As a teenager, I can say friendships are the most valuable thing in our lives. We have difficult decisions to make especially when it comes to the two “most important” things in our lives which are, friendships/relationships and school. I’ve decided to ask my fellow classmates a vital question that is going to challenge their moral integrity. Would you report a friend who cheated on a test, knowing it could ruin their chances of getting into college, or keep it a secret and risk your own integrity?

When confronted with the question of whether or these high school students would turn in their friends for cheating on tests and assignments, the overall consensus was that they would remain loyal to their friends and not turn them in. Timpview senior Luke Nelson said he would keep the secret “because he values friendship” and because the secret doesn’t personally affect him. Similarly, Zack Russ said that he’d keep the secret as he has “loyalty and connection to the friend.” All the other students that were questioned said the same thing. With that unanimous agreement to keep the secret, I decided to add to the question to pull on their morals more.

This new question, “When asked by a teacher about a friend who cheated on a test, knowing it could ruin their chances of getting into college, would you tell them or keep it a secret and risk your own integrity?” pulled more into the question, adding the idea of someone directly asking them about the cheating. This time, Luke Nelson said that he would “still keep the secret” and Zack Russ said that he would say he “had no clue” about the cheating. These results were still unanimous, showing that these students have a sense of loyalty to their friends, rather than trying to turn them in.

What would you do in this situation? Would you be truthful to your teacher, or loyal to your friends?