Academic Integrity Dilemmas
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Stephen finishes his homework when he gets home on a Monday afternoon, right after
track practice. His friend Phil, who has been stressed lately (problems at home), texts
Stephen and asks if he knows the English homework. Stephen texts back the pages to read
from the newspaper about the floods in Pakistan, and he reminds Phil about the possible
reading quiz for Tuesday, drawing his attention to the reading guide questions the teacher
had provided. Phil responds that current-events is a dumb topic and would Stephen email
Phil the answers to the reading questions, so Phil does not fail. What should Stephen do?
Maggie frequently does well on her reading quizzes. She is a student in a jointly taught
English/World History section. One day, as she travelled the hallways between the two
classes during passing time, a student, who was kind of a family friend, named Phil, stopped
her and asked her what questions were on the English quiz she had just taken and his class
was about to take. Nobody else was around. What should Maggie do?
Maggie and Stephen and Phil are assigned by their World History teacher to be in the same
group for a class presentation on the Emperor Asoka. The group meets several times during
class and splits up the jobs in a way that each member believes is fair. Stephen, who is better
at creating Powerpoints than anyone else in the group, volunteers to put the Powerpoint
together if the other members of the group would get him their research by the night before
the presentation is due. The other members of the group give Stephen a little less research
in order to keep the balance. On the night before the presentation, Stephen receives
Maggie’s work and uploads his own work and the work of two other group participants.
Phil’s work never comes. By 9pm, Stephen is starting to panic because he cannot do Phil’s
work while also setting up the Powerpoint, so he calls Maggie, who agrees to do the extra
research. Together, Maggie and Stephen pull off the Powerpoint and bring it to school the
next day, completed. When confronted by the other members of the group before class,
Phil acts like nothing big really happened and maintains that nobody told him he had to
email it by a certain time to Stephen. The group presents. Each member, including Phil,
speaks to the class about Asoka. The teacher does not know any of this behind-the-scenes
stuff, and the grade is good. What should Maggie or Stephen do? What should Phil do?
Phil’s tutor is an excellent writer. An English teacher from another district, she writes for
magazines and for several websites as well. Phil does not think he is a good writer. He
thinks the teacher does not like him because he keeps getting C’s on each assignment. Phil’s
mother has hired this tutor to help Phil. Phil and the tutor are sitting at Phil’s dining room
table. Phil shows the tutor a creative writing assignment that is due later in the week, and he
asks her for help. She brainstorms some ideas with Phil, but he is still frustrated. He
maintains that he “can’t do it.” What should the tutor do? What should Phil do?
Stephen’s older brother, Bob, used to have Stephen’s current ninth grade English teacher a
few years ago. Bob has all of his English essays from ninth grade saved in a file on his
computer. Stephen is sitting in his bedroom, working on the first creative assignment of the
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year, when Bob stops in, munching on some microwave popcorn, and asks if Stephen can
play some basketball. Stephen says he has to get this creative piece done. Bob says that he
still has his version of the same thing if Stephen wants it, just to look at it, or to hand it in as
his own (how is that guy going to remember anyway?), so they can go out and play some
basketball before it gets dark. What should Stephen do?
Maggie meets with her history teacher because Maggie is having a hard time narrowing down
her thoughts to a manageable argument. Her teacher makes several suggestions, all of which
Maggie writes down as the teacher is talking. When Maggie gets home that night, she opens
her notebook and types in her teacher’s words at the top of the screen. Feeling less stressed,
she is able to finish a solid rough draft that night. She stops by her teacher’s office later that
week and shows her the rough draft. Maggie’s teacher corrects some of the grammar and
makes some suggestions as to places that Maggie could further develop her argument or add
more evidence or explain the evidence she does quote more thoroughly. Maggie follows all
of the teacher’s suggestions. Has Maggie violated academic integrity?
The book Stephen is reading in English is difficult. He is trying to keep up with the reading,
but he keeps falling asleep on his bed when he is trying to read. By this Friday, Stephen will
have to hand in an essay about this book to his teacher or risk taking a late penalty. Stephen
goes online, and finds a website with a summary of the chapter that is due the next day. He
finds that the website’s summary makes more sense, so he keeps reading. He finishes the
website summary that night on and feels relieved that he does not have to read the book
anymore. As he is getting ready to turn off the computer and to get some sleep, an
advertisement pops up for cheap essays on the book that he is supposed to be reading. For
7.99, so the ad promises, he can get an essay written by an English graduate student, which is
guaranteed to get him a good grade. Stephen knows that Phil has used such a service and
got away with it. What should Stephen do? Has he already compromised anyway?
Maggie has been absent for three days because she had the flu. During her time at home,
she had been too sick with a fever to do any work at all, barely able to get up out of bed.
When she returns, she finds that she is confused in World History class. They had started a
new topic while she was out. She does not understand the class she attends her first day
back, and now she has homework due the next day on this topic. What should Maggie do?
Maggie receives a very good grade back on a World History exam, but when she goes over
the exam at home to check her mistakes she realizes that the World History teacher
miscalculated her grade and gave her three extra points. Maggie received an 88, but the
different sections of the exam only add up to an 85. What should Maggie do?
Stephen has received an 84 on every single writing assignment he has handed in to his
English teacher for the whole year. He is starting to feel as if he should not even try, that he
is doomed to get an 84 no matter what he does. What should Stephen do?
A World History exam is going to be administered on Friday. Stephen suggests to Maggie
that they study together for the exam. Each brings a set of notes from the class discussions,
each has done the textbook reading, and each has kept up to date on the writing
assignments. Are they violating academic integrity by studying together?
12. Stephen keeps receiving grades of 89 on his English essays. He is mad at his teacher for not
giving him the 90, or at least a 90, so he has his mother hire another English teacher from
the high school to tutor Stephen. The first few meetings go pretty well, as Stephen his tutor
discuss the essay topics, and Stephen feels that he is understanding the assignments better,
yet Stephen still receives grades in the B+ level. Therefore, Stephen asks the tutor to edit his
essay for grammar and punctuation before he hands it in. Stephen is considering going even
further – maybe he should have the English teacher actually write his essay for him or at
least, maybe, he should show it to the tutor three or four times before he hands it in. When
does Stephen go too far?
13. Stephen’s English teacher gives his students the questions that will be on the reading quizzes
before each day’s reading is due. Students are encouraged to answer these questions
thoroughly and then to bring those notes to the reading quiz and to use them to answer the
vocabulary and plot questions specifically. Stephen was busy the night before and was
unable to get all of the vocabulary defined. Before the bell rings, he copies his friend’s
definitions and then uses them during the reading quiz to answer the vocabulary questions
correctly. Has Stephen violated academic integrity?