*Statistics based on the 1997 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS), a comprehensive survey of high school student health behaviors which includes data for the nation, 36 states and territories and 17 cities.

• 10% of our youth reported carrying guns.




• 27% of young people frequently smoke cigarettes.




• 21% of youth are having sexual intercourse before age 13.




• 36% rode in a car with a driver who had been drinking alcohol.




• Over 7% attempted suicide within the past year.




• Over 50% had at least one drink of alcohol in the past month.




• 33.4% had five or more drinks of alcohol on at least one occasion during the past month.




• 26.2% used marijuana during the past month.




• 3.3% used cocaine during the past month.




• 16% used inhalants during their lifetime.




• 73% of all deaths among school-age youth and young adults result from four causes: motor vehicle crashed, other unintentional injuries, homicide, and suicide.

Education Reporter: Eagle Forman
http://www.Eagleforum.org

• In 1979, a CBS News poll found 66% of those surveyed would support a leader who would bend the rules to get things done.




• In 1990, a survey in the Washington Post: "a majority of children surveyed by a Rhode Island Rape Crisis Center thought rape was acceptable. In New York City, rape arrests of 13-year-old boys have increased 200% in the past two years."




• Americans "are making up their own moral codes", with 9 out of 10 citizens reporting they lie regularly, one-third of all married Americans indicating they've had an affair, and 7% saying that for $10 million they would kill a stranger.




• Situation Ethics: According to a recent national poll of more than 20,000 middle and high school students conducted by the Josephson Institute of Ethics: 70% of high school students admitted cheating on an exam at least once in the last year, 78% said they had lied two or more times, and an amazing 47% acknowledged having stolen something from a store in the last 12 months.

Why We Need A Curriculum That Builds Character http://www.zigziglartibute.org/html.article.html

• 7% of schools report crime, from vandalism to rape.




• 15% of students say that they are crime victims at school.




• 13% of students say they know students who bring guns to school.




• 28% of students report gangs at their schools, up from 14% in 1989

"Golden Rules" by Wayne Dosick p. 2-3
In the early 1950's, elementary school teachers from across the United States were asked to list the top five problems in their school. They replied:

1. talking out of turn
2. chewing gum
3. making noise
4. running in the hall
5. cutting in line

      In the early 1990's, the same question was asked of teachers. Their replies were profoundly different:

1. drug and alcohol abuse
2. guns and knives in school
3. pregnancy
4. suicide
5. rape

      More than three-quarters of all Americans believe that this country is in serious moral and spiritual decline.


      Police report that in a recent twelve-month period, more than 1.7 million young people under the age of eighteen were arrested for criminal activity. By most estimates, more than 1.5 million children in America come to school every day carrying a weapon.


      Two-thirds of American teenagers claim that when they are adults, they will have no hesitations about padding their business expense accounts or cheating on their taxes.

1998 Report Card on the Ethics of American Youth
Survey Data on Youth Violence
[Report released May 1999}

     The Josephson Institute of Ethics and the CHARACTER COUNTS! Coalition released new data from a national survey of more than 20,000 middle and high schoolers. The figures paint a troubling picture of the attitudes and actions of America's youth regarding guns and violence:

• Twenty-four percent of male high school students, and 18% of male middle schoolers, say they took a weapon to school at least once in the past year. Males are substantially more likely to carry weapons than females and older students are more likely to carry weapons than younger ones. Still, 5% of all (male and female) 10- to 12-year-olds - and 6% of 13- to 14-year-olds - say they took a weapon to school. On a separate question, 14% of males in high school, and 9% of those in middle school, say they "sometimes" carry a weapon to school for protection.




• Fifty-nine percent of males in high school, and 35% of those in middle school, say they could get a gun if they wanted to. Fourteen percent of all (male and female) 10- to 12-year-olds, 33% of 13- to 14-year-olds, 47% of 15- to 16-year-olds and 54% of 17- to 18-year-olds say they could get a gun if they wanted to.




• Seventy percent of all high schoolers (76% of males), and 73% of middle schoolers (79% of males), say they hit a person in the last 12 months because they were angry. Though less likely to engage in violence, a majority of females (63% in high school; 68% in middle school) say they have hit someone in anger during the past year.




• Forty-seven percent of all high school males believe it is sometimes O.K. to hit or threaten a person who makes them angry. 39% of middle school males, 25% of the high school females, and 24% of middle school females say they share this view.




• Forty-seven percent of all middle school students, and 43% of all high school students, say they do not feel safe at school. Males (50%) are more likely to feel unsafe than females (44%) in middle school, but in high school both males and females expressed the same level of fear.




• Eighty-eight percent of the males in high school, and 86% of males in middle school, believe it is always wrong to force a person to have sex.




• Twenty-two percent of males in high school, and 9% of males in middle school, say they have been drunk at school at least once in the past year.

      The figures in this report are based on written surveys that were administered nationally by randomly selected schools throughout the nation in 1998. The margin of error is +/-3%. The survey included responses from 20,829 students (10,760 high school students and 10,069 middle school students).