Is anyone ethical anymore?

Where have honesty and integrity gone?

I think our conversation on honesty and integrity brought up a lot of astounding issues. Upwards of 75% of students cheat? When looking at this number, it seems appalling. We can all stand with righteous indignation and say that this is unacceptable and these students should feel disgraceful. BUT, when I looked around the room in class and saw everyone shaking their collective heads, I couldn't help but think that more than 3 out of every 4 students (based on this statistic) have CHEATED in our classroom. So, if we have 40 people in the class, this means that only 10 have not. Let's step back a second, then. It is easy to blame the students (accountability, right?), but maybe we should also be looking at the culture that breeds this sort of behavior. Is there something happening in the classroom that can is leading to cheating? After all, there are many different kinds of cheating (i.e., copying a problem on a homework set, not contributing to the group problem solving, copying someone's test, or using an unapproved solution manual). I've been in classes where the professor clearly states that we can use any text, book, reference, etc. we can find. So, if we find a solutions manual online is this OK to use? Who are we cheating here... ourselves? Are the standards unreachable that students feel the pressure or need to cheat just to float? If a student has to resort to cheating just to get by, have we too failed?

OK, so I've posed more questions than answers. I think it's important for the professor and faculty to reflect on what we're doing to aid to a culture of cheating rather than just "blame" the student. Also, it's important to think about how we handle cheating. I am one to give the benefit of the doubt. Fool me once, shame on you sort of mentality, but I can forgive. If someone (or a whole class) appears to be cheating, why not have a class discussion on the problem. Make it a safe zone to for students to talk freely. Maybe an anonymous blog/comment on Scholar (or a similar site). Cheating (the first time) can be a tremendous teaching moment to discuss accountability on all sides. The problem I see with integrity and honesty is not in fact making a mistake, it's justifying it afterward. A person with true integrity may make a mistake, but is willing to accept it, own it, and learn from it.

What I cannot wrap my head around, though, is professors' "cheating" (i.e., false authorship, falsifying data, plagiarism). I mean, come on! Are you serious? At that point in your career you should know better! I think we have a horrible lack of resources for graduate students to navigate these ethical publishing issues. At most Universities you are at the will of your adviser to "teach" you the right way to publish... but by the time you've been published, gone through the peer-review process, navigated the initial murky waters of doing research for the first time, you should know better. This is where I have a hard time seeing both sides of the issue. The time for "teaching moments" has long passed. At this point, you are knowingly compromising your integrity and should be dismissed. I truly believe that harsh punishment for professors who cheat the system is important. There should be a zero-tolerance mentality for this type of behavior. For example, if a medical student cheats, there should be a discussion on what could happen if they do not understand the concept in the real world. Cheating on the test doesn't kill somebody. If, however, a doctor cheats, that could be a life. The time for second-chances has passed in that situation.

Whatever the cause of the problem, we need to have more open and honest conversations about cheating and ethics. It's important in a classroom like ours to be able to speak freely without judgment so we can learn from our past mistakes and understand how to prevent them from happening in the future. I am encouraged that we can change this high rate of cheating by having open and honest dialogues.

One last point, I take issue with what some in the class were saying about preventing cheating. I am not sure the best way to prevent cheating is by force separating students so they cannot sit with friends or randomizing tests. I take a lot of stock in trust. If someone automatically does not trust me, why should I trust them or act trustworthy? I think we can sometimes assume the worst in people and that is what will come out. Maybe if we trusted our students to do the right thing and talked openly about what cheating actually means (and the potential consequences in the "real world") then we would see a decrease in cheating.