Which Types of Students Cheat Most?
A Rutgers professor surveyed different fields of study to find out how many students admit to cheating
Reader Comments
cheating
I am a teacher and English language teacher from Australia who has spent considerable time in Taiwan and limited time in China. A major problem for many students from Asia/ NE Asia seems to be the universities accept students with a unrealistic level of English. (hence the cheating)(Many lecturers have openly stated this here in the Australian media). Many universities rely heavily on overseas students for funding. Many students come from cultures where loss of face is extreme. Once you live in these countries, you realise this is an extremely serious issue. In many cultures the end result is all that matters. Genuinely many of the students I have come across do not see cheating as wrong. Some of my friends from Asia have openly stated to me that I must be mad not to cheat. Unfortunately many Australian employers no longer interview international students even those who hold an Australian university degree due to being unable to truly ascertain the real worth of the degree holder. Despite this, many students both domestic and international do the right thing and put the time and effort in. However, I can personally verify many domestic university graduates especially in English have a great side line business going of essay production. In one case my friend had her mothers PhD student (economic professor/Taiwan)write all her essays. This girl consequently graduated with high distinction grades from a Queensland University. However in my personal experience this problem is much worse in China than in Taiwan.
cheating at university
Has the fair question been asked, by anyone, what the expectations, style, and means of the delivery of knowledge by the professor, in concert with the administration of the univ., and dept. have played in this tragic result? As a prof of some 30 years I would venture a resounding NO....the students for the most part are seen as vessels to fill thus the emphasis is to simply to put it, (the knowledge), out there one day and test them the next with the expectation that those with better memories than others or more skilled cheaters, often with f's in class participation,and A's in extracurricular activities, THUS leaving NO ONE BEHIND and getting the aforementioned administrators and profs OFF the education hook and to win the day for funding additional expansion to the sport facilities and the ever present alumni influence in the BUSINESS of serious education...
Cheating
As the majority of lawyers, politicians and business persons have always known, lying/cheating are only wrong when you get caught! And with such sterling examples, the general public has now joined the group. And even if you are caught, if you have stolen a sufficient amount, you may be able to buy or bribe your way out. As a last resort, you can hire a lawyer to get you off, but you certainly have to have some wealth to share and be prepared to share it, big time.
I am a 76 year old university science graduate. I did not cheat at any time during my years in the education mill. I know some who did, were not caught, and went on to very successfull careers. In my 36 year career as a chemist in the nuclear, petrochemical and petroleum fields, I did not take up lying or cheating. My reward was to be designated "not a team player" and at age 56, forced to "retire". All acknowledged, wherever I worked, that I and my co-workers got things done correctly and efficiently, but I could not be relied upon to tell the boss what he wanted to hear unless it was true. Consequently, I was never considered to be upper management material.
Despite my very modest career success, I would advise anyone who sought my advice, not to cheat or lie. I would further advise them of the probable career cost of such a course of action, but remind them that in the end, it is a small price to pay for retaining his/her self respect. After all, if you lose your self respect you have also lost respect for everything of true value.
Exceptions
There are some. My daughter is a junior at Haverford College in PA. The students there seem to take their honor code very seriously. At least she feels they do. Cheaters are expelled. There's something to be said about zero tolerance, however, that does not seem to be the motivation. There is a genuiine desire to do the honorable thing. It goes to show, that when a culture (in this case a micro-culture) expects a certain behavior, its members are more likely to conform to it.
Schools
I went to Chicago's Northwestern Univ. and my friend went to Stanford. He mentioned to me once that it looks like most recognized Universitys are graduating students with the mentality of whatever it takes to increse the bottom line--goes.
It's unfortuante that schools no longer teach honor, respect and integrity. We are seeing that now in the financial crisis where the majority of CEO's have no shame, no honor and will do whatever they can to make money for themselves and screw the rest of the world. We saw ENRON and now we see Lehman Bros. where the CEO had no compunction in raking the company of $250M dollars and shows no guilt in causing thousands to lose their jobs, their shares and their retirement funds. They should be made an example of and arrested, jailed and fined. They should be treated as the thiefs they are. I'll bet they cheated and laughed about it all through school. What a shame.
Who cheats
After 40 years as a university professor I found that foreign students (especially from the Middle East) were easily in the category most likely to cheat. When caught they told me that it was part of their culture and that I was discriminating against them. While serving as a Dean I had to freeze the transcripts of 2 students from Teheran who actually paid others to take all of their classes and exams while they lived it up in a condo in an affluent beach suburb. How easy it is to fake I.D.'s! I became suspicious when they came to my office after being caught in a requirement conflict. They hardly spoke English and I knew they simply could not have passed courses and writing exams with the high scores they had received. True confessions.
student cheating
As a math professor for 26 years at Rowan University of New Jersey, my experience was the same: business majors cheated most, education majors least.
Fran Masat, Key West
Getting ahead at any cost
this article is not surprising at all.. we have the mentality in this country succeed at all cost. I would be intereted in knowing whether or not the rate of cheating is up vs 1970's.
Cheating is normal
If given the opportunity to cheat, most humans will - it's a simple human trait.
The amount of cheating is dependent upon the person - so it is not a question of "who" cheats but "how much" that person cheats!
And for those who say they have "never" cheated, well good for you!
By the way, I was a business major and cheated a bit in high school but never once in college.
Not all of us do it
I happen to be a Business major, and I have not cheated on any of my courses. I have done all my work, and I've done it the right way, because I think that cheating won't make me a professional. I would like to help people someday with what I know, and if I don't know anything, then that just defeats the purpose. The article is not far from the truth. Many of my classmates have cheated in their courses, and they're Business majors. But, it's important that individuals reading this know that NOT ONLY BUSINESS STUDENTS CHEAT. There ARE people who cheat and are not Business majors, so it's not something that's a characteristic of JUST Business majors.
