Table of Contents
Acts of academic dishonesty have always existed but phenomena like cheating between students has increased lately; particularly plagiarism, where students take someone else’s work and claim it theirs. Cheating can take many forms, starting from using others words without acknowledging them in a research paper which is an explicit form of plagiarism, or buying readily written essays and it could even extend to buying solved homework and exam papers.
Other forms of cheating could encompass acts such as peers talking and whispering information to each other, or using hidden headsets where someone would be online transmitting the answers. This trend should be considered and addressed more seriously, because it is unethical and allows individual to take advantage of what is not theirs.
Impacts on the Individual, Classroom and Society
Plagiarism and the different acts of cheating drastically affect the society; as such acts directly impact the building units which are the individuals themselves. The side-effects are severe, as in raising individuals who are ill-informed but still achieve high academic grades and ranks.
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Within the classroom, trends like grades value dilution, imbalances in grade distribution and demoralization of the classroom rules and ethical standards are prominent in a cheating environment. Moreover, the individuals could become addicted to this habit and depend on it to move from one academic stage to the other, as well as it’d destroy the cognitive skills and critical thinking of the cheating individuals because they tend to copy without itching their brains (DiVall & Schlesselman, 2016).
The impacts extend to beyond the classroom and into the society causing mistrust, as Williams and Courtney (as cited in Bouville, 2010) elaborated that:
People expect their doctors, their pilots, their engineers, and their military officers to have genuinely earned their professional credentials and to meet rigorous standards in areas of knowledge and conduct necessary for public trust in the performance of their duties. Cheating is wrong because academic dishonesty in the training of these professions undermines both the expected level of expertise and the expected level of trust.
Researchers’ Perspectives
There have been ongoing debates on who is responsible for academic dishonesty acts, and who to blame. DiVall and Schlesselman (2016) argued that it could be the parents’ pressure that leads students to cheat or plagiarize, making them more grades-oriented rather than eager to learn and grasp the knowledge.
Other researchers like Jordan, Rettinger and Peschiera (2004) claimed that could be the internal motivation as some students fear failure and have low levels of self-esteem and confidence in the work they produce on their own. A third perspective by McCabe, Trevino and Butterfield (2001) partially blames the teacher and advises the utilization of current technologies to control such acts.
The United Arab Emirates stance against academic dishonesty
In the UAE, acts of academic dishonesty and disintegrate are strictly prohibited. since UAE is an Islamic country and it follows the rules of Islam, it even adds more emphasis on the prohibition of cheating and plagiarism.
The institutions and the teachers are well-rounded and aware of the phenomena hence why plagiarism checking and cheating detection software are necessity tool utilized in schools and universities. Also, the students are well-aware of the negative impacts and strict consequences of committing such acts therefore they tend to follow the regulations. The utilization of such technology has proven to be effective in regulation the issues of cheating and plagiarism.
References
- Bouville, M. (2010). Why is cheating wrong?. Studies in Philosophy and Education, 29(1), 67-76. Retrieved from https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1102/1102.1506.pdf
- DiVall, M. & Schlesselman, L. (2016). Academic Dishonesty: Whose Fault is it Anyway?. Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, 80(3), 35-38. doi: HYPERLINK “https://dx.doi.org/10.5688%2Fajpe80335” t “pmc_ext” 10.5688/ajpe80335
- Jordan, A., Rettinger, D. & Peschiera, F. (2004). Evaluating the Motivation of Other Students to Cheat: A Vignette Experiment. Research in Higher Education 45(8):873-890. doi: 10.1007/s11162-004-5952-0
- McCabe, D., Trevino, L. & Butterfield, K. (2001). Cheating in Academic Institutions: A Decade of Research. Journal of Ethics and Behaviors, 11(3), 219-232. Retrieved from http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.460.5320&rep=rep1&type=pdf
