Why Students Cheat Essay, Research Paper

Academic Integrity: Why Students Cheat

Surveys say that 25 to 70 percent of all college students cheat according to William Shropshire’s article “Of Being & Getting: Academic Honesty.” The motivations behind why students cheat are the root of the problem of the dishonesty. Shropshire finds that the main reason students choose to cheat is they weigh out the benefits and see that it would help them to get ahead. Cheating has a low-risk factor and many students feel that cheating on one test will not matter and will give them the boost they need to get ahead. Students spend their entire lives trying to get into a good college. Once they get in, they spend their time trying to get into a good graduate school or get the best job. The students who cheat without getting caught have better grades and get chosen before those who were honest. The future benefits out-weigh the risks so the student puts their greed before their moral obligations to decide to cheat. Shropshire suggests that a conversation is the most honest way of testing a student. The student cannot cheat during a conversation because they are put on the spot and do not know what question is about to be asked. Since most students cheat, it will be very hard to eliminate cheating because most students do not see anything wrong with getting ahead at any cost.

Cheating is not a new problem. Currently in the “real world,” 25 to 70 percent of our doctors, lawyers, and teachers cheated when they were in school. The world is still here and will continue to be here long after the current generation of cheaters retire. Shropshire did not do a good job of persuading. He just stated the problem and assumed everyone thinks that cheating is so reprehensible that he did not state the effects of cheating. A problem with Shropshire’s article is that he is trying to introduce ways to stop cheating totally. Cheating has always been a part of schooling and students will find ways to cheat regardless of whether or not it goes against their moral code. Shropshire seems to be leaning towards oral tests more than written tests because he considers conversation a more honest way of testing. Most professors would ask different students the same questions so other students could tell their classmates what questions are being asked. Shropshire focuses on morality that he did not offer responses to what to do to stop the cheating. The problems that Shropshire has by-passed are important because it shows how impossible it is to stop cheating altogether. Students will always cheat. People in the real world cheat as well. Whether it is on their taxes or fudging numbers for sales figures, cheating will always be prevalent in our society. Unless a sudden burst of morality hits the world, cheating of some sort will always be part of our society.