Countless surveys, including one from Educational Testing Service, report that the percentage of American college students who admit to cheating in high school has risen from 20 percent in the 1940s to over 75 percent of current students. More distressing are reports that many students who admit to cheating in high school don’t see these behaviors as significant breaches of moral conduct. Many say occasional cheating is simply the means by which they will achieve admission to a good college where they can then get the grades necessary to get a good job. Student comments on surveys suggest they cheat, plagiarize and collaborate inappropriately because such practices have become the campus norm and because there’s little or no chance of getting caught.
We live in a culture where some cheating seems almost OK. When I ask students if they would cheat on their spouse, they almost always say no and look indignant. When I ask them if they might cheat on an insurance claim form, fail to declare income from a side job, or illegally copy music, computer programs or DVDs for a friend, most students say they just might.
If it’s true that cheating has become a campus norm and if students believe that there’s little chance of getting caught, then it seems clear that we need to do something to reverse this corrosive trend. First, we should openly and repeatedly attack the idea that because cheating is frequent, it is, in any sense, normal. One suggestion I favor is having all incoming students sign an honor code as a condition of admission. This symbolic act transmits an unambiguous message to all students that academic integrity is the prerequisite foundation of all work of the academy and gives fair warning to students that, in spite of declining cultural mores, the Michigan Tech academic community expects more. Course syllabi should explicitly describe when and how students can collaborate and when they need to do their own work. In our classes, we must model the behaviors we want our students to emulate.
Second, we should make it much more difficult for students to cheat and much more likely that instances of cheating will be identified and dealt with fairly, consistently and formatively. Instructors can make cheating more difficult by requiring students to submit drafts of written work, using plagiarism detection software, varying assignments from term to term and producing new exams. If the plagiarism software strongly suggests wholesale use of unattributed material when a student submits a draft, the instructor has the opportunity to clarify what is expected from the student in terms of original work. To be fair, some students are so habituated to doing their research by surfing the Net that issues like attribution and proper citation are the last things on their minds as they cobble together assignments in the wee morning hours. If a student doesn’t understand when and how to cite others' work or that paraphrasing doesn’t eliminate the need for attribution, it may be time to refer that student to the Writing Center for a refresher course.
Many students report that the temptation to cheat is great because some instructors make it so very easy for them to cheat with little or no fear of getting caught. For example, Michigan Tech students routinely report to me that some unsupervised online exams allow students to get a passing grade in a class by Googling their way to the right answer. Instructors who reuse exams term after term based on the naïve notion that they don’t allow students to have copies of the exam are fooling themselves, as well. Students tell me that a little teamwork goes a long way in virtually reproducing an entire exam by using notes or items committed to memory during the exam period. Other students spoke up and argued that getting a copy of such an exam out of the classroom is child’s play if the class has forty or more students. "We’re short one over here," is all that it takes.
If students submit plagiarized work for a grade or if two or more students submit work that was assigned as individual work but was clearly completed collaboratively, then it’s time to involve the Judicial Affairs office. Last year, Pat Gotschalk processed nearly 200 cases of breaches of academic integrity. Because a student who cheats in one course might likely be cheating in others, it’s important to have a centralized place where these behaviors are discouraged.
Trust is essential to honest and open inquiry in and out of the classroom. I tell my students that trust takes a lifelong effort to build and maintain and one stupid mistake to destroy. Like most issues in college teaching, encouraging academic integrity requires a sense of balance and restraint and an overarching desire to create a climate where honesty and personal and professional integrity can thrive.