On Being an Honest Student
Disclaimer: I don't want to pretend that I'm a good writer. I possess some great skills, and I might even make good points, but compositional writing is not my strong suit. Bear with me :) Constructive writing criticism is welcome, it's a skill that I'd like to become somewhat competent at!
I am taking Russian 101 this term. For the record: I'm doing very well in the class, and have no need to cheat. My Russian professor gave us our first translation exercise in last week's homework. She cautioned us, "Don't even think of using Google Translate, it's very easy to tell when students use Google Translate and it is dishonest and considered cheating,"
She then continued to explain that students who are caught cheating would be questioned about their work, and then have a trial and possibly face being expelled. So this obviously left an impact on me. I had to wonder, "How is it so easy to tell when students cheat in a second language class?"
So I googled, "cheating in a second language class," and found "Preserving Academic Integrity" by Tom Beeman, written in September of 2020 (at time of writing, last year) on languagemagazine.com. It was great because it answered all the questions I had and then some about academic integrity in language classes. In it, He outlines "three main areas of concern when it comes to academic integrity violations: plagiarism[...], cheating[...], and technology.
I'd like to focus on the technology bit. I'm going to school in a very different context than most people ever have: Post-COVID Academics, if you will. At the time of writing, I do all my college courses online through "distance learning," or "remote learning." As a student, it's hard to miss how many opportunities that exist to cheat, often with very little chance of getting caught. We live in the Information Age, after all. Whatever assignment you have, you can find a cheat. If you're clever, you can obfuscate in various ways your attempt to cheat and no one but you would know. In these cases, it comes down to whether or not you can ignore your 'Tell-Tale-Heart' and move on with your life.
Not only is cheating easy, but it's attractive. There are so many powerful motivations for students to cheat. I'll list a few that I can think of, in no particular order: Financial aid is determined in part by your gradesFeelings of shame for academic inadequacyAvoiding punishments from abusive relationshipsGetting through an uninteresting subject so you can just get on with your life These are in no way comprehensive, but the point is that academic integrity isn't a black-and-white issue, per-se. All of the above examples can be solved in various ways, but I don't know if there's a single answer that solves all of the above motivations neatly, let alone all the motivations I haven't even imagined. Solving these issues here and now isn't my focus, instead, Id like to focus on why academic integrity should be important to students themselves.
Tom Beeman does provide some solutions for teachers to reduce and prevent academic dishonesty, and I think what he proposes is very reasonable. His solutions include being firm, and keeping students accountable. When students know they will be held accountable, they're more likely to keep their word. I know I don't like having my bluff called. He also recommends communicating to other students when academic integrity is being compromised, and I think I really appreciate that his approach is not to make an example of another student in particular, but also sets an expectation in the student's mind of what they are risking when they do cheat.
As a student (who's new to academia in general) I find academic honesty gratifying. I'm in a unique position compared to many undergrad students, in that I am going to school for no one else's benefit but my own. I want to do well in my studies, and I want to have proof for myself that I understand the material I'm presented with. When I turn in an assignment and I get my professor's feedback, I now have a document that tells me what I did wrong and where I need to shift my focus in order to understand the material and continue to progress through school.
Mistakes can be costly and should be avoided in the first place. But they wouldn't be mistakes if we did them on purpose. Sometimes, making a mistake can feel humiliating and crushing. Getting an F is certainly not easy on one's morale. But think about how many times you remember doing things correctly, and compare that to the number of mistakes you remember making.
There can be all sorts of very good reasons why academic integrity is important to your professors, your school, and your degree; however, I think we owe it to ourselves as students to be honest. That is, if our goal is to be prepared to understand the world more fully and/or face new problems in our fields of study.
When I started this post I didn't expect to conclude with a gaming meme, but here goes, no apologies: we have to Dark Souls our way through school. Essentially, just "git gud." :P