Preview

The Future of Academic Honesty - Paper

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
5020 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Future of Academic Honesty - Paper
91

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



References: Allmon, D.E., D. Page & R. Roberts (2000). Determinants of perceptions of cheating: Ethical orientation, personality and demographics. Journal of Business Ethics, 23(4), 411-422. Athanasou, J.A. & O. Olasehinde (2002). Male and female differences in self-report cheating. Practical Assessment, Research and Evaluation, 8(5). Retrieved January 20, 2005, from http://ericae.net/pare/getvn.asp?v=8&n=5. Baird, J.S. (1980). Current trends in college cheating. Psychology in the Schools, 17(4), 515-522. Brown, B.S. & P. Choong (2003). A comparison of academic dishonesty among business students in a public and private catholic university. Journal of Research on Christian Education, 12(1). Brown, B.S. (1995). The academic ethics of graduate business students: A survey. Journal of Education for Business, 70(3), 151-156. Brown, B.S. & J. Abramson (1999). The academic ethics of undergraduate marketing majors. Academy of Marketing Studies Journal, 3(1), 62-71. Academy of Educational Leadership Journal, Volume 11, Number 2, 2007 101 Brown, B.S. & M. McInerney (2001). The academic ethics of business management students: A lesson for professors. The International Journal of Business Disciplines, 11(3), 79-88. Bruggeman, E. L. & K. Hart (1996). Cheating, lying, and moral reasoning by religious and secular high school students. Journal of Educational Research, 89(6), 340-349. Calabrese, R.L. & J.T. Cochran (1990). The relationship of alienation to cheating among a sample of American adolescents. Journal of Research and Development in Education, 23(2), 65-72. Callahan, D. (2004). The cheating culture: Why more Americans are doing wrong to get ahead. Harcourt Publishers. Chaille C. (2004) Teaching ethics: The role of the classroom teacher. Childhood Education, 80(3), 157-158. Clement, M.J. (2001). Academic dishonesty: To be or not to be? Journal of Criminal Justice Education, 12 (2), 253-270. Coverdale J.H. & M.A. Henning (2000). An analysis of cheating behaviors during training by medical students. Medical Teacher, 22(6), 582-584. Davis, S.F. & M.S. Ludvigson (1998). Additional data on academic dishonesty and a proposal for remediation. Teaching of Psychology, 22(2), 119-121. Diekhoff, G.M., E.E. LaBeff, R.E. Clark, L.E. Williams, B. Francis & V.J. Haines (1996). College cheating: Ten years later. Research in Higher Education, 37, 487-503. Evans, E.D. & D. Craig (1990). Teacher and student perceptions of academic cheating in middle and senior high schools. The Journal of Educational Research, 84, 44-45. Genereux, R.L. & B.A. McLeod (1995). Circumstances surrounding cheating: A questionnaire study of college students. Research in Higher Education, 36(6), 687-704. Graham, M., J. Monday, K. O’Brien & S. Steffen (1994). Cheating at small colleges: An examination of student and faculty attitudes and behaviors. Journal of College Student Development, 35(4), 255-260. Greene, A. S., & L. Saxe (1995). Everybody (else) does it: Academic cheating. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Eastern Psychological Association, April 3-5, Boston, MA, Eric Document No. 347931. Halverson, S. (2004). Teaching ethics: The role of the classroom teacher. Childhood Education, Spring, 80(3), 157-158. Hollinger, R.C. & L.L. Lanza-Kaduce (1996). Academic dishonesty and the perceived effectiveness of countermeasures: An empirical survey of cheating at a major public university. NASPA Journal, 33(4), 292-306. Jacob, B.A. & S.D. Levitt (2003). Rotten apples: An investigation of the prevalence and predictors of teacher cheating. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 118(3). Kessler, K. (2003). Helping high school students understand academic integrity. English Journal, 96(6), 57-63. Academy of Educational Leadership Journal, Volume 11, Number 2, 2007 102 Large, M. (2004, 29 April). National Better Business Bureau President to speak in Macon, Ga. Knight Ridder Tribune Bureau News. Lord, T. & D. Chiodo (1995). A look at student cheating in college science classes. Journal of Science Education and Teaching, 4, 317-324. McCabe, D. & L.K. Trevino (1996). What we know about cheating in college. Change, January/February 28(1), 25-32. Meade, J. (1992). Cheating: Is academic dishonesty par for the course? Prism, 1(7), 30-32. Murdock, T.B. (1999). Discouraging cheating in your classroom. The Mathematics Teacher, 92(7), 587-594. Petress, K. (2003). Academic honesty: A plague on our profession. Education, 123(3), 624-627. Rawwas, M.Y & H.R. Isakson (2000). Ethics of tomorrow’s business managers: The influence of personal beliefs and values, individual characteristics, and situational factors. Journal of Education for Business, July/August. Roig, M. & C. Ballew (1994). Attitudes toward cheating of self and others by college students and professors. The Psychological Record, 44(1). Sims, R.L. (1993). The relationship between academic dishonesty and unethical business practices. Journal of Education for Business, 68(4), 207-211. Singhal, A.C. (1982). Factors in student dishonesty. Psychological Reports. 51, 775-780. Sisson, E. & W. Todd-McMancillas (1984). Cheating in engineering courses: Short and long term consequences. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Midwest Section of the American Society of Engineering Education, March, Wichita, NE. Eric Document No. 242532. Starnes, B.A. (2005). Cheaters never prosper. Phi Delta Kappan, 86(8), 635-637. Stern, E. B. & L. Havlicek, L. (1986). Academic misconduct: Results of faculty and undergraduate student surveys. Journal of Allied Health, 15(2), 129-142. Tom, G. & N. Borin (1988). Cheating in academe. Journal of Education for Business, 63(January), 153-157. Whitley, B.E., Jr.(1988). Factors associated with cheating among college students: A review. Research in Higher Education, 39, 235-274. Academy of Educational Leadership Journal, Volume 11, Number 2, 2007

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    The author points out the importance of ethics in modern society, providing examples of academic dishonesty. Cheating is a learned behavior picked up at a young age in the educational system, where one can be rewarded for cheating. The only concern for most people is the threat of being caught. The author provides an example of sub-prime mortgage crisis, being the result of massive cheating. According to the author, people once cheated their way through the education can be held accountable for economic crisis, as they were not able to identify unethical behavior.…

    • 579 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Colleen Wenke Cheating

    • 656 Words
    • 3 Pages

    There is a new brand of “smart” cheaters. Cheaters that are simply trying to achieve their tragically high goals, and who have found that it has become unacceptable to drop a single ball that they are juggling whilst jumping through the flaming hoops of potential colleges. Wenke argues that students who would normally not be susceptible to evil are almost forced into cheating. This happens when they realize that the students who do cheat are typically more successful and have slightly higher test scores than those who don’t. Wenke closes by warning that these “smart” cheaters are going to be the same people who become heads of businesses and presidents of big corporations. She recommends that we think about the future issues that come with having cheaters rule our country, and suggests that when the thirst for knowledge returns in a student’s mind, and the desire for the grade without the work dissolves, cheating will finally begin its…

    • 656 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Best Essays

    Koch, K. (2000, September 22). Cheating in schools. CQ Researcher, 10, 745-768. Retrieved from http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/…

    • 2417 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Better Essays

    Burrus, Robert T., KimMarie McGoldrick, and Peter W. Schuhmann. "Self-Reports Of Student Cheating: Does A Definition Of Cheating Matter?." Journal Of Economic Education 38.1 (2007): 3-16. Business Source Complete. Web. 6 Feb. 2014.…

    • 771 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Best Essays

    Strom, Peter S., and Robert D. Strom. "Curbing Cheating, Raising Integrity." Education Digest: Essential Readings Condensed for Quick Review 72.8 (2007): 42-50. ERIC. First Search. Criss Library, Omaha. 3 Mar. 2008.…

    • 1845 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Mark G. Simkin Accounting & Information Systems University of Nevada, Reno simkin@unr.edu Alexander McLeod Accounting & Information Systems University of Nevada, Reno amcleod@unr.edu ABSTRACT. More is known about the pervasiveness of college cheating than reasons why students cheat. This paper reports the results of a study that applied the theory of reasoned action and partial least squares methodology to analyze the responses of 144 students to a survey on cheating behavior. Approximately 60% of the business students and 64% of the non-business students admitted to such behavior. Among cheaters, a “desire to get ahead” was the most important motivating factor—a surprising result given the comprehensive set of factors tested in the study. Among non-cheaters, the presence of a “moral anchor” such as an ethical professor was most important. The paper also includes a set of important caveats that might limit this work and suggests some avenues for further study. Key Words: cheating, ethical behavior, student dishonesty, student misconduct Introduction On April 27, 2007, the Dean of the Fuqua College of Business at Duke University announced that 24 students—nearly 10 percent of the graduating class of 2008—had been caught cheating on a final exam (Conlin, 2007). A year later, the school was still dealing with the fallout from the incident, which included expelling the guilty students, readmitting and counseling the suspended ones, and dealing with the national attention garnered by the event (Damast, 2008). A large body of research suggests that the student cheating uncovered at Duke is not an isolated event, but rather a microcosm of a pervasive and growing part of worldwide university activity. However, while a large number of individuals and organizations express concern for such trends, less is known about what to do about it or, more importantly, how to reverse it. The purpose of our…

    • 3332 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    When considering the academic integrity, or lack thereof, amongst today’s college students, it is important to understand that there are a variety of reasons why students cheat. More importantly, they have been influenced by faculty members as well as teachers they had in high school. While every college is different and made up of unique demographics, it is generally true that there are students who will always cheat, and students who will refuse to cheat. In order to preserve academic integrity at MCC, the focus has to be…

    • 936 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Academic Integrity Essay

    • 396 Words
    • 2 Pages

    With the incredible technological innovations that have boomed over the past decade comes the extraordinary amount of information available to students today. Although educators question the reasons students decide to cheat, it is impossible to decide what causes the act of academic dishonesty. Academic dishonesty refers to forms of plagiarism, cheating, fabrication, collusion, and unauthorized possession of academic materials. In other words, academic dishonesty refers to stealing someone else’s ideas.…

    • 396 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Cheating Culture

    • 449 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In today’s society the needs and means to cheat certainly seem readily available. The controversy surrounding the use of SAT and ACT test scores probably has been questioned since they were first administered and certainly is still today. Especially, with all the stories one reads of student cheating to obtain the high scores needed on the SAT in order to be admitted to a university. David Callahan 's Cheating Culture websites contained an article about the other side of cheating in which Claremont McKenna College lied about its students’ SAT scores to increase its place in the annual ranking of colleges by the U.S. News and World Report (Callahan, 2012).…

    • 449 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Using Technology to Cheat

    • 1639 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Recent studies show that even though cheating has been around among students since the dawning of organized schooling, the increase in cheating and the number of students who approve of cheating is on the rise. 70% of both college and high school students admit to cheating at some time or another. This is a 14% increase from what students said in 1993 where 56% admitted to cheating, and today 's poll for cheaters dwarf the 23% of students in 1963 who admitted to cheating.(Vencat, Overdorf & Adams, 2006)…

    • 1639 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Academic Honesty Essay 5

    • 444 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In this technologically advanced era distance learning is common among students and colleges. Distance learning is more common than regular classrooms. There always has been pressure on students to excel in their academic studies. Students were taught early in their academic lives that lying, stealing, and cheating were bad and there were serious consequences for these actions. Engraving academic honesty in students’ brains by the time they make it to college started at an early age.…

    • 444 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Integrity in Society

    • 2865 Words
    • 12 Pages

    Social integrity results from individuals of integrity. Following such social viruses as the Enron scandal, educational centers began examining the issues of ethics and values. This revealed a problem that Associated Press called “ubiquity.” Cheating was everywhere, launching red hot dialogue for educators.…

    • 2865 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    A student normalizing unethical behavior in school, soon after starts to deviate in other spheres of life. Harding et al (2003) conclude in their exploration on a link in dishonesty in academic and professional spheres that when students lose their sensitivity to the integrity norms in academia, the consequences of them cheating will be severe, not only on academic level but also on the social level. Christakis and Christakis (2012) ask that if we should really be surprised that high schoolers cheat on standardized tests when they have grown up among thrifty adults.…

    • 531 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Com Ethics

    • 583 Words
    • 2 Pages

    “Cheating is a dress rehearsal for life”, one student said that ABC News Primetime was interviewing for a story called, ‘A Cheating Crisis in America’s Schools’. They found in a 2002 confidential survey that out of 12,000 high school students, 74 percent admitted to cheating on an exam at least once during their academic experience. Those numbers show no signs of stopping anytime soon; and it’s not just high school students cheating, college students, even those privileged enough to attend ivy leagues, are also getting their hands dirty. In 2012 Harvard had its biggest cheating scandal on record, approximately 125 students were accused of cheating on a take-home final exam. If utilitarianism focuses on the amount of good actions create for the greatest number of people; then it could be argued that the 125 Harvard students had utility in cheating. However the cheating scandal at Harvard was an unsuccessful attempt of utilitarianism; their goal was to have the class pass the exam, but they failed to fulfill the three key aspects of utilitarianism.…

    • 583 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Academic Honesty - Essay 3

    • 1256 Words
    • 6 Pages

    In reading and researching the topic of academic honesty and integrity I have found that there are varying views on what is considered cheating, and that cheating occurs in all academic levels and fields of study. Interestingly business students do not believe that cheating is as serious as students in other fields. I also found that there are many parties that are responsible for teaching students why academic honesty and integrity are so important. The key to teaching this important value is to start when children enter the educational system and for higher education learning institutions to continue the expectation and education of honesty and integrity.…

    • 1256 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays