Today we discussed the ethics of cheating in school. Read
this editorial from the New York Times and post a comment. Below are some guiding questions.
Do you agree with the absolutist statement that plagiarism is always ethically wrong? Why is cheating such a common practice in high school? What can schools do to decrease its occurrence? Is there any link between plagiarism or other forms of cheating in high school and unethical behavior later in life? Can you approach this issue from two different perspectives? (Use the 5 perspectives in the Ethics Background Reading.)Bonus reading:
a recent article about the impact of technology on students' decision to plagiarize.
Personally, I don't think it's ever possible to say that plagiarism is always ethically wrong. Similarly with all the other topics that we have discussed (lying, murder, etc.), there is no absolute right or wrong. I feel like there is always going to be some situation which would make cheating or plagiarizing "acceptable". Whenever we encounter a moral or ethical dilemma, I don't think there can be any absolute agreement or conclusion. I do not condone cheating, but I feel like there is always going to be some circumstance that will make people question what they believe to be ethically wrong.
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ReplyDeleteI do not agree with the standpoint that plagiarism is ethically wrong. I believe that there will always be a certain predicament where cheating is necessary, and not necessarily wrong. Like Andrea, I think that there is no absolute right or wrong in ethics.
ReplyDeleteThe section in the article that caught my eye was: "Students are under pressure to achieve high grade-point averages, which helps them rationalize their behavior [of cheating]. And the schools themselves are complicit, because they reward high grades more than the process of learning — while too often turning a blind eye to the cheating." I agree with this statement saying that students cheat to improve their grades- because school is all about grades, GPAs, and class ranks.
I think schools can reduce the amount of cheating by emphasizing the importance of learning the material, not only turning in an assignment for a grade.
I do think it would be absolutist to say specifically "plagiarism is wrong" because the statement is one that doesn't give reason or context. Conversely, I believe that if one were to consider it from a utilitarian point of view, you would find that it is more of a question of how plagiarism impacts the perpetrator of a plagiarized paper and how it impacts society. Ethically, I believe that plagiarism is wrong because it sets things out of balance. My opinion on the matter really has to do with the long term effects of plagiarizing a paper. For instance, The plagiarizer didn't actually do the work, nor did he or she learn anything new in the process of writing the paper.Plus, if his or her paper were to be graded without scrutiny, then they may come out ahead in the grading aspect of school meaning that kids who did more work may get less credit than the one who did no work.
ReplyDeleteYes, cheating is always wrong. However, since humans are not always so black and white there could be situations where cheating is more ethically correct than the alternative. For example, helping a friend pass a math test that she was not able to study for because her mom was in the hospital, cheating is still wrong just not as wrong as ignoring a friend in a time of need. Plagiarism is wrong as well however, I think this has some different variables than just strait cheating, plagiarism is offend done accidentally or out of admiration, although if one copies a paper off the internet and turns it in as their own this is ethically wrong.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what Lizzy said about school putting more of an emphasis on learning the materials not such the grades, however in a world of standardized tests and numerical worths that will be a hard thing for schools and work places to combat.
I agree with the statement that plagiarism is always ethically wrong. I can’t think of a situation where plagiarism is ethically right. When is it right for someone to cheat? In my opinion, the answer is never. Cheating is so common in high school because it’s so easy to do and get away with. I believe that cheating starts out as a bad habit but as the student gets away with it, the habit becomes a common trend. A person with Virtue based Ethics will most likely say that it is against their honesty and integrity to plagiarize. From a utilitarian perspective, plagiarism is also bad because nobody benefits from cheating. The plagiarizer doesn’t learn anything and nobody actually benefits in the long run.
ReplyDeleteI agree that plagiarism is always ethically wrong. It's cheating;one is taking someone elses wokr/words and incorporating them into their own work without giving credit to the original author. If cheating is ethically wrong, so is plagiarism.
ReplyDeleteCheating, as stated in the article, is so common because students are under huge amounts of pressure to maintain a high gpa and recieve good grades. They are undr so much pressure that they don't think about "am I really learning the assignment?" Instead, they think about "I need to get an A, if I don't, my parents will kill me!" So students are trying to get good grades at whatever cost. I believe schools could decrease cheating of any form by making consequences harsher for those who cheat, and by installing cameras into rooms that the teacher can use to see if students are cheating. Most importantly though, I feel that if schools ad parents emphasize the fact that "if you get a B, it's not the end of the world. You'll get into college with a B. What matters most is if you learned something." Then cheating will decrease. Students need the reasurrance that they won't get yelled at or whatever if they get a B.
If students continue to cheat in school and get away with it, they'll think that as long as they don't get caught, it's all right. I mean, if no one finds out, I can't get in trouble right? What's bad is that this mind set of "if I don't get caught then it's all right" can leak into other aspects of life. "I'm late. If I speed but don't get caught, it's alright." "I need an inspiring quote. But the teacher said it has to our words only. If the no one knows it's plagiarism, then it's okay." This way of thinking will cause people to keep doing things this way. Eventually however, one will get caught.
Well, after reading both of these interesting articles I feel torn between many ideas around this dilemma with cheating, because on one hand I have to deal with several classes, college stuff, scholarships, full IB, sports, programs, and etc. And with all of those responsiblilities I often find myself staying up for hours to complete assignments, trying to give full attention, energy, and creativity. But, sometimes I have those moments where its down lowering my precious GPA over a simple or sometimes difficult assignment, or taking the answers or some quick ideas from one of my peers work in order to make sure I complete the work.
ReplyDeleteI do agree with the fact that our generation is living in an "Internet Age" where copying and pasting is very easy. My favorite quote from the from the bonus article is that "online, everything can belong to you really easily" because that statement is very much so true. This comes to my mind when I think common knowledge that I think everyone must think from websites such as Wikipedia, and etc. But, I will say that I do believe that both originality and authenticity are very important in every assignment in order for an individual to stand out amongst any group of people. My goal for this year and beyond is to never cheat in any way to avoid diluting my originality; especially in college.
I do believe it is ethically wrong when a student pressures their fellow peer into sharing their originality on any assignment because it steals from the owner's brillance. But, at the same time as Lizzy and Andrea said it does depend on the situation for the cheating to judged on whether it is right or wrong. Teachers don't always fully understand or recognize the problems that the student is having at home, internally, acdemicly, and etc. to make the decision on whether cheating is ethically wrong. Some form cheating does starts at the beginning of an individual's life for them to do it through out middle school, high school, and beyond. Many cheaters come with the consequentialist attidtude towards cheating. Will I get caught? What will happen if I do get caught? Or some may think about the relationship or care side of cheating. How will my friend feel about me using his or her work that he or she worked hours and hours on?
But, I will close with agreeing with the bonus article in that right now our generation is producing many "collages of work of previous generations".
To answer the question of why cheating is so common in school, I feel like this is because school, especially high school, is so competitive when it comes to grades. It seems like we tend to lose focus on the idea of learning to gain experience and knowledge in and of itself, instead of striving to receive the best grades. I think what drives people to cheat is the struggle to keep up with everyone else, who are competing to get the highest grades in order to get accepted into a prestigious college and eventually have a better, higher paying career compared to the rest of their peers who may receive poor or average grades. This narrow-minded focus on good grades as a path to better education and more money later in life, defeats the purpose and enjoyment of learning for the sake of learning. Our society pressures us to measure our success based on inanimate, meaningless objects: grades, money, etc. A well-earned "A" can easily hold the same underlying value of a "C" or a "B" if the understanding of the knowledge has helped define some aspect of the person and the knowledge gained has somehow proven to enrich and enhance the growth of the student. Basically, an "A" means nothing if it was gained through cheating and plagiarism. The focus of our education should not solely be based on competition to stay on top with the best grades; but instead our education system should strive to instill knowledge in students for the purpose of furthering their intelligence, experience and intellectual and social strength.
ReplyDeleteI feal as though all the points have been made through all of you. On one hand of course cheating is wrong, and thinking utilitarianistially, I would say it's always wrong no matter what situation. On the other hand, as several of you have pointed out, there are sometimes situations where cheating, is necessary. Therefore I choose to believe that that cheating is wrong, but there are exceptions to every rule.
ReplyDeleteI think because of the amount of information available to students, cheating has become easier than it ever has been before. For example, if you haven't read the last few chapters assigned to you in your school reading book like the Scarlet Letter, you can easily go online, look up spark notes and probably find commentary alongside them. THis easy access to information has made it incredibly easy for students to cheat and not get caught.
I agree that cheating is not only the students fault. Directly, yes it is their fault, but indirectly it is the result of society's obsession with good grades and being on top, instead of actually learning. I honestly feel as though grades should be based on effort, participation and the willingness to learn, rather than getting every question right and writing a perfect essay. I believe that someone who puts in the effort to learn it is more deserving of an A than someone who doesn't care and delivers the assignment last minute just to get the grade. If our schools focused more on learning rather than just getting the right answer, I think that cheating would gradually become less necessary and less common.
Yeah it does kind of seem like everyone has said what I was going to say, and I only read half of the posts, not all 10 or however many there are.
ReplyDeleteJust five years ago I probably would have said that cheating is always wrong, without even thinking about it. Society teaches us that it is immoral and unethical for us to ever cheat, or basically use the knowledge or skills of another, or use something that will help you get further, when the effort is not your own. However, sometimes the fact that cheating allows you to get further by tapping into another person's knowledge allows you to because of this gain more knowledge. Like, I don't know, it could be considered cheating I suppose to read the essay of a friend in order to write your own essay of the same topic, yet if it helps you to gain your own better understanding, even if you do end up writing about some of the same things in the essay, if you are still adding your own ideas to the essay too, in my opinion this would be okay. I mean, does this even count as cheating? Like, I think a lot of people would stay it is cheating, if on a minor level, but I would consider it an okay thing to do. However, there are obviously some types of cheating that are unacceptable. It's just relative, like everything else in life. It is extremely hard for me to believe that anything can simply be black and white.