Academic Dishonesty and Its Detrimental Effects Why is academic dishonesty bad? Check out this essay to find out. It is focused on immediate consequences and long-term effects of academic dishonesty on students.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Academic dishonesty is one of the contemporary challenges in the education sector. It is a multifaceted vice that occurs at individual and institution levels. Research findings indicate that cheating in academics has been increasing gradually over the past few years (Carrell, 2007). At present, lack of academic integrity is widespread in all echelons of education. For example, current studies in the US reveal that 70 percent of high school students engage in various forms of cheating (Carrell, 2007).
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In Germany, about 74 percent of college students cheat in academics. Some of the common types of academic cheating include the following (Carrell, 2007). Plagiarism is an academic vice among many students. It refers to using academic publications without giving credit to authors. Cheating during examinations is another widespread type of academic dishonesty.
Other forms of cheating in academics include sabotaging students from completing their assignments, providing false references and data in research papers, and giving false excuses for not completing assignments on time. This paper argues that academic cheating causes social and moral problems at individual and society levels.
History of Academic Dishonesty
The notion of academic property was absent in the ancient period. In the past, there were no standard guidelines for publishing academic manuscripts. Thus, ancient scholars wrote books without ethical restrictions. Academics dishonesty is believed to have begun in the 19th century when tests and evaluation programs were introduced in learning institutions (Colnerud & Rosander, 2009).
In the 20th century, academic cheating became prevalent in many learning institutions in the US and Europe due to the clustering of students according to academic performance. The emphasis of meritocracy in academics compelled students to seek superior grades.
At present, academic misconduct is rampant in schools due to the following factors. The merit-based approach in education compels students to seek high academic grades to access high levels of education. This often leads to cheating because some students try to achieve academic excellence through unethical strategies. The social learning environment can motivate students to cheat. For instance, students that pass examinations through cheating can motivate others to do the same.
Prevalence of corruption in society influences students to be dishonest in academics. Teachers can unintentionally facilitate cheating in schools. For instance, unkind teachers often take punitive measures against students that fail to do assignments.