Ethical Reflection
Ben
Kuebel
Ben Kuebel
Ethical Reflection Paper—
Cheating On a Test
11-24-09
Ethics
Introduction
The ethical decision I’ve decided to reflect on is that of a choice I made my junior year of
college—whether or not to cheat on my Principles of Financial Management exam. I will use
Utilitarianism to explain how the ethical decision should have been not to cheat, and also, the
decision I made resulting in the actions that took place.
I am a finance and marketing major here at Loras College, and as a part of the core
curriculum, I am required to take a specific list of courses. One of the core requirements to
receive my bachelor’s degree in finance was to complete (and pass) Principles of Financial
Management. I don’t consider myself a genius, but in the same sense, I in no way consider
myself a financial slouch either. Regardless of this however, the majority of the students in the
class were having trouble with the course. Personally, halfway through the semester I had
earned a grade of “C”—a grade I wasn’t proud of to say the least. The first two tests we had
taken were very difficult and I had gotten a C and a D on them, respectively. I was determined
to make sure I didn’t drop below a C in the class by getting the best grade on the test that I could.
The ethical theory I chose to use to examine this situation was Utilitarianism because of
its opposite spectrums. It’s “do it” or “don’t.” More specifically, Utilitarianism focuses on one
decision that is to be made, and evaluates it based on its positive and negative aspects. This
evaluation of aspects is its judgment based on the decision’s possible utility. This utility relates
to the decision’s contribution to happiness of the individuals involved with that decision, making
it a form of consequentialism—the moral worth of an action is determined by its outcome. It is
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Ben
Kuebel
commonly generalized by “the greatest good for the greatest number of people.” In the same
sense, if necessary, it could also be “the least bad for the least number of people.”
Effects on Myself
I will first consider how the decision of cheating would affect me. If I was to cheat, it
would most likely help me get a better grade. It would not be that hard to do. We got to use a
calculator in class, so all I would have to do is write down the formulas in a 3x5 inch note card
and slip it into my calculator. This would definitely help me get a better grade. If I got a better
grade on the test, my self esteem would have been higher, but only for a short time (say, a day or
so) because I have what is referred to as a “short memory”—meaning I don’t let things that
happened in the recent past bother my performance in the future. If I got a good score on the test,
my GPA would have then gone up, and I would have had better chance of maintaining the
qualifications for the Good Student Discount I get that decreases the price I pay for automobile
insurance.
However, if I was to get a better grade on this test than I had before by cheating, who’s to
say that I wouldn’t notice how much cheating helped and would want to do it again, and
again…and again. It’s a slippery slope—you start not paying attention in class because you
know you won’t have to study as hard when test time comes because you’ll have the information
in front of you. Also, you end up not learning a significant fraction of what you should have
because of this lack of effort—diminishing your true overall intelligence, not just what your
GPA says. This lack of intelligence could then result in a decreased chance of you landing a
decent job after graduation because of your less-than-sterling display of what you know on the
subject matter in finance. In bringing utilitarianism in to the conversation, the positive results
Ethical Reflection
Ben
Kuebel
cheating would have on me would be that of the short-term nature. Paying decreased insurance
rates would only last while I was in school, a better GPA only helps on resumes for a few years
after graduation, and my self-esteem is already determined by immediate circumstances. This in
no way adds up to the negative effects that could make a difference in what type of person I will
be in the future. An overall lack of intelligence in finance, laziness, and possibly developing
future habits of cheating on future tests make the option not so appealing.
Effects on Teacher
Another individual involved in the equation is the teacher of the course. Names will not
be mentioned, but he is a very good professor. With a significant number of years under his belt
as a professor here at Loras, you know he knows how to teach. Sure, every teacher knows that
cheating might take place in their class, but they don’t like to see it. It makes it seem like the
students don’t care, and they’re only memorizing the information to “get by” in the course and
not do their best. Teachers want students in their class that want to learn. It makes class more
entertaining, more energetic because of more participation, and inevitably more intelligent.
These characteristics are something a teacher of a class can be proud of.
Yet, what if the information is very difficult? What if the students in the class aren’t
getting very good grades in the course? How does that make the teacher feel? It might make
them feel powerful because they know they control their students success/demise by controlling
the difficulty of the subjects. On the other end of the spectrum though, the teacher could feel bad
because he/she is worried about the students’ capability to comprehend the subjects at hand. A
teacher would help themselves be a better person by helping the students retain the knowledge
better. An education in utilitarianism isn’t needed in this situation to determine that, if judged
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Ben
Kuebel
solely on the effects cheating would have on a teacher, the choice of teaching would be
unethical. Yes it helps you get a better grade, but it demeans an instructor’s intelligence and puts
a smokescreen in front of their judgment of how well the class is learning the material.
Effects on Class
The last group of individuals involved in this decision is the class. The teacher is usually at the
front of the room, so he/she doesn’t realize that people are cheating until one is caught. The
students are the ones that have the best view of the cheater, making them the cheater’s cover to
not be seen by the professor. There are literally no positive effects of an individual cheating that
would help his/her classmates. Rather, it is the complete opposite. Other students would notice
that you were cheating and would become extremely upset with you. They hold nearly the same
viewpoints as the teacher would on the subject, just from a different point of view. The fellow
students would be angry because you didn’t take the time to study that they did. You didn’t
work as hard as they did. You don’t deserve the grade you get because you cheated—you had an
unfair advantage. Again, a utilitarian or not, I believe that in regards to the effects on the class,
the utilitarian judgment in this aspect would be to not cheat on the test because it would be
unethical to treat the class in such a way.
Conclusion
Generally put, utilitarianism is the judgment of an action based on its utility (how helpful it is) by
considering positive and negative outcomes of a decision to be made. I have shown that in
consideration of everyone involved (teachers, the class, and myself), the negative effects of
choosing to cheat definitely outweigh the positive ones. As I mentioned before, the positive
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Ben
Kuebel
effects relate more to the short term time period and not to the healthy development me as a
student, person, and ethical decision maker. I did however, choose to cheat on the exam by
writing down a few formulas in the calculator—a decision I am not proud of. Furthermore, this
is proof that decisions are deemed “acceptable” or “inacceptable” for a reason, and in this case,
the explanation of ethical consideration definitely applies.