Works Cited
Kleiner, Carolyn, and Mary Lord. The Cheating Game. Los Angeles: Thompson Inc.,
2002.
Sellerton, John T. The Cheating Epidemic and Institutional Responses. Ann Arbor:
University of Michigan, 2001.
Note Card #1
Academic Dishonesty
(Source #1)
Very seldom do you see students being rewarded for doing the right thing. The most
important thing to them is the good grades; they don’t care how they get them. A recent
poll was taken, asking adults if they felt that they needed to lie and cheat to gain an edge
in life, 25% said yes. When kids see their parents and other adults performing these
unethical behaviors they start to think that it is okay. (Sellerton 3)
Direct from the Source:
The U.S. News poll found that 1 in 4 adults believes he has to lie and cheat to get ahead,
and it seems this mentality is communicated to children. "Students see adults–parents,
businessmen, lawyers–violating ethical standards and receiving a slap on the wrist, if
anything, and quickly conclude that if that's acceptable behavior in the larger society,
what's wrong with a little cheating in high school or college?" says Rutgers Professor
McCabe. "Too often the messages from parents and teachers come off as, 'You need to do
everything you can, at all costs, to get to the top.' You never see any gratification for
being a good person anymore," says Audrey James, a senior at the North Carolina School
of Science and Mathematics in Durham. "Once you get to high school, it's all about who
has the grades and who's going to get the most scholarships." (Sellerton 3)
Note card #2
Academic Dishonesty
(Source #2)
The majority of students feel like there is no chance of being caught cheating. If they do
get caught the punishment is not severe enough to deter them. Most teachers do not want
to spend all their time trying to catch students cheating. They feel that this time can be
better spent trying to educate the students that actually want to learn. Another reason
teachers and professors don’t go after cheaters is they fear that legal action might be
brought against them. (Sellerton 7)
Direct from the Source:
Most cheaters don't get caught. In fact, perhaps the major reason students cheat is that
they get away with it, time and time again. Numerous studies say that students almost
never squeal on a classmate who cheats. And most instructors just don't want to play cop.
"I'm not here to prevent students from cheating," says Robert Corless, an applied
mathematics professor at the University of Western Ontario who eliminated take-home
exams a few years ago after he caught students collaborating on them. "I'm here to help
the genuine learners catch fire." He'll close off the easy routes, but that's about it.
"Spending my time listening to appeals or accusations of cheating is not my idea of
spending it well." (Sellerton 7)
Response paragraph for final draft
Cheating is not a new problem in schools; the problem is that there are so many
new ways for students to cheat. “Students can tamper electronically with grade records,
transmit quiz answers via pager or cell phone, and lift term papers from hundreds of web
sites” (Kleiner and Lord 4). Kleiner and Lord continue in their article, “The Cheating
Game,” saying that teachers do not have the time to investigate each of their student’s
work, let alone checking to see if their parents did it for them. Out of 100 adults, 20
believe it is okay to do their kids homework (Kleiner and Lord 17). When kids see their
parents cheating they start to think it is okay. This bad influence can make students think
that they need to do anything to get good grades, whether it be ethical or not (Sellerton
3). One way to stop this is by setting examples. When students do get caught cheating
there needs to be a harsh enough punishment, so that he/she and others are dissuaded
from doing it again (Sellerton 13). There are many ways to try and discourage cheating,
but none of them will work if institutions don’t implement them. One of the more
effective ways is by communication between the faculty and students. Teachers need to
make it clear that cheating will not be allowed, as well as help the students to have a
better understanding of integrity (Sellerton 12). There are always going to be people that
cheat, but if preventative measures are taken, students are educated on morals, and
punishments are harsh then these unethical actions will decline.