able to download something from the Internet? Why should I respect a policeman who has paid someone to sit in on his Biology lab?

I need to write more about this later, but for now, I have work to do.
Peace.