Not any generation per se because choosing to be dishonorable is an individual choice as is teaching your kids that so long as you "win," the how doesn't matter.
And again, what is also troubling is the fact that the same students who cheat so frequently rank themselves as having high morals.
I think many students don't understand the concept of intellectual honesty, or even what it means to do independent work, so maybe this isn't so surprising. Many university level students seem to view assessment as a formality, and have the view that they are more consumers rather than learners (i.e., they are paying for the credentials directly, rather than paying for access to expertise upon which they can build their credentials around).
In my mind, there are three main reasons for this:
First, higher education has become business focused, and so to a large degree, treats students as consumers first, learners second. When a student is caught cheating, it makes more sense from a business standpoint to give the student a minor penalty and allow them to continue their studies (i.e. purchasing access to more courses), than to end or suspend their academic career.
Second, this is a natural extension of the ubiquity of the internet - looking up things has become second nature, and I think many students don't see the difference between using the internet as a resource to build their answers and simply getting the answers from the internet. At some level, most certainly understand that copying answers directly is wrong, but I'm not sure they see an issue with paraphrasing someone else's answers, for instance, since that is just another internet resource.
Third, as mentioned in the thread, most post-secondary education has become built around gatekeeping. How or what you gained from your education isn't assessed meaningfully in many cases. only your final scores. Moreover, there is a strong perception (probably right in some cases), that many requirements for post-secondary are superfluous . So, this is a feedback to point one, where education is becoming more about business than anything else and students are simply asking the business to hold up their part of the bargain (provide a degree) in return for the money they pay.
To me, correcting this requires that education be publically funded. That way, operation can be separated from outcomes, and students can be treated as learners, not consumers. This would give more freedom to universities and colleges to fairly assess students and punish those that are intellectually dishonest. In principle, it could also allow those who are struggling access to more help so that they can learn and be successful honestly, hopefully reducing the impulse to cheat.
However, it wouldn't correct the problem that degrees have become a gate to employment (basically, another form of trade school, as mentioned). This creates pressure for success that will cause people to take short cuts. And while it is easy to judge such people (I certainly have a great deal of frustration with those that are academically dishonest), the reality is that expecting those taking a course/program that they have no interest in, and probably will never use the information from, to care about it is unrealistic. Of course, this ignores that while the information might not be needed, the process does cause people to grow as individuals and critical thinkers. But, these traits aren't being demanded by either society or employers, only the credentials, and so it is impossible to expect these individuals to see that.
