- 21/02/2013
- Posted by: essay
- Category: Free essays
Cheating in colleges and universities is a very topical problem nowadays. Bad social environment, high technical progress helping to get all the necessary materials easily and tolerant views of some parents and even teachers to this phenomenon promote its popularity among students. Penetrating into the main causes and effects of cheating in colleges will provide us with interesting information on this notorious problem.
One of the most common causes for students’ cheating is striving for getting better grades. Students tend to false thinking that it is good grades and not proper level of knowledge which can help them to get into a prestigious college or university and get an appropriate job.
An unprepared for a class student may be himself one more reason for cheating. It is not a secret that nowadays neither honesty nor decency is valued much. Students have not enough motivation for their classes and they just don’t see anything wrong in cheating. They simply consider cheating as a relatively easy and convenient way to get through.
Consequently from the first two causes we see the third one: bad social environment. There is a large number of parents and even college teachers who are rather tolerant to cheating. Sometimes they consider cheating as the only possible means for satisfactory students to get their place in college and in life. Moreover there are plenty of internet resources and other facilities providing students with ready home works (free or not). All these provide college students with unhealthy views on the system of education on the whole and on cheating in particular (Johnston, K., 1996).
Underpaid colleges and college teachers contribute much to this problem too. There are many teachers who pay much more attention to the extra lecturing or insurance business than to their direct job responsibilities. In class they are likely to just telling what it is in the textbooks (Johnston, K., 1996). As a result students can’t get the proper level of knowledge and encouragement during their classes and this leads to cheating as well. Moreover such teachers are not interested in their students at all, so they will hardly bother themselves with elimination of cheating in their class.
Most college cheaters don’t realize how pitiful the effects of their doubtful activities may be, although it is true that some of the most serious effects of cheating in college are not only low or failing grades, but suspension or even expulsion.
It goes without saying that students used to cheating have lower level of academic knowledge and they evidently diminish their ability to learn, so they have fewer chances to succeed in their future career and academic growth.
Cheating negatively affects the credibility of colleges and universities (Johnston, K., 1996). The fact that students are not able to produce original works puts the reputation of college or university at risk.
Another negative effect of cheating is that it tends to ruin the relationship between students and teachers. The process of learning may be the most effective and successful only if there is mutual trust between teachers and students, but cheating students make their teachers be suspicious and sometimes hostile to students who are used to it. Besides, all the students, including those who earn their grades honestly, become suspect in such an unhealthy environment, so the educational process becomes very difficult.
References
1. Johnston, K. (1996). “Cheating: Limits of individual integrity.” Journal of Moral Education, 25, 159-170.
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