Analysis Of Moving From Cheating To Academic Dishonesty By Eugene Bratek

Cheating has always been an issue among students. Almost everyone cheats in some fashion in classes. Whether it’s by blatantly copying another student’s answers, or working together on an assignment meant to be done on your own, cheating will remain a staple occurrence in academic life. In Rebekah Nathan’s article, “The Art of College Management: Cheating,” Nathan (2005) delves into students’ various reasons for cheating and even includes cheating as an “aspect[] of student culture,” (p. 27) from the point of view of a student. Nathan defends cheating as a whole by including it as an inevitable part of student culture. Additionally, she claims that everyone cheats, further diving into the idea that cheating is not inherently wrong. As a result of consistently defending cheating, Nathan neglects to provide worthy solutions to the issue as well as ignoring the consequences of cheating.

Ethics are the principals that build an individual’s character and integrity. It is the code of conduct that a person lives by; it is the way that a person conducts themselves when no one is around. Stealing, lying, and cheating are wrong, yet every day in the workplace these issues occur. Growing competition lends to the need for people to do what they can to get ahead and stay ahead. Ethics are pushed to the side as people try to gain power or to stay out of trouble, all at the risk of tarnishing their character. This same mindset has spilled over into Academia. A student’s desire to successfully earn a degree by any means necessary has caused educational institutions to address these ethical issues by setting policies in place to combat academic dishonesty.

Cheating used to be considered an unmentionable sin. However, in this day and age, it has become more common and somewhat of a daily occurrence. Cheating is more widespread today than in the past. According to the article titled Education: The New Morality, cheating has not been an issue of values, but simply one of practicality. This shows that many view cheating as a mere occurrence and something that can often be skipped over. The reason cheating has become such a pervasive movement is because many students tend to rationalize their cheating behavior. A common rationalization that many students use is, " That 's the only way I 'll get anywhere in life." Many students also tend to incorporate reasons, such as parental pressures,

A study done in Source E shows that there are only eight percent of students that would turn in a fellow student for cheating. If that sort of dishonesty becomes rampant in a school, the honor codes can no longer be upheld properly. The honesty of students is key to the success of honor codes. If a student is dishonest about the misbehavior of another student, then the honor code goes to waste, because now the cheating has not been taken care of by the justice of the honor system. There is no foreseeable remedy for such behavior, and there will always be a “bad apple to ruin the bunch.”

In school, many people are dishonest and don’t show their integrity. One major way of being dishonest and not showing your integrity is by cheating. A study shows, that by high school, 75% of students have cheated on one thing such as a test, homework or a project. In many high schools, cheating is a big problem and many students do it. Studies show that most students start cheating when they were little when playing board games and cheating to win. In elementary school, kids start “bending the rules” and look at other kids papers. Another way that people don’t show their integrity, is by plagiarizing. Plagiarizing is when you copy someone else’s ideas and say that they are your own. Another common way of being dishonest is by complicity. Complicity is when you help someone else cheat, copy homework or papers, and giving others the test questions.

Multiple studies have found that students are spending less time on their academic studies leading to a decrease in education and an increase in temptation of academic dishonesty.  Cheating has been prevalent since mankind existed, but writer William Chace gives his outlook on the issue in his article, “A Question of Honor”. Chace is able to use adequate reasoning to engage the reader in an article that depicts perspectives from every angle. Included within the article are a sense of sympathy, through explanations and even a proposed solution of how to end academic dishonesty.

Add in that no dishonest students can work together and should be seated away from each other, and this will allow room for the honor code to take effect and be integrated accordingly. One might argue, that putting honest students with dishonest student will not work, because of the fact that cheating has already happened in schools that are known to have strict honor codes, such as the University of Virginia, in which Chris Khan, the author of the article “Pssst—How Do Ya Spell Plagiarism?” discovers, “Since last spring, 157 students have been investigated by their peers in the largest cheating scandal in memory. Thirty-nine of those accused of violating the school’s honor code have either dropped out or been expelled—the only penalty available for such a crime” (Source D.) However, Khan overlooks that just because an honor code is strict does not mean that it is effective in reducing cheating.

Chace, W. M. (2012). A Question of Honor: Cheating on campus undermines the reputation of our universities and the value of their degrees. Now is the time for students themselves to stop it. (Cover story). American Scholar, 81(2), 20-32.

Over the years, cheating does not carry the same stigma it used to represent. Because of competition and expectations, students are doing whatever it takes to achieve an A average. There are students who are fighting for scholarships or for the position to be on the top. Also, parents and teachers are the root cause of this matter because they have advocated the idea that high GPAs will lead to more successful futures. As a result, grades have become the main focus for most students,

A poll conducted by a website, CollegeHumor, revealed that 60 percent of college students had admitted to cheating on tests and assignments. Due to its popularity, society has began to accept cheating as an average tool used by students to succeed. Accepting the issue of cheating has not only decreased society’s standards, but also has led them to become less ethical. Thus, as a result of the decrease in standards, academic cheating has become a reaccuring problem that is now being accepted by society.

In Mari Pearlman’s L.A. Times article, “ Cheating In School Reflects Basic Confusion in Society” (1999), she discusses cheating and its effect on students, both, while in school and later in life. Cheating has been around for a long time and now cheating’s grip on students is worsening. With the more often occurrence of cheating in schools, schools need to put their foot down and put a stop to cheating in order to lower the occurrence of cheating in the future. However, there are some that say cheating is not common anymore and is rarely spotted.

Solution of cheating culture is honor codes and techniques for academic integrity which are important parts of the solution. It is the responsibility of students as well as faculty and administration to establish an environment where honest students do not feel that they are at risk or disadvantage. “Just as cheating can become normalized at a school, so too can academic integrity efforts move the pendulum in the other direction and create a climate where cheating is not cool” (Callahan, 2005). Academic integrity and

Damon suggests that “Honesty is the character virtue most closely linked to every school’s academic mission” (par. 14) but moves on to explain that the educators within the school system are failing in their responsibility to “convey to students the importance of honesty as a practical and ethical virtue” (par. 14). Damon’s research on the issue of dishonesty in schools revealed it is not only the student that is known to cheat; it is also the teachers themselves cheating. Damon makes his point clearly with the statement; “some teachers have actually encouraged students to cheat” (par. 16). Damon describes the change in society’s attitude today towards accountability when students (and teachers) are caught cheating. The suggestion that it is the teacher’s fault sets the parameters of the roles for addressing the issues of honesty in the school system. To substantiate this suggestion, Damon incorporates an observation “by an educational writer, who held that “it was the teacher who was immoral for having given the students such a burdensome assignment...” (par. 17). Damon moves on to state “in July 2011, a widely-reported cheating scandal erupted in school systems” (par. 19) and goes on to validate the claim of cheating by teachers by describing “a culture of fear and intimidation that prevented many teachers from speaking out” (par. 18). Damon’s research also confirms that it is “not an isolated incident” (par. 20) and incorporates more findings of dishonesty in the educational culture into his essay. Teaching the value of honesty to children, which is part of the development of moral and emotional strength, should be emphasized within the education system. The quality of honesty helps to develop character and solid self-esteem within each of the

Many researchers have indicated that cheating is a serious problem on campuses (Bowers, 1964; Engler et al., 2008; Gallant, 2008; Leming, 1978; McCabe, Trevino, & Butterfield, 2001). Studies completed by Bowers (1964) and McCabe and Trevino (1996) revealed nearly identical results regarding student-cheating behavior despite the 30 year time span; both studies identified that

Academic dishonesty is another facet of unethical behaviour. It is an action or attempt that results in creating an unfair academic advantage for oneself or a disadvantage for any other member of academic community. A child uses his or her experiences in society to shape personal ethics. Family has a strong influence on one's values and behaviour,parents establish rules from the start and it becomes the basis for our ethics and morals. A personal ethical commitment is part of what makes students a success. A lack of ethical commitment will always result in acdemic failure. I personally believe that students who are academically dishonest cheat themselves out of an education and harm their fellow students by screwing the grading curve for the class as a whole. Therefore academic ethics are vital and students should commit themselves to maintaining highest personal ethical standards.