In 1871, Albert Pike wrote of social morality when he said,

“Truth, in act, profession, and opinion, is rarer now than in the days of chivalry. Falsehood has become a current coin, and circulates with a certain degree of respectability; because it has an actual value. It is indeed the great vice of the age—it, and its twin sister, dishonesty. Men, for political preferment, profess whatever principles are expedient and profitable. At the bar, in the pulpit, and in the halls of legislation, men argue against their own convictions. And with what they term logic, prove to the satisfaction of others that which they do not themselves believe. Insincerity and duplicity are valuable to their possessors, like estates in stocks, that yield a certain revenue; and it is no longer the truth of an opinion or a principle, but the net profit that may be realized from it, which is the measure of its value.”

I believe that this is precisely where we are today in American society; rather than progress, we have a wider application of the maladies Pike described. Before our children have reached their teenage years, they often demonstrate proficiency in falsehood and dishonesty such that all that remains for them in the rest of their lives is to perfect it.

What assumptions should we make about the immorality of American society? If we assume that parents teach their children honesty, perhaps we should ask where they are learning to perfect dishonesty. Could it be our system of public education, and/or exposure to other people’s children?

Do schools reinforce parental instruction, and are parents part of the problem? Public education lacks across-the-board honesty because here are two parts to this system: (a) that hyped and (b) that modeled. Even young students are smart enough to recognize hypocrisy when they see it, and they quickly learn to become at least initially successful within that framework. For example, they note that teachers tell them how wonderful they are as human beings, an esteem-building strategy involving lies. Teachers overlook spelling errors, they ignore poor grammar, they reinforce negative behaviors, and they inflate grades. Who benefits most, ultimately?

Dishonesty serves the teacher more than students because teachers want to be successful according to the framework established for them by corrupt administrators. It is manifested in the way teachers avoid high failure rates, disciplinary problems, and complaints from parents. Principals set the tone for this dishonesty by evaluating teachers as poor performers when students fail, or when teachers send disciplinary problems to the office. They frequently override teachers who do fail students by offering athletic or band exemptions to otherwise ineligible students.

Students learn a great deal from public schools — most of it unscrupulous. And parents who enable failure and unseemly behavior negatively reinforce children. Parents both cajole and threaten educators until students receive promotions, or until misconduct is swept under the carpet. If this is not duplicity, I don’t know what is.

I find it odd that when people talk of “unspeakable” ills perpetrated against children, no one mentions the damage of dishonest schools, and mendacious parents. Both are charged with teaching young people that honesty is to be recognized and rewarded. They should be reinforcing one another by teaching students that honesty is doing the right thing when no one is looking. Mr. Albert Pike was correct. Insincerity and duplicity are valuable to their possessors, and there is a great deal of profit in such a system—just look at how much money is paid in school taxes.

Copyright, 2005

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