moral degradation of our educaton system as a result of cheating in exams
INTRODUCTION
Background information
Academic integrity is an issue of critical importance to academic institutions and has been gaining increasing interest among scholars in the last few decades. Nowadays, while the demand for educated labor is getting higher and higher, there are fewer workers who can meet these needs. This problem may originate from the students’ ability to cheat during exams (essayforum.com) There are two main reasons for cheating:
The major reason which leads the majority to cheat on their tests according to McCabe (1992) is that learners always desire to have good grades. Most students who cheat usually have immense pressure from their families concerning their grade. Likewise, if they see many of their classmates getting higher marks, they too will want that distinction. Therefore, these pressures inadvertently make students value their good grades much more than their individual grades. Eventually, they go out of their way in order to achieve high grades, even cheating during exams.
McCabe and Trevino (1997) studied that another significant reason is the absence of high self- esteem. Students with high self-esteem will feel some discomfort regarding cheating. Therefore, as opposed to cheating on their exams they’ll choose to study hard instead, achieving marks that are based on their own familiarity with the content of the subject in study. In contrast, students with low self-esteem cheat on the tests as soon as it is possible. They just think about the results they can attain as a result of cheating and don’t see anything wrong with their behavior (Ward, D. A.1986). In conclusion, the wish for high, distinguishing scores and the lack of self-respect are the contributing factors to cheating during exams. In the future, if the awareness of students about cheating will not be raised, our society which is full of workers who know little, due to such unethical behaviors in school, would be hard to develop fully (Eisenberger. R, &Shank, D.
Background information
Academic integrity is an issue of critical importance to academic institutions and has been gaining increasing interest among scholars in the last few decades. Nowadays, while the demand for educated labor is getting higher and higher, there are fewer workers who can meet these needs. This problem may originate from the students’ ability to cheat during exams (essayforum.com) There are two main reasons for cheating:
The major reason which leads the majority to cheat on their tests according to McCabe (1992) is that learners always desire to have good grades. Most students who cheat usually have immense pressure from their families concerning their grade. Likewise, if they see many of their classmates getting higher marks, they too will want that distinction. Therefore, these pressures inadvertently make students value their good grades much more than their individual grades. Eventually, they go out of their way in order to achieve high grades, even cheating during exams.
McCabe and Trevino (1997) studied that another significant reason is the absence of high self- esteem. Students with high self-esteem will feel some discomfort regarding cheating. Therefore, as opposed to cheating on their exams they’ll choose to study hard instead, achieving marks that are based on their own familiarity with the content of the subject in study. In contrast, students with low self-esteem cheat on the tests as soon as it is possible. They just think about the results they can attain as a result of cheating and don’t see anything wrong with their behavior (Ward, D. A.1986). In conclusion, the wish for high, distinguishing scores and the lack of self-respect are the contributing factors to cheating during exams. In the future, if the awareness of students about cheating will not be raised, our society which is full of workers who know little, due to such unethical behaviors in school, would be hard to develop fully (Eisenberger. R, &Shank, D.