Honesty/Integrity

Planning a Scam
(Life Simulation on How a Lies, Even for a Good Cause, Can Get Out of Hand)

The Problem

Today we get to all be a bit devious. You’re a group of high achieving students who’ve always hung out together at school. You were in the chess club, on the debate team, and participated in several sports together. But sharing around the lunch table, you find that you’ve all got the same problem. Unlike some of the other high achieving students, your families aren’t wealthy, and although all of you have received scholarships to top schools like Harvard and Yale, the scholarships don’t cover everything and you’ve got to come up with about $1,000 each before the end of the school year as a down payment to accept the scholarships. You’re not allowed to raise money for this, so you’ve come up with a scheme to get the money.

The Plan

You’ve decided to start a campus club with only yourselves in it and plan fundraisers for a club trip to New England. Only there will be no trip. Instead, you plan to divide up the money among yourselves and your “trip” will be to each of your schools, which are conveniently all in New England! So we don’t even have to lie! Hey, it’s for a good cause - our education! Surely we’re smart enough to pull that off.

Does that make sense? Any questions?

The Huddle

OK, let’s try to make this thing airtight so nothing can go wrong.

First, decide on a name for your club. (Let them discuss and come up with a name.)

Second, come up with a fundraiser that you think could yield $1000 each.  (Let them come up with ideas.)

Third, try to predict anything that might go wrong and how you’re going to respond. (Again, give them time to discuss.)

Things Get Complicated

(Now, a series of monkey wrenches that get thrown in, each beginning with a knock at the door.)

Knock, Knock… (It would be ideal if your principal, or your class assistant, could actually knock and play this part.)

1. Your principal just got wind of your new club and wants to congratulate you. Have you registered your club? (Someone answer.) What are your goals? (Someone answer.) Who is your faculty advisor? (Someone answer.) Did you open up this club to anyone who wants to join and openly advertise it, as the school bylaws state for any campus organization? (Teacher should list any lies that are told or potential laws broken, for future reference.)

Two weeks later, knock at door …

2. One of your teachers comes in and offers her services to the new club. “Could I be a chaperone on your Washington trip? I’ve always wanted to take a group of students there.” (Students should respond the best they can, teacher lists any lies told.)

Four weeks later, knock at door …

3. Policeman comes to the door. “You were fundraising in the community and we just wanted to make sure you’re a legitimate group. Good to see you’re responsible students! Now when is your trip and when are you going?

“Well, I know it sounds strange, but lots of people in our community have been scammed by people claiming to be raising money for school events that don’t turn out to be school events at all. So you’re definitely the ____ club, and you’re planning a trip to Washington DC, right? (Policeman rises to leave.) Oh, I hate to bother you with this formality, but I’m sure you’ve already made reservations in Washington. When you have time, could you run off a copy of your receipt from the hotel and give me the phone number of your faculty advisor? Just standard procedure you know, so that I can have it on record if more community members ask.

One week later, knock at door …

4. Policeman returns. Pulls one person to the side but says in everyone’s hearing. “Listen, I know you’ve got a scholarship that you don’t want to lose. We contacted the hotel and the faculty member you used as a reference and I think that your little trip is bogus. But we need someone who’ll come clean and tell us everything. If you tell us the whole story, you can go free without a record and we’ll also be easier on your friends than if we have to break this scam wide open. What do you say? The penalties for charity scams in our community are a minimum of $3,000 per incident and six months in jail, with a blot on your permanent record that may not go away. But all this disappears if you cooperate with us. If you don’t confess, someone else will. What do you say?”

Discussion

1. What do you learn from this simulation? (Lies can get out of hand.)

2. Did anyone actually lie? What’s the difference between a lie and deceit?

3. How can deceit lead to a lie, and one lie lead to more lies?

4. What are all the results that you can imagine. (Most, if not all, may lose their scholarships; parents will be mad; fines may be imposed.)

5. Besides these things, how might this incident affect the relationships of these best friends with each other? (If one rats on the rest, the others will have a hard time forgiving. The one who hatched the plan will probably be blamed by the others for roping them all into it. They’ll have a hard time trusting each other, since they were all willing to lie at one time.)

6. Why is it difficult to reestablish a trusting relationship once trust has been broken? If a girlfriend lies to her boyfriend, why is it difficult to trust her again? How does your relationship change? How does this apply to all friendships, marriages or businesses?  

For further study:  Read and discuss this thought-provoking chapter by Hal Urban: http://character-education.info/Articles/Honesty_Urban.htm .