Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Ethics in School
Since as long as I can remember I have always been told what good ethical principles were in school. In many of my classes, my teachers have handed out academic integrity papers saying not to cheat and to report anyone you have seen cheating. However, I would never feel comfortable reporting another student cheating since cheating can be defined in so many ways. Cheating can be copying some math homework answers, forgetting to site a source in a paper, changing another person's words around to sound like your own, looking at another students test, telling a friend the test format, finding answers online, etc. I know everyone has cheated once or twice in their life. I know I have and I have seen many students cheating. If students told on one another for cheating, then more than half of the students would have "academic dishonesty" reported on their records. So I've always thought, what is the best ethical principle for witnessing cheating? If I reported it, I would be telling on a fellow student who could also be my friend and if I didn't report it, it could be considered as lying. I don't understand why schools would put students in this kind of situation. I believe that students should not be responsible for reporting other students cheating.
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I agree, cheating can be defined as so many different things. Unless it is obvious someone is cheating on a test or something similar then other students should not be held responsible for telling on fellow classmates.
ReplyDeleteWe need to follow the rules and ethics comes down to each individual person. Your right to say everyone has done some sort of cheating, but schools must follow their rules or else the structure will fall apart.
ReplyDeleteObviously it is known that cheating is bad, however i agree with you. Catching someone cheating should not be the students job, however it should be the administrations job, and by doing so they need to make a clear definition of what cheating is and anything a person can do to be considered cheating so that way there is no confusion.
ReplyDeleteThis is such a tough dilemma because I've been in it before and can defiantly relate. I have and have not turned kids in before and it's because of many different reasons like I know the kid or I don't like the kid. It's tough but I know the right thing to do is always tell because if you're doing the work honestly why should someone else get the same grade with no work.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the student should not be responsible for telling on a dishonest student. Thats the tearcher job to figure it out. We have enough stress with classes, dilemas amongst students is the last thing we need now.
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