According to the International Center for Academic Integrity, between 40 and 70 percent of all college students have reported cheating sometime during their academic career.
Studies also show that cheating among college students is "prevalent" and that certain types of cheating have increased dramatically in the last 30 years. Some cases are easily recognizable, but others are hard to identify.
For example: learning what is on a test from a friend who has already taken the exam or using a false excuse to delay taking a test is cheating.
Educators tirelessly emphasize the importance of academic integrity. Students are expected to use peer-reviewed sources for academic research instead of Wikipedia, googled websites or urbandictionary.com.
Since freshman year, we are equipped with a guide, "Doing Honest Work in College." But it only outlines what constitutes academic dishonesty - cheating, fabrication, facilitating academic dishonesty, and plagiarism. So I am left wondering: what does doing honest work entail?
You may be familiar with the "typical" college student who procrastinates a lot, realizes that a deadline is fast approaching, hasn't done the work and decides to buy a "plagiarism-free" essay online and submit it as his or her own work.
You may also have heard about the athlete who uses performance enhancement drugs to win a race or the focused student whose test preparation involves a few doses of Ritalin or Provigil.
What's the problem with boosting one's grey matter if it results in well-researched papers or more accurate experiment results anyway? How is that different from having a cup of coffee in the morning?
Immersed in a competitive culture that extols results, college students are always comparing themselves to their peers. For some reason, getting As and very high GPAs is perceived more important than the learning process.
Faced with pressures to cheat, impending stress, careless note-taking or simply plain unadulterated ignorance, students will often plead that they didn't know that what they were doing was wrong - an excuse that rarely gets anyone out of trouble.
DePauw students are not only required to be familiar with and to uphold the policies that govern how we work, live and interact in both an academic and social environment, but we are also obligated to take a role in encouraging other students to be honest with their peers, professors and community.
This includes simple tasks such as giving credit where it is due, acknowledging someone else's work, and remembering and adhering to the common values of honesty, trust, fairness, respect and responsibility.
In other words, doing the right thing in difficult situations.
- Dambanemuya is a senior from Nyanga, Zimbabwe, majoring in computer science and conflict studies. He is also an intern at the Janet Prindle Institute for Ethics.
