Effects of Academic Dishonesty in Higher Education, Essay Example

There are more people involved in taking higher Education courses than ever before.  This might be attending Universities or Colleges of Higher Education.  It is generally acknowledged that an undergraduate degree is now almost a pre-requisite for any well paying job.  As such the pressures are on individual students to avoid the concept of failure in obtaining their College Diplomas or University Degrees.  The concept of Academic integrity has therefore entered the forefront of academic and public life.  Statistics indicate an alarming trend of students committing acts of dishonesty in furtherance of their academic goals.

Care needs to be taken in the precise definition of Academic dishonesty.  In many regards we are talking about ethical considerations as opposed to legal misdemeanours.  Students who are not following proper lines of conduct and behaviour in attainment of their academic goals.  This needs to be examined from a number of different perspectives.  From the perspective of essay writing this refers to acts of plagiarism, the copying or theft of another persons work without giving credit ton the original author.  Using “ghost writers” to write term and other papers without translation and contribution to your own work – essentially skipping your own personal learning experience by getting someone else to do the job for you.  ” A 2002 study of nearly 50,000 undergraduate students in various U.S. colleges and universities conducted by Professor Donald McCabe, president and founder of the Center for Academic Integrity, revealed that a quarter of the students surveyed admitted to “serious cheating” on a recent examination (Burke, Polimeni, & Slavin, 2007, p. 58).”  (Prevetti).

There is no doubt that the pressures imposed upon students,  in order to obtain their qualifications, are  indeed great.  These range from financial burdens, the amount of course work to be completed to deadlines,  the volume and range of subject work to be completed,  the amount of dedicated time to conduct research, attend lectures and tutorials, etc.  It is arguable as to who takes ultimate responsibility for ensuring that each student obtains a proper, worthwhile education and refrains from bad practices.  To a large extent the teachers and professors are responsible for oversight on the learning and teaching process.  They also have an academic responsibility to ensure that the general canons and ethics of the University ( as a centre of academic learning) are upheld by the students.  This should form an integral part of the learning contract between teacher and pupil.

The argument from the Teaching side is that we have a very large contingent of students to look after in addition to research obligations to both the University and Private sector sponsors. This limits the time available to supervise students who wish to cheat on the learning process.  ” The statistics regarding academic dishonesty are disheartening. Fifty-four percent of students at a small state university in the Southwest admitted cheating on either exams, quizzes, and assignments (Haines et al. 1986:345). Eighty-two percent of students at a large state university in the Midwest cheated at some point in their college career (Stern and Havlicek 1986:136). Eighty-six percent of students at a large Southern university cheated on either exams, papers, or homework assignments (Michaels and Miethe 1989:876).”  (Nathan W. Pino).

The impact of academic dishonesty is really twofold: (i) It can bring the Educational Establishment into disrepute and cheapens the value of their qualifications and degrees.  In more serious cases where this becomes more widespread it bring into question the validity of the degree and indeed whether it falls under the classification of bogus (ii) It can bring the academic teaching staff into disrepute by allowing faculty students to submit disreputable papers.  There is also a question of legality when substitute writers complete online papers through the University computer systems by being provided passwords by the students to access University files.  Such passwords are non transferrable and provided for the exclusive use of the students.  Students violating this rule may be expelled from the University and the substitute writer might be facing legal action for unauthorised access to a University system.  Ignorance of the law is no excuse and the ramifications of this are severe.

There is no doubt that Academic Essay writers provide a valuable service to students provided they are used in the right context i.e. a facilitation expert to provide additional subject matter expertise in completion of research papers.  The student still has the responsibility to read, digest and understand the research presented and ultimately take ownership of the final submitted work.  Under these circumstances the learning experience is still taking place and the student is really gaining help in the location and dissemination of information.  The student also has the responsibility to ensure the integrity of the services provided and that it completed in accordance with the College or University code of conduct or instructions.  Plagiarism will not be tolerated in any respectable Educational establishment and the student will need to protect his/herself from such actions occurring.  A copied paper will be deemed the responsibility of the student and will earn either a low grade or in severe cases expulsion.

It is also useful to point out that academic dishonesty goes beyond the conventional or norm of cheating on term papers.  In the larger campuses it can cover a wide range of activities that may infringe the University code of ethics, code of student conduct and guides to academic learning.  Students in breach of these are potentially bringing the University into disrepute  and as such the University has a wide range of options at its disposal including expulsion from the University.  “Universities need to consider the larger campus environment beyond the classroom. An obvious step in this direction is to have rules that prohibit lying, cheating, stealing, violent behaviour, interference with free expression, or other acts that break fundamental norms. Such rules not only protect the rights of everyone in the community; they also signal the importance of basic moral obligations and strengthen habits of ethical behaviour ”  (Donald L. Mccabe)

Cheating is really an ultimate question of personal reflection for the student.  The only person you are really cheating is yourself!  attending University is a life experience for learning and social interaction. It is not just about attaining a degree manuscript and the supporting transcript.  If you have learnt nothing from the social interaction, the scholarly teaching, the research exercises and the academic challenges posed, then arguably your degree is worthless.  Your later peers in your working life will quickly detect the fraud that you are and you will be socially disadvantaged from making advancement in  your chosen profession.  University is really an investment over time and the investment is a personal one – you!  Employers will equally question that if you behave irresponsibly in your University life how will you behave in your professional life.  Can you be trusted ?  are you going to apply the same practices to your working life ?  A lot of businesses are customer service oriented and require a high degree of personal commitment and honesty in the handling of client relationships.  Particularly so in the professional practices of  Doctors, Accountants, Lawyers, Bankers,  Architects etc.

The Faculties within Universities tend to deal with academic dishonesty on an individual basis, as opposed to enforcing a more general set of standard rules amongst the University student populace.  Because of this approach the situation is often more serious and the action taken more drastic, as opposed to ‘nipping the problem in the bud’.  The more prestigious ‘ivy league’ universities tend to have stricter rules in place because they have had plenty of time to deal with this issue.  ” A look at causes of cheating include ignorance of concepts such as collaboration, fair-use, and plagiarism, and also stress, and competition for jobs, scholarships, and admission to post-college programs. Research indicates that cheating depends significantly on situational characteristics of the classroom or institutions and that cheating is less likely to occur when there are threats of detection or sanctions ”  (Donald L. Mccabe)

Davis, McCabe and Bowers also considered the amount of cheating taking place during examinations and the poor invigilating taking place.  Students copying other peoples papers,  passing of information to friends during the course of the exam.  All indications of a lowering of standards and monitoring of examinations in the college and University systems ” Most of the students in Davis et al.’s ( 1992 ) study thought that instructors should care whether students cheat. To discourage cheating during a test, students favoured the instructor’s use of separate forms of the test, informing students about the penalties for cheating, separating students by an
empty desk, walking up and down the rows, and constantly watching the students. ”  (Davis)

Works Cited

Davis, Stephen F. “Additional Data on Academic Dishonesty and a Proposal for Remediation.” Teaching of Psychology, Vol. 22 (1995).

Donald L. Mccabe, Linda Klebe Trevino. “Academic Dishonesty: Honor Codes and Other Contextual Influences.” Journal of Higher Education, Vol. 64, (1993).

Nathan W. Pino, William L. Smith. College Students and Academic Dishonesty . 2003. 28 1 2010 <http://www.questia.com/googleScholar.qst;jsessionid=Lj2cv88KF3Zvqd30x0D5f07zynNNTqNlF9XnJDJClLCpPmnmzw9h!135482206!-257122373?docId=5002066682>.

Prevetti. Academic Dishonesty. 17 11 2008. 28 1 2010 <http://www.allfreeessays.com/essays/Academic-Dishonesty/9240.html>.