Academic Dishonesty

Academic dishonesty in whatever form is a direct attack upon a prestigious educational institution particularly the faculty concerned. It humiliates the integrity of the University and further, it dehumanizes the personality of the teaching personnel by insulting and injuring his individuality.According to Miami Dade College Manual of Procedures, cheating during examinations, collaboration and misrepresentation of work, com/online-plagiarism-checker/">plagiarism as well as stealing examinations or course material and falsifying records constitute the subtle â€Å"criminal† act of academic dishonesty.As such Policy IV-5 on Student Rights and Responsibilities with Statutory Reference FLORIDA STATUTE 1006.50 has been implemented by said college.Dishonest activities as mentioned above will not only demean and depreciate the values of students but may disturb them psychologically and emotionally. Somehow students may feel a tinge of guilt and maybe tension resulting to stress which could further affect their school performance and may not facilitate learning.For whatever it is worth, the student performing acts of academic dishonesty will always be at the losing end especially when caught and penalized. Worse, it may destroy his future by committing an offensive record thus limiting his opportunities to more promising careers.Submitted requirements by students must stand for the efforts they exerted in completing such. Cheating is the unauthorized use of information or study guides in any academic exercise (UCSB, 1995). It may include copying answers from others taking the same examination. Using irrelevant notes written on any material is also prohibited.In take-home examinations, sharing of answers is also a form of cheating. Tampering of examination results and taking examinations for another person and asking someone else to take your examination are also taboo in colleges and universities.And among the latest innovations of cheating is utilizing the assi stance of essay-writing companies especially those found in the Internet. The so-called â€Å"Internet revolution† provides very accessible ways of helping students finish various types of paper work while earning.Many writing jobs are open in the Internet which caters this need for papers in different academic levels — high school, undergraduate, masters and Ph.D.   Any student may find this convenient and relaxing plus a guaranteed good grade, however, learning and money are sacrificed in this method. Writing is not enhanced and may hinder the development of this skill among future academicians and degree holders.Another huge misconduct related to academic dishonesty among students, professors and researchers is plagiarism. Plagiarism is academic theft (UCSB, 1995). It is stealing and claiming the words and thoughts of another person without acknowledging it through proper citations. Thus, giving the author due credit is denied.Proper citations and documentation mus t be given in quoted lines or messages, paraphrased or summarized lines, and unique ideas, facts and data given by a particular author. Plagiarism has expanded in the advent of Internet technology.The â€Å"cut and paste† method of making papers has become frequent though some Internet programs to check paper works for plagiarism are now advocated to minimize this unethical behavior. As a consequence, penalties for plagiarism are oftentimes harsh.High school students may fail on particular subjects where they plagiarized certain papers or projects. In colleges and universities, some policies allow for failure of the subject, suspension from attending classes and worst, expulsion from the institution.In Miami Dade College, sanctions for academic dishonesty are categorized as Level I and Level II. For serious offenses, there are preliminary meetings conducted between the faculty and the student.After which, a Notice of Charge is issued by the Dean upon the recommendation from t he Department Chairperson if the sanction belongs to Level II. The hearing process follows in the presence of the Academic Hearing Committee (AHC) together with the parties involved in the case. The AHC then renders the decision as to the fate of the guilty party.Collaboration and misrepresentation of work is also common among students especially the tardy ones and overly busy types and those involved in too many extracurricular activities.Academic dishonesty in this case is hard to determine though as some professors may assign papers and projects by partners or groups, nevertheless, the pair or members of the group must work independently and do their share in making the requirement successful. Inventing data and manipulating results are also huge immoral offenses. The collaborators should give full credit to those who contributed to the work done.Each writer should remember that one mistake of academic dishonesty may cost you your name and credibility in the academe which unfortu nately is binding and irrevocable. It is difficult to regain back the respect you have earned as a student, professor, author or researcher.Asking for assistance is not bad, however, it is but wise to use this other’s help only as a basis for our work. The best papers have always been our original ideas which can be appreciated more perhaps by our readers.ReferencesMiami Dade College. (2006). Miami Dade College Manual of Procedures. Retrieved November 3, 2007, from http://mdc.edu/procedures/University of California Santa Barbara. (1995). The Academic Dishonesty Question: A Guide to an Answer through Education, Prevention, Adjudication, and Obligation Academic Dishonesty Though a rapidly grown trend not only in our higher institutions of learning but also the lower levels, cheating in the course work in any form ranging from the class work to the main examinations is a terrible breach of the rules in most institutions and the education system as a whole.In an attempt to solve the suicidal issue to the academic lives of the students, many theories dealing with the sociology around the student’s life have been used as we shall examine in the proceeding chapters of our paper.Does Cheating Really Occur?From his book (Haaland, 2006, p. 67) informs us that a recent study conducted by The Rutgers University and The University of Guelph in a sample of 15,000 university students in five provinces admitted to several dishonesty behaviors in the examination which were sampled as: 53% of them admitting to having cheated on a written project, admitting to have cheated in an exam was in 18% of the students and many other testimonies from the students which showed how much the habit is rampant in schools.The same survey also indicated that 48% of teachers and lecturers admitted to having caught students cheating in exams though they had no tangible evidence to take the issue seriously (Haaland, 2006, p. 98) by punishing the student or reporting the matter to the concerned authorities within the school.What Methods Do the Students Employ in Cheating?From our sociology, it is common knowledge that the different structures in the society we live in go a great mileage in determining the shape that our behaviors conform to (Kutscher, 2008, p. 37). It is due to this basic reason that we are going to view the methods our students use to cheat in reference to the major social theories:The Conflict TheoryAs (Kutscher, 2008, p. 73) displays the aspect in the theory, we can deduce that the various units in the society are always involved in innovations as a way of outsmarting each other in the societal ranks. To a great extent, this has resulted to students collaborating with other students with an aim of outdoing a certain group in the classroom. This ends up with the learners liaising with each other to perfume the course work hence the personal assessment is not affected. Though it heavily leans on the culture and the intellectual phenomenon of the people, postmodernism results in to innovations that seek to improve the life standards of the people. In our current educational world, modernization has come a long way in impacting positively to the system though it is to a large extent creating big loopholes for our students to maximize on for cheating.The internet as (Kutscher, 2008, p. 57) tells us has created a healthy avenue for the lazy students as with the click of the mouse, they can call an assignment or research done. Superior papers.com just to mention but one of them is a website where the students easily and at very affordable fees purchase already written essay for presentation to the teacher.Quite a highly technical method that the students use to cheat in the course of their learning in the modern world unlike those methods that were traditionally used. Although traditional, some of the methods are still used by students today like writin g answers on body parts and on pieces of cloth or paper as (Kutscher, 2008, p. 98) puts it. In an attempt to eradicate the wide spread social evil of cheating in students, identification of the contributing factors to the trend is very important as it gives us a leeway to follow. Some of the most striking reasons are inclusive of:  Conformity Social Stigma(Kutscher, 2007, p. 121) partially lays the blame of the trend on the fact that the student culture is progressively transmitted to the students either knowingly or otherwise. Students are coiled in to viewing their work as more collaborative and not individual as it used to be in the traditional times. This smoothly leads even innocent students in to the poor practice and it therefore becomes a trend that almost has to be followed.Class systemUn due pressure on the students in terms of the expectations laid on them in the classroom can also be cited as a contributing factor to the increased rate of students insincerity in the institutions of learning (Kutscher, 2007, p. 71).The limited nature of time for students to per form their duties may be an explanation to some of the cheating as they are striving to beat the deadlines that are tightly placed. (Kutscher, 2007, p. 83) adds that compromising situations in the classroom may also push the student to cheating like punishment set in the classroom due to failure may force a poor student to cheat as away of running out of the punishment.RecommendationsFrom the well-built facts in the pages above, we are able to single out one problem in the whole scenario. Concerned authorities keep on repeating to the students not to cheat yet they do not sit down with them and seriously deliberate on the matter.By doing this, the teachers can be made aware of more reason why students cheat from the students themselves. On the other hand, the students will also be officially made aware of the harms of cheating not only to their chances in the school but also their intellectual lives.Work CitedHaaland, B (2006), Sociology: A Brief Introduction: McGraw-Hill Ryerson Hi gher   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Education, CanadaKutscher, M (2007), Kids in the Syndrome Mix: Jessica Kingsley Publishers, Boston Kutscher, M (2008), Living Without Breaks: Jessica Kingsley Publishers, Boston