Pros & Cons of Academic Dishonesty

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INTRODUCTION + STATISTICS: In June 2005, a report was published with more than enough evidence to conclude that academic cheating is an extremely common occurrence in high schools and colleges in the United States. The report was published by Donald McCabe, a professor at Rutgers University and the founding president of The Center for Academic Integrity; who has been dedicated, more than 20 years, to extensive research on academic cheating. During the period between 2001 and 2005, he surveyed about 20,000 high school students, and over 100,000 students at more than 140 colleges and universities in the U.S. and Canada. The results showed that 74% said they cheated on a test; 72% cheated on a written work, and 97% reported to at least had copied someone's homework or peeked at someone's test. WHAT IS ACADEMIC DISHONESTY: Cheating has been an issue in academic settings, ever since the schools existed; whether in the primary grades, high school or college. However, definition of cheating remains unclear. It is so widespread and it appears in various forms that it does not have a specific, clear, uniform policy on what constitutes academic dishonesty. Although it has always been present, researchers and teachers have reported a dramatic climb in the occurrence of academic dishonesty, seemingly sparked with the invention of new technologies such as the Internet and smart phones. REASONS FOR CHEATING: In some cases, students may cheat simply to satisfy their parents’ expectations. Parental pressure can easily lead to cheating. Parents often pressurize their children with horror stories how they will never succeed in life without good grades and good college education. These well-meaning parents tend to get carried away a little bit, expecting nothing but straight A's on their child's transcript. They overlook the possibility that their ‘’very motivational and

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