Your Turn readers might not agree on much, but when it comes to gauging the level of ethics in our society, you're almost unanimous.

And the consensus is: Well, that gauge is pretty low.

"Ethical violations and immoral acts are all on the increase," wrote the husband of an Illinois board member. "No longer are most people admired for putting aside self-interest."

Two-thirds of you think the nation's ethics are getting worse. Twenty-two percent say our ethics are about the same as they've always been (though, judging by your comments, you don't think they were that hot to start with), and only 11 percent say they're getting better.

Many of you said that greed and self-promotion have replaced selflessness and generosity as qualities to be admired and emulated. (Have you been watching The Apprentice?)

"Too many people have the theory, 'If it feels good, do it,'" said a Michigan board treasurer. Manners are rarely taught in the home, and "very little respect is shown to adults and others, [especially] teachers in high schools."

What's happening? Why are ethics on the decline? A Pennsylvania headmaster blamed "creeping moral relativism, ... an attitude of, 'Who's to say what's wrong and what's right?'" The reader added: "If 'anything goes' in terms of marriage, why not 'anything goes' in terms of our income tax, business deals, etc.?"

"Ethics are a thing of the past," said a New Hampshire teacher who also serves as vice chair of her school board. "There truly is no more general standard of right and wrong in our secular society. This situation is very bad and getting worse. Board members do not comply with confidentiality rules. Students cheat. People steal. Students bully. Schools undermine parents who teach right from wrong."

Two principals said parents themselves are often to blame.

"More and more parents refuse to accept responsibility for their actions, hence the actions of their children," said an Indiana elementary school principal. "So when a child does something wrong, the school is usually given responsibility for the [infraction]."

Added a Texas high school principal: "Adults will go to any lengths to avoid confrontations with teenagers. They will lie for them, cover up mistakes, allow rudeness and deceitfulness instead of calling the teenagers to task. Adults are setting the unethical example, and children are learning well."

A little more than one-fifth of readers agreed with the statement that "human nature being what it is, we're about as moral as we've ever been." Problem is, these readers pointed out, that's not a very high standard.

One reader criticized a recent TV news report about student cheating, saying it missed the big picture.

"[ABC News reporter] Charles Gibson's special report on cheating in school ... avoided every opportunity to discuss the ethical crisis in the United States and instead tried to [blame] the problem all on the students," he said. "The issue is really quite simple. .... The only remaining value of virtue is one's own economic power. ...

"The media sells greed in every second of information presented. And greed is rewarded at the highest levels of leadership in the nation. By attacking some ethical lapse in students, we only impact those whose chance at attaining great wealth may only come from playing their state lottery or Powerball. The richest, most virtue-less students will continue to use their wealth and power and jaded vision of the culture and society around them to further increase their wealth at the expense of the rest. Wasn't that the real purpose of the tax reforms of 2003?"

Finally, about 11 percent of you believe society's ethics are actually getting better. Among them was this New Jersey principal, who focused primarily on school board ethics.

"We are getting better and more sensitive to a broader base of moral and ethical issues," the principal said. When politics emerges in board meetings, "school committees rise to positive responses and actions."