Essay on Academic Dishonesty A Corruptive Social Norm

Who Cheats Cheaters come in all shapes and sizes. In fact, 75% of all students openly admit to some form of academic dishonesty throughout their educational career (Cheating Fact Sheet). With so many people who openly admit to academic dishonesty, certain categories of students tend to exhibit more cheating behaviors than others. One classification consists of students in a group. Studies have found that cheating is more prevalent in group oriented settings, such as fraternities and sororities (Anderman and Murdock 17). Most dishonest behaviors involve some form of collaboration or communication between learners thus, this correlation is logical. The correlation between cheating behaviors and academic performance based on GPA is also†¦show more content†¦Students are attempting to justify their dishonest acts, and using many different justifications for such acts. The most common justification for cheating behaviors is a lack of time and worry about potential failure. Other reasons for dishonest behaviors include; high pressure for grades, unfair professor or assigned workload, lack of effort, and lack of fear if caught (Anderman and Murdock 12-13; Keith-Speigel and Whitley 23-24). McCabe offers and insightful opinion as he suggests that students cheat because they will see others cheating, and getting away with it. This gives them an unfair advantage in the race for a high GPA, which will influence other student’s to cheat in order to level the playing field (Cheating in College). Academics have become a never ending battle for grades. The goals of structuralized education have shifted from engaging student’s to learn valuable and world altering knowledge, and instead has shifted to producing student’s with a 4.0 GPA. Performance oriented educational systems only invite dishonest behaviors because the legitimate acquisition of knowledge is undervalued and less important than the letter on a report card. When this undervaluing occurs students see cheating as a necessary means by which they must use to achieve the ill-conceived goal of education which has been seeded into their minds. How Does Cheating