30-70% of university students are cheaters?!

I was listening to Ottawa Citizen journalist Ron Corbett this afternoon as he filled in for Michael Harris on CFRA-AM radio. His topic of discussion came from an article written by Harry Bruce from the Halifax Chronicle Herald where he quotes from a study authored by the Dalhousie University senate's ad hoc committee on plagiarism.

The report stated that 30% of undergraduate students "committed acts of plagiarism" over a three year period. The committee further speculated that due to the "limitations of an online survey" the number of students cheating on assignments might actually be as high as 70%.

Have I been naive throughout my lengthy university career? I was pretty much a full-time student for two years before beginning what would become (I hope!) a long and successful career in not-for-profit agency management. Not once did I ever contemplate stealing an essay from a website (though the Internet wasn't quite what it is today back in 1994-95!!) Even in my most recent class, the professor started the year off warning students that if they were found guilty of plagiarism, they would be tossed out of the class and the department. I can't remember if he mentioned that expulsion from the school was a possibility. Needless to say, even if the thought had crossed my mind this past semester, I wouldn't have had the guts to even try!

Never once have I met a student who claimed - never mind actually succeeded - to submit a project that wasn't his or her own. Perhaps I just don't associate with those people by sheer luck... I don't know. I know that taking single classes doesn't give me much of chance to get to know my classmates, but can't you just tell a cheater by looking at him?!

Having had a chance to speak to someone who graduated from Carleton University almost fifty years ago and to another recent University of Ottawa graduate, I see that my surprise at this news is somewhat unique. I was told earlier today that the Carleton journalism student mentioned above has had a past classmate or two admit to her that they copied at least 50% of thesis projects!!! Decades later! I'd figure that this is something you would take to the grave, not boast about it at a thirtieth reunion. And my fiancee who graduated in December seems to believe that this is a problem that is running rampant across campuses everywhere. Where have I been?

Finally, I cannot understand how the administration of Mount Saint Vincent University who bowed under the pressure of its student union who complained that the software used to detect cheaters was an invasion of privacy and that use of the software fostered a culture of suspicion and distrust. What?! That's like the cocaine dealer complaining to the Attorney General in the US about the police officer who arrested him after a deal gone bad. You shouldn't have sold coke to the cop, moron!

For several years I have questioned the value of a university degree. As I've told family and friends, I am on a circuitous journey that will end some day with my graduation from the University of Ottawa. Yes, I started in 1994 but I am now in my eleventh year with my current employer and the sky seems to be the limit. Along the journey I have taken some classes that have proven to be useful in the so-called "real world" I have worked in since I was eight years old in 1983. Most, in my opinion, have not. I realize that universities are there to help students learn "how to think". I thought that the ability to think critically was one of the skills one develops in the halls of higher learning. If that is the case, who in their right mind would try to defend (and condone, perhaps?) the acts of cheaters? And who, in their right mind, would just give in and toss away the software that identifies those who cheat?

If it is indeed true that 30-70% of university students cheat in a three year period and if it is possible that the stats that come from this survey are even remotely applicable at any given university, it makes me think twice and three times about the value of that degree. For those who know and love me, I cannot state more emphatically - I will be putting that degree up on my wall some day. Society demands it and if I am to succeed at running progressively larger organizations in the twenty years to come, I will need it. But until I am shown evidence that this survey is hogwash and that the whole post-secondary education system is not falling into disrepute, I will always look upon my certification as a university graduate with a bit of apprehension.

I can understand (well I can't, but let's pretend for a moment) how allowing children who fail a grade to move forward because holding them back a year will bruise their egos for life. I can understand (same caveat) how playing games that result in winners and losers must be banned from elementary schools because, well, being a loser is politically incorrect. What I can't understand is how scholars and those who came before them can sit there and allow what appears to be an epidemic such as this go out of control.

Maybe I'll picket and protest my own graduation. How many of those present at the ceremony will be guilty of cheating? Between three and seven out of ten, I guess. What are we teaching our young?!?!?!

Source: http://thechronicleherald.ca/NovaScotian/498856.html