Papers copied from friends, passages lifted from scholarly journals, even entire essays downloaded off the Internet. Academic dishonesty has no doubt been around since schools were invented, but recent technological innovations have made it easier both to cheat and to catch perpetrators. Punishing them, however, may not be so easy.
In a nationally-publicized case, a high school teacher in Kansas resigned over lack of support from her school district when she tried to make her students pay a price for cheating. The principal and the superintendent agreed with teacher Christine Pelton that the students were guilty of plagiarism, but after being pressured by the parents, the school board forced Pelton to be lenient with the cheaters.
It is a problem faced by university instructors every day.
According to several administration and faculty members, cheating in universities is blatant and on the rise in American universities. Edwin Sasaki, interim dean of Undergraduate Studies at CSUB, says his office handles about six cases of academic dishonesty every term, but believes it is much more common. “I think cheating is seriously under-reported,” he said.
One reason professors may not formally report incidents of cheating, Sasaki believes, is the punishment is so severe. The first offense results in a failing grade for the course, and the second offense causes the student’s expulsion from CSUB.
Rather than subjecting students to such punishment, faculty members usually work with students suspected of plagiarism - the most common form of cheating. English faculty member Andrew Troup says, “Most cheating is done by students who do not know they are doing it - they just needed more education.”
Troup agrees the process for reporting cheaters can be difficult. “I’ve never had much cheating in my classes, but there have been two or three cases in my nine years here when I suspected a student (of cheating) but couldn’t prove it , it wasn’t worth my time to try to prove it.”
Sasaki would like to see a less formal reporting system implemented. Just recording incidents might be enough. If cheaters were reported regularly, they could be tracked over time and held accountable.
Someone who plagiarizes once may have made an honest mistake, but repeat offenders get a false sense of security. Eventually, the cheaters may think they can get away with anything. “They learn that they don’t even have to cheat carefully,” said Psychology department faculty member Beth Rienzi.
The most common reason for cheating, according to Rienzi, is students do not believe class material is meaningful. “If they do not see what they are learning as important to their future goals, their goal becomes, ‘How do I get the grade I need to get out of here?’” Rather than try to internalize knowledge, they may try to take shortcuts. “Young people today are so cynical about the adult world that they use cheating as a way to get by.”
Another reason for decreasing academic integrity is related to changes in society as a whole. “People today do not have as much time to invest in their relationships with their children, and we develop our morals by observing those around us.” said Rienzi. “When we have a sense of attachment and commitment to someone, we incorporate their values.”
Professors do have weapons in the war against plagiarism. Troup assigns in-class essays when he is teaching lower-division writing classes. When he gives longer, take-home essay assignments to upper-level classes, Troup asks for essays about very specific aspects of a literary work. “It’s easy to find a paper (to plagiarize) on general topics, but not on specific questions.”
Another anti-cheating strategy is to relate class material to students’ lives. “If they are curious and if they think the material is important for their future career, their intellectual development, or their mental health - they are less likely to cheat,” said Rienzi.
The temptation to cheat will exist as long as there are schools, but instructors are aware of the problem at Cal State. “Compared to nation-wide statistics on academic dishonesty, CSUB is at the low end,” said Sasaki. “I don’t think this is because our students are more honesty, it’s because our faculty is student-oriented and sympathetic to students.”
Runner@csubak.edu