News Flash: Christian College Students Cheat
My life as columnist collided with my life as a professor. As Milligan College finished its academic year, I failed a student because he submitted a paper that copied, almost word for word, an essay on the Internet and tried to pass it off as his own work. In the academic arena, we call that plagiarism. In other places, they call it cheating or even theft.
Academic dishonesty is a big problem, one that’s growing. In just the latest headlines, 34 students in the MBA program at Duke University were caught cheating and suspended two weeks ago.
At least one of every five college students confesses to cheating on an exam or other test, and half admit cheating on a writing assignment. That’s according to Donald McCabe, professor of management and global business at Rutgers Business School in New Jersey, who has researched academic honesty for more than 15 years, surveying hundreds of thousands of students.
So, sad to report, my plagiarizer wasn’t alone, even though Milligan is a Christian college, one of several in this region, one of scores across the country. Shouldn’t a religious environment make a difference?
“You’d like to think so,” said Michael Arrington, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at Carson-Newman College, a Southern Baptist university in Jefferson City, Tennessee. “But Christians are exposed to the same temptations as anyone else. We’re still human. I haven’t seen any studies that show Christian colleges have any lower incidence (of academic dishonesty) than state schools.”
Tracy Parkinson, dean of the faculty at King College, a college in Bristol, Tennessee, affiliated with the Presbyterian Church USA, is equally humble.
“I don’t want to come across as saying our kids are more ethical than anywhere else,” he said. “That would be a bit self serving, and I don’t have enough evidence.”
But in fact, some evidence does suggest that religious schools are distinctive. Although McCabe has not formally studied church-related schools apart from other institutions, he is convinced that a religious environment can bolster academic integrity.
“There’s little question that the nature of Christian colleges is different,” he said in a phone interview this week. “It’s generally better, but not always. At some Christian colleges, the situation is clearly better.”
Carson-Newman might serve as an example. Arrington’s office receives only about seven or eight reports of academic dishonesty per semester, in a student body of almost 2,000. Arrington knows more incidents occur but, he said, “We have not had the problems we’ve heard from my peers at other schools.”
McCabe thinks two factors are at work. One is the role of religion at the school, which can vary widely, from secularized universities that began as Christian institutions, to those that highlight their religious character with devout mission statements, required chapel services or prayer during class. (Being a Christian college doesn’t imply an all-Christian student body; most schools readily admit non-Christians.)
“My sense would be that the more the school is infused with its Christian heritage, the more it teaches Christian principles, the better it will be,” McCabe said.
The size of the institution is another vital factor, he said. Small schools form tight-knit communities, and Christian colleges tend to be smaller than most.
“I would argue that some of the rituals and ceremonies help build community as well,” McCabe said. “When it comes to cheating, being part of community is important. Students realize they are going to stand out.”
King College connects community and academic integrity through its honor code, which is overseen by the Honor Council, a committee of students whose responsibility includes deciding cases of academic dishonesty. (One of the council’s faculty advisers was impressed that the students are “pretty tough on one another.”)
“If something goes before the Honor Council, then the ruling comes from the students, with guidance from faculty,” Parkinson explained. “It’s part of our responsibility to one another. The student ownership has been a positive influence.”
While no one is claiming Christian colleges are perfect examples of academic integrity, at the very least they offer some kind of alternative model.?“We all make mistakes,” Arrington said. “We want to be redemptive and use it as a teaching experience. We don’t want a mistake to destroy an academic career.”.
First published in the Johnson City (Tenn.) Press, 12 May 2007.
How to Curb Cheating |
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Keeping count. I distribute A and B versions of tests. Students who sit beside each other take different versions of the test. I also count out tests and answer documents for each row of students to make sure that extra copies aren’t taken from the room. Checking possessions. Even though cell phones aren’t allowed in our school, students in other schools have used their phones’ text-message capabilities to transmit answers during tests. Making sure that book bags and purses are closed and out of the way before the test begins can prevent this. Comparing samples. I keep student writing samples to compare to future essays in the event I suspect someone is cheating. A quick comparison can usually identify whether a recent writing sample is too much improved to be believable. Internet verification. Suspicious word clusters on research papers can be checked on the Internet for plagiarism. If some clusters seem a little “too professional,” simply insert that text (in quotation marks) into Google or another search engine and see what comes up. If the words that surround that cluster match text that the search engine produces, you might have nabbed a cheater. The motivation of the zero. If cheating occurs, my students know in advance that I will give out zeros and call parents. I also report cheating to the school administration. The word gets around. Nothing teaches better than example. |
