The Future of Academic Honesty - Paper

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THE FUTURE OF ACADEMIC HONESTY
Peggy Choong, Niagara University Bob S. Brown, Marshall University Graduate College
ABSTRACT Cheating has permeated many facets of American life. Reports on cheating are found in business, the media and on college campuses. Perhaps one of the more disturbing trends is reports on increasing cheating among grade and high school teachers and administrators. This makes the behavior, motivation and training of education students relevant for scrutiny. The paper examines academic dishonesty among college students training to be teachers. The study uncovers through factor analysis four salient dimensions of cheating, namely Flagrant Cheating, Insidious Cheating, Collusion and Illicit Collaboration. It also uncovers the key motivators of cheating, identifies relevant individual characteristics and demonstrates their relation to the salient dimensions of cheating Policy implications are also discussed to improve ethics education. INTRODUCTION Cheating in America used to be an aberration. Today, however, the culture of cheating in America has permeated many facets of our lives, from businesses engaging in dishonest practices to CEOs and politicians cheating and news reporters fabricating quotes and reporting fiction as fact. Schools have not been exempt from these kinds of behavior. High school and grade school students have been found to engage in dishonest behaviors (Green & Saxe, 1992; Meade, 1992; Sims, 1993; Brown & Abramson, 1999; Coverdale & Henning, 2000; Brown & McInerney, 2001) and there are studies which report increases over the years (McCabe & Trevino, 1993; Callahan, 2004). However, it is perhaps the reporting of cheating among school administrators and teachers of our young children that have brought home just how pervasive and serious this epidemic really is. School administrators and teachers have been caught cheating on standardized tests, in reporting inflated gains in student test scores and learning and in

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