Ethics

Cheating among students is a relevant academic issue that needs to be appropriately addressed by both parents and teachers. There is no denying about the fact that it is present in almost all levels of academic studies and remains to be a constant challenge among school authorities, teachers and even parents. One of the concepts behind cheating is that there is always a chance that the student will not be caught. He or she can get away with the act of dishonesty and end up getting good marks without the hard work. This is one of the reasons why students continue to cheat over the years to the point of becoming more creative, crafty and even high-tech with their methods of cheating. Technological advancements, particularly the presence of the Internet, further increased the incidence of cheating among the students.

Cheating refers to an act of dishonesty or the act of practicing fraud. It is also associated with a certain act that deliberately violates the rules. In the academic setting, the most classic example of cheating is copying answers from another classmate during an exam or hiding a tiny piece of paper that bears several codes pertaining to the exam. Another form of cheating that is frequently being done by students is asking or paying somebody to do their projects and term papers for them. There are many other forms of cheating. In fact, its unceasing existence had even led to its evolution to higher forms. Through technology, students in general had managed to take cheating to another level. This is a major challenge among educators in the academic field.

Plagiarism is another form of cheating that is very common among students especially in dealing with term papers, report papers and other reports. Plagiarism refers to copying of languages, thoughts or ideas of another author and representing them as an original work (Business Dictionary). An example of plagiarism is the copy-paste practice that students do nowadays. The internet is the most popular source of information and the most accessible as well. There are some students who tend to build their paper or project report by simply getting various resources from the internet and copying one idea after another using the copy-paste method. There are also some who tend to copy the entire content of an internet resource to be submitted as it is and then presenting it as their own. Plagiarism carries negative connotations of dishonesty and cheating (Sutherland-Smith, 2008, p. 202). Indeed, such form of cheating can be a major temptation among students especially when they know that they will not be caught anyway and they have good chances of passing their subject.

Cheating has indeed become more widespread at present as compared to how it had been in the past due to the development of various high tech gadgets. At present, it is much easier to cheat and commit plagiarism due to the accessibility provided by many digital devices such as cellular phones, pagers, PDAs, laptops and Internet. Students have become more resourceful in coming up ways to maximize the use of digital and high tech gadgets to their advantage even in their studies. Electronic encyclopedias online and on CD-ROM are another source for plagiarized reports and term papers. Some students simply copy and hand in an article as is Foss, 2000, p. 2).

Despite the prevalence of cheating and plagiarism in the academic field, there are a lot of measures that educators can do in order to minimize or probably attempt to eradicate these academic concerns. It is not enough to remind or warn the students not to cheat or not to copy directly from online resources. The best way to deal with this problem is to let the students know that the teachers are aware of the present methods of cheating. It is extremely necessary for educators to express their awareness about the things that technology can provide. It is important that we encourage students by assuring them that we are listening and we will act (Foss, 2000, p. 3). Appropriate preventive measures that are sufficiently and liberally implemented by the teachers can discourage students from cheating and committing plagiarism. On the part of the teachers, the best defense against high technology cheating is information. It is critical that they are aware of the current students behaviours and that they know how to act upon them in the best possible way. Punishing the students will not solve or eliminate the problem of cheating. In may not even serve as the best method of discipline after all. The best measures that teachers can do are to explore software and hardware in computer shops and read instructional technology journals, attend technology seminars and workshops, explore the internet particularly online paper mills and learn how to download and edit a paper, explore the copy-paste schemes, learn how to surf the net and do online researches, and learn more about online plagiarism checkers and how to use them. Students are less likely to cheat when they know that their educators and parents are well-informed. Educators should not allow students to make plagiarizing and cheating as a form of game wherein whoever cheats the most is considered the winner (Foss, 2000, p. 6).

Well-informed teachers who are capable of dealing with different levels of cheating brought about by technology can help in encouraging students to work harder and to learn how to stand on their own merits. This can help in strengthening character education in school.

In most instances, students resort to cheating when they know that they will not be caught anyway. Another reason is because the Internet offers a lot of resources that allow students to come up with school papers without exerting any effort. Thousands of reports and research papers can be downloaded free and thousands more are available for sale from Internet paper mills (Foss, 2000, p. 2).

Also, there are many things that keep students and people, in general, very preoccupied nowadays. Technology has something to do with this issue again. The presence of social networking sites, online games, various game consoles and different kinds of hand-held portable multimedia gadgets are getting a lot of attention from people especially the students who generally fall on the young adult age group. As a result, lesser time is being devoted to their studies because of their tendency to get hooked on these high tech gadgets and electronic devices. Thus, they are tempted to cheat during exams for the obvious reason that they fail to achieve the right balance between their academics and their new hobbies brought about by technological advancements. One of the issues is the increasing use of the Internet and Internet technologies in our teaching and learning spaces (Sutherland-Smith, 2008, p. 202).

There are many other reasons why students cheat. Some students are suffering from personal or family problems while there are also some who simply do not have much time to study due to other obligations such as work. There are also a number of students who are acting rebellious thus they resort to cheating and then there also some who simply want attention. Regardless of the underlying reasons, the main issue is the act of cheating itself and how it should be addressed by the educators.
Cheating is not an excuse for whatever reasons there may be and it will never be acceptable in the field of academics. Plagiarism, for example, is just similar to stealing. If a student commits plagiarism, it is like stealing ideas and thoughts from another author in an attempt to pass a subject.

This is not the right process of learning or earning a diploma, certificate or degree. Passing the academics always involve learning and contributing a lot from the academics. There is no such thing as a short cut towards quality education. If a certain student cheats, gets away with it and earns a certificate there is no fulfilment in the achievement. It is similar to throwing away the money that was paid for the tuition because what has been earned has no quality and meaning.

A person who cheated in the academic field will never learn the value of hard work and is most likely to cheat even in the professional field. Such behaviour and attitude does not guarantee success or personal fulfilment. Cheating can become habitual and later on can actually make a persons character. Sadly, cheaters never succeed and therefore do not deserve a position in any professional field.