Their cheatin’ hearts, our ethical failures
Parents shouldn't forget to look in the mirror when they're searching for someone to blame for teenage cheating.
News stories this week are likely to intensify already palpable worries about the prevalence of high school cheating. Administrators at Chapel Hill High School in Chapel Hill recently discovered a longstanding cheating ring of up to 30 students.
RALEIGH—Unethical behavior is rampant on college campuses and in society today, the director of the Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke University said Monday. A survey of college-bound seniors in 1998 revealed that many young people do not perceive cheating as a serious ethical problem. Many of them have taken part in unauthorized collaboration on school projects, copied information without proper citations, or falsified laboratory results. Similarly, one-third of employees reportedly observe misconduct at work, such as lying, withholding of information, using intimidation, and misusing company money.
Rapid changes in technology are providing students with newer, easier, and quicker ways to cheat. They are also making it easier for teachers to detect cheating. Perhaps the most well-known way of cheating in the Digital Age is through what are called "on-line paper mills," web sites that provide ready-made term papers on thousands of topics for a per-paper fee.