Values keep changing

The Wall Street Journal and some smaller publications started writing about the studies that talk about dishonesty becoming more prevalent in the primary grades just as the Capital Hill problems appeared. Was it a coincidence? The problems have been there but I guess it was time to confront the issues.

As an educator, I stressed the point that the truth is always obvious because the facts don’t change. Hearing the phrase, I take the Fifth, brought back memories of that term being used a lot of decades ago when members of organized crime and some people from the Hill were constantly in the news. I remember students and some adults joking about (taking the fifth) when they knew they were caught.

I believe dishonesty and trying to cover it up has flourished because we have evolved into an uneducated society that has a different set of rules for people who have power and those who don’t! Also, the penalties for dishonesty are not consistent and the expensive lawyers and powerful parents greatly influence punishments.

I personally liked our world when the majority of parents stressed values and cared about the future. Thank goodness for the honest journalists!

Gerald W. Ray, Spokane