“Academic dishonesty” encompasses plagiarism, buying or selling term papers, to simply looking at aneighbor’s test, and all local colleges and universities warn students that violating these strict rules can result in expulsion.Yet, for a litany of reasons, many students do cheat, and with technology like smart phones and highly-available WiFi and Internet, this trend looks to continue and perhaps even rise.
Area students talked about the age-old practice, which research has examined thoroughly for decades. All students spoke with complete anonymity, and the picture they painted is a familiar one for researchers who crunch the numbers, and the administrators who hope to stop the dishonesty altogether.
“Everyone I’ve gotten to know in my classes has cheated,” one student said, “I haven’t met anyone at West Chester who hasn’t cheated.”
“I would say that everyone either cheats, or at some point sees someone else blatantly cheating,” another confirmed.
Students said that they will go to great lengths in order to get an edge.
One student typed in formulas and answers into a graphing calculator in order to aid memory during an exam. The same student simply slipped a “cheat sheet” into the back of a standard calculator when the more high-tech graphing calculator was not permitted.
“I needed that. I wasn’t studying enough to pass without that little extra ‘umph’ to get the ‘C’ and pass the class,” the student said.
Another possessed an even more determined past:
“I’ve written things on my hands and stomach. If you’re making up a test you take it in a different classroom. I took the test in a computer lab with some other people and everyone who was with me used their notes.”
Even students who claimed that they did not cheat said that they saw multiple instances of others breaking the rules. Some of the techniques seemed older, and did not rely on technology.
“You see people looking at other people’s tests,” a WCU student said, “And it’s not that hard to see. Some people will leave their notes where they can see them. The inside of a water bottle to take notes is a classic.”
Other methods stepped in line with modern technology. Numerous students mentioned smart phones that allowed students to get answers very quickly by accessing the Internet. Others just talked about basic texting in order to acquire answers.
For homework or online assignments, the Internet also changes everything.
“When you go onto the Internet or Google, the answers are right there. You can get them efficiently and correctly,” an area college student said.
In general, WCU students seem to think that many of their peers cheat on a regular basis. For an informal poll, students were given some examples of academic dishonesty, as defined by the university’s website, and asked to estimate what percentage of their classmates cheat at one point or another. Twenty-five upperclassmen gave 71 percent as an average answer.
Research on the subject is imperfect, but still provides a solid statistical background to check students’ claims. One 1994 study by researchers Graham, Monday, O’Brien and Steffen found that 90 percent of students admitted to cheating at least once while at college. A similar 1996 study run by two researchers concluded that 68 percent cheat at least once. More recent studies prove more inconclusive due to problems with testing, but most experts agree the number remains high.
These same studies give a fascinating view of cheating from a professor’s point of view. The same 1994 survey referenced earlier revealed that a stunning 79 percent of professors sampled witnessed cheating. Out of this group, only nine percent reported the offender.
A different study and subsequent academic guide by Bernard Whitley and Patricia Keith-Spiegel discussed many issues faculty have with curtailing and then reporting academic dishonesty. Professors cited an “unwillingness to devote time and energy to the issue, reluctance to undergo an emotional confrontation, and fear of retaliation by the student, of losing students, of being accused of harassment or discrimination, and even of being sued for these offenses and/or defamation of character.”
When questioned on the issue of getting caught, some students mentioned extreme angst and nervousness, while others felt very calm and even confident.
Perhaps even more important than how many students is the question of why they are doing it.
“Mainly laziness,” one student said.
Laziness seemed to be a common theme. Even more so, though, was the pressure to achieve good grades. Students mentioned this many times, and surprisingly many said that the pressure was self-imposed.
A few others mentioned external factors: “It’s the pressure to get good grades. You have to have a certain GPA to get into a good graduate school. If you fall below a certain level then no graduate school will accept you,” a student said.
All-in-all, many students cheat and are willing to rationalize their actions in a lot of different ways.
“It’s not that I didn’t study, and I prepare as much as I possibly can, but cheating gives me the assurance that I can get a good grade,” one said.
Another summed up the situation, “There are two kinds of people: the bad kids who cheat because they drank too much the night before and didn’t study, and the good kids who do it because they need a little extra help. I wouldn’t say that I’m a bad person.”
Academic dishonesty is as old as academia itself. New technologies make cheating easier and easier for students, but also force professors into difficult situations. Despite the massive risks involved, the pressures of getting good grades will more than likely insure that students continue to cheat, and at a high volume.
Travis Pearson is a fourth-year student majoring in English with a minor in journalism. He can be reached at TP651537@wcupa.edu.