Importance of maintaining academic honesty in higher education

Academic Honesty

Maintaining academic honesty is an important part of the educational experience. Students study to gain the benefit of knowledge, and when they cheat they do not acquire this knowledge. For educational institutions it is important that their students gain knowledge. For the system in general, academic honesty is a key part of the system. People need to do their own work in order to get benefits, and when they cheat they undermine the entire purpose of the education system.

Underlying Factors

There have been many studies that outline the underlying factors that contribute to academic dishonesty. While there are some basic factors like age, gender and grade point average, many contextual factors have also been identified, including the level of cheating among peers, peer disapproval of cheating, and the perceived penalties for cheating (McCabe & Trevino, 1997). Clearly, the propensity to cheat is affected by a number of variables, and the culture surrounding the student is one. In addition to some of these variables, cultural context can also play a role, as well as both the internal and external pressure that the student feels.

When McCabe and Trevino note the importance of perceived penalties for cheating, this research finding is supported by their earlier work (1993). They noted at that time that many educational institutions have lax punishment. Some instructors may even be willing to turn a blind eye to cheating, which creates a culture that lacks an honor code with respect to academic dishonesty. Where minimal formal punishments exist and there are few informal, social punishments, academic dishonesty is more likely.

Curasi (2013) notes that educational institutions can implement better communications policies with respect to academic dishonesty. Where norms and expected behaviors are communicated, they can combat student views that support different forms of academic dishonesty. Often, students are oriented more towards the grade or the degree rather than the material. A university education today has become a commodity rather than an asset -- a minimum requirement for a job rather than something that demonstrates a person's skills and abilities. Such attitudes in the business world degrade the value of the education itself, something that surely affects the students. It takes significant effort on the part of the schools to combat such views.

Further, schools themselves exacerbate the problem with courses and instructions that do not emphasize knowledge acquisition and synthesis. Students who might otherwise find a subject engaging can be turned off by instructors who worry more about where the semicolon goes in the reference list than about the actual content of the paper. Combined with the education as commodity approach in the corporate world, students lose interest in the value of education for its own sake. Such views can be reinforced easily -- outright ignorance and stupidity certainly do not prevent one from attaining wealth, fame or public office.

Valuing Education

The value of education lies at the heart of the importance of maintaining academic honesty. Education is an end unto itself. The abilities of memorization, researching, critical thinking and analysis contribute to a person who is better able to process the world around him or her. The student's superior understanding of the world and better analytical skills, as well as functional knowledge, are what gives the student a true competitive advantage. While it is easy for the student to be cynical about the importance of education being a piece of paper for the wall or a snazzy line on the CV, the reality is that those things are minimum requirements. If getting a job and skating by at the minimum is how one wants to live one's life, then fair enough. But in the real world, having a great education gives one a lasting competitive advantage, and the ability to move up corporate ladders, to start businesses or to affect change in some other way. In essence, whatever the outside world says about the value of education, the student needs to recognize that it is the education itself that provides the value, the advantage and the ability to achieve one's goals in life.

Educational institutions should not lose sight of this fact. When education is treated like a commodity, students will respond in kind, losing respect for education itself. This is where academic dishonesty comes from. When the students are engaged with meaningful material, they will respond positively. Those students are less likely to engage in academic dishonesty, because the intrinsic rewards of education are apparent. The other major issue lies with communication. If intrinsic rewards are the carrot, schools need the stick. This means standing behind their instructors when failing grades are issued, and holding a tough line on academic dishonesty. The research is clear about that -- where there are no consequences, cheating increases.