According to the Canadian Council on Learning we have a problem. If their report “Liars, Fraudsters and Cheats” is correct, we no longer know the difference between right and wrong.
The current epidemic of academic dishonesty among students is troubling and it’s getting worse.
The cheating begins in public school, continues through high school and university and finally reaches its full potential when unscrupulous graduates invade the working world.
Three quarters of first year university students admit to having cheated or plagiarized in high school both with written work and tests. Many did not consider it cheating or called it trivial cheating. You know, just like a little white lie.
Once in university, 53 per cent admit to plagiarism and almost one in five has done some serious cheating on tests and exams. Among graduate students 35 per cent cheated on written work, nine per cent on tests. Most of them seem to get away with it and some use it to their advantage on the road to a lucrative career.
Information technology has made academic scams quicker, easier and more readily available. The Internet and other high-tech devices have enabled an explosion of classroom cheating.
Students today are digital natives. That is, they have grown up surrounded by technology and they are quite comfortable using the virtual world for questionable academic endeavors.
The survey says that children in Grades 7 to 12 are actively engaged in Internet cheating and often pass off other work and downloaded papers as their own. Some students search the Internet for teacher manuals which they use to their advantage. A good number have cheated on exams using a cell phone. Aren’t they clever?
Canadian universities are well aware of the worsening situation. In 2002 at Simon Fraser University 44 business and economic students were disciplined for academic infractions. That same year at Carlton University 29 engineering students were caught cheating on an essay about, of all things, professional ethics.
Most university students in the U.S. and Canada don’t consider computer cheating to be a serious issue. Cheaters brag about getting better marks than those who studied. There is no embarrassment. The only shame is carried by the honest students with the lower marks.
For their part, schools are using technology to fight this lack of academic integrity. Online detection services such as Turnitin.com and iThenticate are used to screen student papers for plagiarism. Still, 41 per cent of Canadian faculty admitted to ignoring incidents of suspected academic dishonesty.
This intellectual laziness has allowed a cheating to win culture to invade our schools and in turn, our society. In order to get higher grades or even to avoid flunking out altogether, students often use these tactics. There is a very low risk of being caught and of being punished if you are.
The students who play by the rules quickly realize that in order to compete with the cheaters, they must cheat themselves. It really makes you think. Where does all this cheating lead?
I wonder how many of the business and economic leaders now sitting in jail for fraud and embezzlement began their rise to the top by cheating on a term paper in high school. I wonder how many of the engineers at BP who were responsible for the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico cheated on their physics exams in university.
And to give this a historical perspective, I wonder if any of the captain and crew that took the Titanic to the bottom of the sea ever lied about their qualifications or cheated in navigation school.
When I was growing up I was taught cheaters never prosper and I still believe honesty is the best policy.
We were taught the difference between right and wrong at an early age. And even though we tried to bend the rules whenever we could, we didn’t get away with much.
But when I consider the criminal behaviour of white collar executives, the scheming and dishonesty of politicians at every level and I see doped-up athletes laughing on their way to the bank with their gold medals and commercial endorsements, it boggles my mind.
I guess lying, cheating students grow up to be lying, cheating adults. Sometimes it seems like the whole planet is run by liars, fraudsters and cheats.
The current epidemic of academic dishonesty among students is troubling and it’s getting worse.
The cheating begins in public school, continues through high school and university and finally reaches its full potential when unscrupulous graduates invade the working world.
Three quarters of first year university students admit to having cheated or plagiarized in high school both with written work and tests. Many did not consider it cheating or called it trivial cheating. You know, just like a little white lie.
Once in university, 53 per cent admit to plagiarism and almost one in five has done some serious cheating on tests and exams. Among graduate students 35 per cent cheated on written work, nine per cent on tests. Most of them seem to get away with it and some use it to their advantage on the road to a lucrative career.
Information technology has made academic scams quicker, easier and more readily available. The Internet and other high-tech devices have enabled an explosion of classroom cheating.
Students today are digital natives. That is, they have grown up surrounded by technology and they are quite comfortable using the virtual world for questionable academic endeavors.
The survey says that children in Grades 7 to 12 are actively engaged in Internet cheating and often pass off other work and downloaded papers as their own. Some students search the Internet for teacher manuals which they use to their advantage. A good number have cheated on exams using a cell phone. Aren’t they clever?
Canadian universities are well aware of the worsening situation. In 2002 at Simon Fraser University 44 business and economic students were disciplined for academic infractions. That same year at Carlton University 29 engineering students were caught cheating on an essay about, of all things, professional ethics.
Most university students in the U.S. and Canada don’t consider computer cheating to be a serious issue. Cheaters brag about getting better marks than those who studied. There is no embarrassment. The only shame is carried by the honest students with the lower marks.
For their part, schools are using technology to fight this lack of academic integrity. Online detection services such as Turnitin.com and iThenticate are used to screen student papers for plagiarism. Still, 41 per cent of Canadian faculty admitted to ignoring incidents of suspected academic dishonesty.
This intellectual laziness has allowed a cheating to win culture to invade our schools and in turn, our society. In order to get higher grades or even to avoid flunking out altogether, students often use these tactics. There is a very low risk of being caught and of being punished if you are.
The students who play by the rules quickly realize that in order to compete with the cheaters, they must cheat themselves. It really makes you think. Where does all this cheating lead?
I wonder how many of the business and economic leaders now sitting in jail for fraud and embezzlement began their rise to the top by cheating on a term paper in high school. I wonder how many of the engineers at BP who were responsible for the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico cheated on their physics exams in university.
And to give this a historical perspective, I wonder if any of the captain and crew that took the Titanic to the bottom of the sea ever lied about their qualifications or cheated in navigation school.
When I was growing up I was taught cheaters never prosper and I still believe honesty is the best policy.
We were taught the difference between right and wrong at an early age. And even though we tried to bend the rules whenever we could, we didn’t get away with much.
But when I consider the criminal behaviour of white collar executives, the scheming and dishonesty of politicians at every level and I see doped-up athletes laughing on their way to the bank with their gold medals and commercial endorsements, it boggles my mind.
I guess lying, cheating students grow up to be lying, cheating adults. Sometimes it seems like the whole planet is run by liars, fraudsters and cheats.
