Cheating is definitely a problem on college campuses. Being so difficult to catch, a huge percentage of students partake in cheating. I think this is mostly due to the increased pressures to do well and have a high GPA coming out of college. The job market is extremely tough to enter, so students believe that, if they can have their GPA be as high as possible, by any means necessary, they will have a better chance to get a good job and make more money. After all, money is the basis behind anybody's reasons to cheat. There is a huge amount of people who, in my opinion, do not have their priorities straight. They believe money is the most important thing in life, and that money will automatically make you happy if you have a lot of it. It is these people who believe that cheating is justified and that having a high GPA is going to get you the best job. However, if you are not truly smart, and do not have the skills that you may have gotten if you chose to take the honest route through college, there is a good chance you will fail to pass through the first stages of interviewing for a job.
And, while I agree with the articles that bad leadership has something to do with cheating on campus, I also believe that it is going to happen nonetheless. Even with our strict honor code here at Wash U, and multiple professors saying how they will go out of their way to get you the worst possible punishment if they catch you cheating, I have seen multiple people cheat anyways. It is also extremely difficult to catch cheating if it is not in class, like for a homework assignment where most of the papers that people turn in will be extremely similar no matter what.
While I believe that it is technically the faculty's responsibility to enforce cheating, I think that students should take it upon themselves to realize that, in the long run, there are many more benefits to being honest and learning the material. If you do not understand something, instead of asking someone who knows for their answers, ask that person for help and guidance so you can learn to answer the question yourself.
Cheating is obviously a large problem at college campuses. Academic dishonesty is in clear violation of a college’s mission statement, which almost always mentions the importance of integrity and scholarship.
ReplyDeleteI have personally observed various instances of cheating at Washington University. The instances of cheating have varied in degrees of severity, from copying problem set answers to asking a friend for help during an exam. These instances of academic dishonesty draw me to the conclusion that Wash U does not take cheating seriously enough. Drawing from my limited knowledge of university policy, I believe Wash U does not have an honor code. The university also does not host any orientation sessions or initiation ceremonies that emphasize the value of academic integrity. While there are some teachers at Wash U who express a strong commitment to catching cheaters, I feel that the overall atmosphere here fosters an environment of lax academic integrity.
I believe that bad leadership definitely contributes to a cheating culture. Certain leaders on campus, such as the deans, decide how much the university should commit to its policy of academic integrity. If the administration wanted to implement an honor code, there will likely be an honor code, which will ideally reduce cheating. Additionally, I believe that students themselves are bad leaders when they decide to cheat. For better or for worse, the cheating students set examples, and their actions will influence other students to cheat as well.