The Perennial Problem of Cheating - Research Paper Example

Section/# Academic Integrity and the Perennial Problem of Cheating As with any issue related to morality and ethics, a wide range of opinions exists with regards to whether it is admissible and allowable for an individual to cheat within their scholastic endeavors. Ultimately, the question that this particular analysis will seek to answer is not whether or not cheating is in and of itself wrong, it is patently obvious that the evidence for its unethical nature abounds in a wide variety of extent literature; instead, the author will focus upon the externalities of cheating, how it is impacted, the thoughts of stakeholders concerning it, and what can be done to help curb this phenomena, are the more salient issues. Through such a level of discussion and analysis, it is the hope of this author that the reader will gain a more informed and rational understanding with respect to societal norms, the means through which individuals seek to engage with cheating as a means of benefiting themselves The innate and tacit drive for cheating (as well as what causes it), the benefits as compared to the risks, and the types and variety of cheating that is represented throughout scholastics within the current era. Further, a cursory analysis with regards to the scope and impacts of unlimited cheating will be discussed. Firstly, it must be understood cheating is something of a social phenomena within the world. Although the impacts of cheating within scholastics have only recently come to a broad level of understanding, the fact of the matter is that cheating is a type of social problem that traces its origins back to the innate desire for an individual to gain a competitive advantage over his/her peers with the least amount of effort. Ultimately, the human spirit is one that continually seeks for self betterment and a level of advantage over their fellow students (Bing et al. 29). Oftentimes, this desire to be better engages the individual to try harder and exert their selves more fully. However, oftentimes, the case is that the individual seeks a shortcut with regards to maintaining an advantage and reaching a desired goal. This shortcut can either be the reduction in the overall quality of the work that they represent or it can be referenced with regards to the fact that the seek to cheat in one form or the other as a means of providing themselves the benefits that had previously been mentioned. Regardless of the way in which cheating is defined, it must be understood cheating is not localized to the University or secondary education systems. Rather, from an early age, children are made aware of the fact that cheating is very much a part of adult life. From the way in which a colleague takes advantage of another and claims his/her own work as their own, the manner in which the government is cheated out of taxes (and individuals brag about this), or the manner through which deception is utilized in business deals, the young stakeholders presented with a litany of different situations in which cheating is both allowed and even promoted. Recognizing that cheating is a defensible approach to effecting the goals that they wish to accomplish, students engage in this process with not nearly enough reservations with regards to the negative ramifications of such a process can necessarily engage. Ultimately, the practice of cheating is reinforced within a young individual due to the fact that the process itself is oftentimes rewarded within both the adult world and the scholastic world. One does not need to look very hard to find a situation in which cheating within the corporate dynamic has provided an individual, or indeed entire corporation, with a great deal of benefit Orwell as compared to those that would have chosen the more ethical and/or moral approach. By much the same token, cheating within the scholastic realm has proven to be beneficial in many instances as well. A key proof of the situation has to do with the fact that information has recently been revealed that Moammar Gaddafi’s son, Saif, had plagiarized his PhD dissertation while studying in London. Naturally, proof of this did not come out until after such a time that Col. Qaddafi had been removed from power within Libya. As such, this particular instance is yet one of many examples for a host of individuals that have likely plagiarized and cheated their way through university, postgraduate, and even PhD level education; however, many of these have not been caught. Such a realization helps to live in a degree of credence to the understanding of the fact that cheating oftentimes pays off. As such, it is not surprising that more and more individuals throughout the world continue to weigh the costs and benefits of cheating and engage with it as a means of quickly realizing a particular goal. Ultimately, cheating can and does take place at every level of the education system. This process, although manifested in many different forms is quite easy to comprehend as it is predicated upon the basic and innate human desire for their own time and for a quick and easy “win”. Many individuals have attributed cheating and plagiarism to laziness; however, this does not help the reader to come to a full or broad understanding of the causal mechanisms that cheating leverages. Similarly, whereas it has been discussed that key level of benefit exist with regards to the process of cheating, it must also be understood that a key level of risk also is involved (Burris et al. 56). Obviously, the risk that is involved in many instances is the risk of being caught. Depending on the University or secondary educational system in question, the risk of being caught in cheating can include can include or exceed failure of the given assignment or indeed of the course itself – even expulsion from the given institution. However, this threat is still not enough to dissuade individuals from engaging with cheating. The underlying reason for this has to do with the fact that individuals are willing to run the risk of being caught in cheating due to the fact that the reward for this outweighs the risks. Risk is something that cannot be generalized as each and every individual student has a unique interpretation of this risk and each and every scholastic institution treats cheating in a different manner. Further, it must be understood that there are several different types of scholastic cheating. The first type is with regards to engaging another individual in order to perform work that is submitted to a professor, instructor, or seeking assistant that judges this work to be the result of the student who submitted it. Oftentimes, this form of cheating takes place within a black market that involves payment of elusive Internet services and/or other individuals in the University who would like to make money based upon performing the work that another individual has been tasked with (Briggs et al. 15). This particular form of cheating is especially famous with regards to the writing of dissertations, proposals, and research papers. Another form of cheating is with respect to copying the work of another individual with or without their knowledge. If an individual is taking a test within a classroom, especially a multiple-choice test, peering at the desk beside them as a means of correctly representing the right answers is a strategy that all too many University and secondary school students have engaged in. However, copying the work of another cannot and should not be understood as merely indicative of the classroom process. Instead, copying the work of another individual is oftentimes represented with regards to plagiarism and has been evidenced as an increasing problem with regards to work that is submitted for a litany of different courses within the educational system (Burris et al. 5). As a means of countering this particular cheating mechanism, institutions and universities have engaged anti-plagiarism software that is able to scour the Internet at the press of a button and determine whether or not the words, phrases, or unique terms of writing that are used by another individual are in fact real or has been lifted from another individual’s primary work. The relevant question of must be engaged is with respect to whether or not cheating is on the rise. This is slightly more difficult to answer than one might automatically expect. The underlying reason for this has to do with the fact that a further and further emphasis has been placed upon anti-cheating practices and the level of cheating that is represented within Universities and institutions around the globe. As such, the added focus necessarily denotes the fact that further examples and discussion of cheating has been evidenced within the current discourse. However, this fact notwithstanding, it can definitively be stating that cheating has expanded; if for no other reason, due to the fact that more and more individuals are integrating with a college education. As a means of understanding this statement, the reader can and should integrate with the understanding of the fact that cheating is becoming more and more rampant not as a function of the fact that an ethical or moral decay of society is taking place; rather, cheating is taking place at a more and more enhanced level due to the fact that further and further individuals are receiving secondary and postsecondary education. Recent analysis into cheating within the secondary and postsecondary education has revealed the fact that a very large majority of students have cheated. However, the scope and frequency of this cheating is ultimately the more important question; as compared to whether or not an individual is cheated ever before in their life. Scholars define cheating within two distinct categories; these are limited cheating and what is termed as unlimited cheating. As the name implies, Limited cheating is a process that takes place on a limited basis and is not a regular or habitual integration. More often than not, Limited cheating oftentimes denotes a situation of minimal importance and one that does not necessarily engaged as high of the ethical ramifications as does unlimited cheating. By means of comparison, unlimited cheating is more of a lifestyle choice than one might initially believed. Accordingly, unlimited cheating represents a situation in which an individual integrates with cheating as a function of any and all coursework that they are responsible for completing. In much the same way that use of a particular substance or drug helps to rewire an individual’s brain with regards to reward mechanisms, unlimited cheating can be argued to rewire the way in which an individual thinks; encouraging them at each and every juncture to engage in cheating as a means of affecting a particular assignment, grade, research paper, or even doctoral dissertation (Harbin & Humphrey 5). With regards to the impacts of unlimited cheating, it can quickly be denoted that the entire purpose for education is undermined in a situation in which a student is willing and able to engage in unlimited cheating. Ultimately, the degrees, certifications, and indeed grades that education is responsible for providing our predicated upon the belief that the individual themselves are solely responsible for the work that they submit. As such, a situation of unlimited cheating creates a question in the minds of society with regards to whether or not the individual is adequately suited for employment within a particular field. For instance, imagine the confusion or hardship that would be caused if a nurse, doctor, or other medical professional had engaged in unlimited cheating and was ultimately rewarded their medical certification/degree not based upon their own merits; but based upon the merits of another individual/group of individuals (Shanahan et al. 165). Such a situation would not only be ethically reprehensible, it would portend a great deal of risk to society and all individuals that would have the misfortune of being treated under such an individual’s care. In such a manner, the reader can adequately see the far-reaching impacts the cheating can have upon not only the individuals quality of education but also the society as a whole. Instead of viewing this issue as a personal choice that is a harmless decision to dilute once education, society must integrate with cheating, and its determinant aspects, as a systemic rot that calls into question the entire purpose for education and the quality of goods and services that this individual will be able to provide to the economy as a whole once they have graduated and/or completed their educational training (O’Neil & Pfeiffer 236). Another relevant factor that must be considered is with regards to the fact that an individual who is willing and able to cheat with regards to their own education is infinitely more willing to cheat with regards to their professional career. As such, even though the ethics of cheating within scholastics are measured upon a different basis as compared to the ethics of cheating within a personal career, the fact of the matter is that this particular practice is synonymous regardless of what is measured. Further, with respect to this author’s particular opinion, it must be understood that cheating is a necessary complement of human evolution. Due to the fact that humans are inherently predisposed to seek to leverage a competitive edge over their peers, it is foolish and shortsighted to believe that cheating can in fact ever be reduced or stopped entirely. These the intrinsic nature of human beings, the desire to have an “easy win” outweighs the desire to perform the work was satisfactory level in and of their own power. Moreover, the threat of cheating actually helps to make the educational system stronger. What is meant by this is the fact that the pervasive levels of cheating that are currently employed help educators and stakeholders to be firmly aware of the dangers that cheating represents and constantly vigilant to its prevalence within any particular field of study (Zeenath et al. 22). If cheating were not so prevalent, or indeed if cheating were not an issue that was of such importance that it warranted a research analysis, it is quite possible that the overall damage that plagiarism and cheating of every variety within the realm of scholastics could cause would be exponentially greater than it is currently. In short, the threat of cheating itself is enough to ensure that stakeholders within the process are actively vigilant to avoid the negative ramifications that it provides throughout the system (Josien & Broderick 95). In conclusion, the information that is thus far been provided can definitively be seen from the preceding analysis, the fact of the matter is that cheating represents an inherent harm to the system of education as well as an inherent danger to the level of goods and service quality that are represented throughout the economic environment. Cheating is a process that is quite old and should not be interpreted as one that will soon be stopped or slowed. As technology increases, the means by which students will cheat also increases. However, rather than allowing this to be cause for alarm, the stakeholders of the education system, up to and including the individual professor/instructor/teacher, should be ever mindful of the fact that cheating reduces the overall effectiveness of the education that students are tasked with receiving; as such, seeking to stop it at each and every juncture is a requirement for all of the stakeholders involved in the process. Works Cited Bing, Mark N., et al. "An Experimental Investigation Of An Interactive Model Of Academic Cheating Among Business School Students." Academy Of Management Learning & Education 11.1 (2012): 28-48. Business Source Complete. Web. 30 Nov. 2013. BRIGGS, KRISTIE, JOHN P. WORKMAN JR., and ANNE S. YORK. 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