I obviously believe cheating is a huge problem on college campuses. Coming from personal experience, the pressures to do well are unbelievable. Be it the pressures from parents, the overall benefits of a high GPA, or just an overall competitive atmosphere. With this known, some students believe that the benefits of stealing a literal and/or figurative answer here or there seem to out way the consequences.
The reasons for this may be the seemingly laid-back attitude campuses have towards cheating. They may have an academic honor code, but when it comes down to enforcement there strength greatly decreases. Take Washington University. I have witnessed countless episodes of cheating, be it outright copying answers when it comes to labs or just plain plagiarism. I myself know about Wash U’s honor code from my Writing 1 class, but as far as the specifics of it, I am clueless. One would think that a school that prides itself on academics might want to try a little harder in the academic integrity department. The enforcement of an academic honor code has to be a team effort. It is not just bad leadership on the part of one; it has to be good leadership on the part of many.
An interesting issue that I thought was brought up in the articles was the concept of collaborative cheating. The idea of having someone proofread your essays is engrained in you from a young age; you learn having a different set of eyes read your paper can be very beneficial. However teachers never seem to explain the line at which everyday peer proofreading becomes outright cheating- this is one of the major things that needs to be change. Teachers and professors just need to be frank with their students as to what is okay and what is far from okay. Too much trust is placed in the students to do the right thing.
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