At the university level, students are violating the rules of academic conduct at alarming rates, and students to an even greater degree (Rettinger). Two ways universities have attempted to solve this problem is by a faculty-led or a student-led honor code system. The faculty-led system is more common, but the student-led one is more useful because students have a say in what is put into the honor code and they have more motivation following something made by their peers then by their faculty. A major problem in the U.S. is academic dishonesty and each year it keeps becoming an even bigger problem. People need to be taught what academic integrity is at a young age for a more successful and positive life. Even though following an honor code isn’t ideal for everyone, high schools should have an academic honor system because it …show more content…
James Lang said in his article, Cheating Lessons: Learning from Academic Dishonesty that students will cheat more in classes with with more to then than the classes they don’t really need (Leo).
Rebuttal: So teachers should have already make cheating harder for students to achieve in the first place. “In June 2005, the Center for Academic Integrity reported that as many as 70% of students engaged in some form of cheating during their academic career” (Melgoza and smith). Sometimes students cheat even if they aren’t necessary the cheating type. If you make cheating harder to do and make it seem like less people are doing it not as many people will do it (Rettinger). Students will cheat less because they don't see many other students doing it. Having an honor code were their peers report them creates a greater fear of them being caught (Rettinger). Cheating is more difficult knowing other students will report them and not just teachers. Schools and universities can use honor codes to prevent students from cheating but students are not the only ones that use the honor
Honor Code has evolved over the years and its becoming more strict in its ways and flaws. “Taggert accused the administration of using the code to punish rather than to help students improve themselves” (Bergera). It lists of forbidden acts are antiquated and invade the students’ sense of privacy without truly defining the quality of honor. Other seemingly arbitrary codes such as no herbal tea, no short skirts and no beards are strictly enforced. Even Jesus Christ could not have attended BYU without shaving first. As a m...
In “Why Colleges Should Ditch Honor Codes” Susan Greenberg is trying to inform the audience as to why society does not require the honor code anymore. The rules that lie behind this regulation are becoming outdated and more students are finding themselves punished for disobeying it. A lot of honor code schools are trying to get rid of this process because it only brings the students more pressure. Typically, students that are in honor code schools tend to cheat more than schools that do not possess it. If a student is enrolled in a more prestigious school, he/she is more tempted to cheat in order to maintain his or her good grades. Greenberg explains a situation that took place in Stanford University that led more than 100 students in academic
Moeck, P. G. “Academic Dishonesty: Cheating Among Community College Students.” Community College Journal of Research and Practice 26 (2002). 479-91.
However, this may stem from a lack of enforcement of the rules. Even at the most prestigious schools, such as Harvard University, students are not upholding the rules implemented: “The possibility that 125 Harvard students ‘improperly collaborated’ on an exam in the spring has galvanized … discussion about … honor codes” (Source: C). In this case, people may argue that the only party at fault consists of the students. However, the faculty may be partially guilty as well, as their lack of care towards the rules has created a situation that jeopardizes the school’s integrity. Revision may then seem like the least of the school’s priorities, as they must show they seriously consider educational integrity. Likewise, at the University of Virginia, “157 students have been investigated by their peers in the largest cheating scandal in memory” (Source: D). Again, the school and all those who work there hold at least part of the fault for this ignorance because, theoretically, they should preserve and enforce the rules provided. The fact that the scandal exists means that they were not doing their jobs to their fullest. Although revision may seem simpler to carry out, the school’s staff must show an attempt at intervention within the student lives to keep them on a path towards
That stomach churning feeling of guilt for many seems to appear as a small price to pay when completing an act of academic dishonesty. Colleen Wenke wrote an essay on cheating eighteen years ago called “Too Much Pressure”. In the past fifty years, the number of students who admit to cheating has increased fifty to seventy percent(Gaffe). Many people wonder what leads the students to make this unjust decision. Today, the reason for a rise in cheaters is because of how easy it has become, leading many students to the false conclusion that they aren’t breaking any rules; It is simply viewed as a shortcut to success in the classroom and beyond.
In conclusion, cheating is a dishonest action, and its effects could tremendously impact other people around. Alerting authority figures about dishonesty actions can help motivate students to learn the subjects thoroughly and build meaningful life experiences. Although we might lose a friendship, but in the long run, friends will be thankful, since who knows if they are in a situation, where they actually need to use their knowledge, in the workforce they are
That is not always the case, if the students’ belief is set to always do the right thing it will be done without any hesitation. “Despite the detailed testimony of the student who reported the infraction, the accused student walked free. The student reporting the infraction was socially stigmatized but also didn’t regret taking action.”(Gabor, 1). This also proves that if honor codes are added it can work effectively. Many students want to do the right thing, but sometimes need a little help in the right direction. If cheating is not reported the integrity of the honor code gets damaged severely. If people cheat and they do not report the cheating, the cheater will start to believe that it is okay to cheat and it will become a habit that is not good to have as a
Situations of cheating have seemed to become more and more commonplace when the student is bored by the subject material, poor teaching and or feels they have no use for the knowledge. Kohn even states in his article, “cheating is more common when students experience the academic tasks they’ve been given as boring, irrelevant, or overwhelming.” This infers that if a student were attending a school interested in learning about art, the student maybe more inclined to cheat in a business accounting class due to the fact the student would find the subject material irrelevant to them and their future. Students seem to be less inclined to cheat and it “is relatively rare in classrooms where the learning is genuinely engaging and meaningful to students and where a commitment to exploring significant ideas hasn’t been eclipsed by a single-minded emphasis on “rigor”” (Kohn). To simplify everything mentioned above; students are inclined to cheat in school when they are disinterested in the subject material and or are overwhelmed by in assignment or finally the result in a poor teacher. Everyone who has attended school can relate to this in some way or another, most people do not want to retain knowledge they have no interest in or use for in their
Academic knowledge is the basis on which future prosperity, and financial security has been determined. As a consequence, students feel inclined to perform above average in school. Now, as students perform less and less, they sink to obtain good grades by cheating. This method to acquire the desired grades will only harm the student, instead of the imagined result. Prompted by a child’s inability to perform basic tasks throughout his education , academic cheating spawns numerous negative consequences.
Cheating on academic work is a serious issue that most students admit to doing at some point in their academic career. Elite students are surprisingly the culprits of cheating, but hide it well. (Romm, para 5) Cheating is such a large issue that “70% of students from a sample of 1,800 from nine campuses said they had cheated at least once during their college careers.” (Schneider, para 9) Students cheat on academic work because of different, ongoing pressures in their lives. Understanding the student’s motives and pressures are essential to preventing cheating from occurring in the future. Students cheat for different reasons specific to them regarding their priorities, pressures and because of how easy it has become. Even though eliminating cheating will not happen, there are actions that educational professionals can and should take to prevent most of it from happening so often. Therefor cheating problems are minimized and have a positive impact on the student’s education and understanding of concepts.
Modern students face many pressures for academic success. They are often unwilling to disappoint their parents or spouses. Some fear that not cheating will weaken a student’s ability to compete with their peers. They rationalize their unethical behavior, unwilling to accept a poor grade, consequently justifying cheating as the only means to that end.
"I’m preparing for the real world. Business is unethical. Cheating is just good training. I’ll be better able to handle what’s put at me when I get out." "‘Oh, it’ll only be this once’ or ‘Everyone else does it, so why shouldn’t I?’" Sly glances at a neighbor’s work, an open book on the lap, or even high-technology methods—the resources of the cheater are many and varied. Whatever the methods, there are many statements like those above to justify cheating. For example, in the United States, surveys show that more than half of all students cheat, or have cheated, during their school years.
Thirty-six percent of students in high school admitted to cheating (“A Cheating Crisis”). Students feel overwhelmed with the homework load that teachers assign the students. Students feel the pressure to do well in school from both parents and teachers. Teachers do not fully understand why the students feel the need to cheat. Students cheat in school for many reasons, but a few reasons are not understanding material, not asking the teacher, wanting to pass without doing the work, not studying for a quiz, procrastination, pressure from parents and teachers, the use of technology, and finally the attitude of not caring about passing.
Jones, D. R. (2011). Academic Dishonesty: Are More Students Cheating?. Business Communication Quarterly, 74(2), 141-150. Retrieved from EBSCOhost
The failure of our education system is demonstrated by the fact that students are sacrificing their integrity for a handful of points on an assessment. Despite the efforts of honor codes, scholars have become numb to their purpose; they break such a promise of honesty to themselves, their teachers, and their peers without second thought. America’s children have lost the value of trust, compromising invaluable relationships with excuses regarding societal pressure and their excessive workloads. We cannot let such actions continue; if educators continue to tolerate cheating, our world may transition into one socially, economically, and politically operated by dishonest individuals. Society’s obsession with creating good academic performers has led to the subsequent creation of deceitful children and the possibility of a fraudulent