Cheating Commonplace Among College Students

ELTON HO
Staff Writer

The old saying goes, “Cheaters never prosper.” But is this really true in the context of academics? Despite school officials’ condemning attitudes toward academic dishonesty, it has always been a pervasive factor of scholastic life, from within lowly high schools to prestigious universities like Harvard.

In an extensive study from 2002-2010 led by Donald McCabe, Ph.D, about two-thirds of the college students that were surveyed admitted to cheating on past tests and assignments.

The issue of cheating was brought to public attention in mid-2012 through a widely publicized scandal where many Harvard students were suspended after evidence surfaced that they had collaborated with others on a take-home test.

“[The decision was fair] because people, especially in Harvard, should get by through their own means. They got into [a] great school so they should be honest about their work,” sophomore Ares Ton-That said.

Some were not surprised about the outcome of the Harvard scandal, as they acknowledged that cheating is commonplace among students.

“People are not afraid to cheat, because who’s going to know? [Teachers] shouldn’t have so much faith in students,” sophomore Vivian Tran said.

According to the American Psychological Association (APA), one of the reasons students cheat is the increasing pressure to succeed academically in order to get into a good college and ultimately land a satisfying job.

Another factor is peer influence. Cognitive psychologist David Rettinger discussed in his 2009 study “Research in Higher Education” how students look to their peers for cues to decide which behaviors are acceptable and which are not.

“People expect their friends to always have their backs when they need it, even [through] cheating [for them]. There’s a point [when] a friend just has to say ‘stop,’” freshman Tracy Duong said.

Different approaches have been suggested to combat cheating. One proposal is to modify courses and teaching methods so students would not feel the need to cheat.

According to James M. Lang, writer for the TIME Magazine, infrequent assessments put great importance on only a few opportunities to earn grades, boosting the incentive to cheat. In addition, research in an article from TIME called “The Psychology of Academic Cheating,” published in 2006, revealed that students cheat less when the teacher puts more importance on understanding the material rather than on earning good grades.