Ethics and the Cheating Epidemic

Ethics and the Current Cheating Epidemic

There is an epidemic of cheating in American universities. Students are finding easier and more efficient ways to cheat. Morals and morality are changing. Students, members of the younger generation, and teachers, members of the older generation, differ on what is cheating. Morality even differs amongst students. Some students still adhere to the traditional sense of morality, and find what other students do an abhorration of morality. This essay is a mostly a pathos and ethos argument that attempts to appeal to the reader’s sense of right and wrong by using so-called “authorities.”

The first section is filled with pathos arguments designed to make the reader believe that the majority of college students are cheaters. Multiple sources are brought in to prove this, each with their own ethos and pathos.

First is a freshman named John Smolik, and his words are incriminating for all college students. He says “Cheating IS an answer” (Clayton 20). This is nothing new. Cheating has always been an answer for students. Most of them get caught, however. The fact that a student says this, however, makes people think that he has cheated or that it is widespread. In fact, he is just expressing a personal opinion, which he is entitled to.

The next ethical source is something called “The Center for Academic Integrity.” This source interviewed a small sample of students, about 7,000, on 26 small campuses. Now, when analyzing this source, one has to wonder why they chose such a small sample. If we do the math, that’s only 270 students per campus. My high school had more than 270 students. One could easily ascertain that the institution doing this study picked out only the results that they liked.

Next, the author uses some loaded language which stands out:

Add to that a pervasive change in societal values, and students can easily be snared if they lack a strong moral compass - as well as a campus where peers and administrators take a firm stand against dishonesty. (Clayton 20).

Do you have a “Strong moral compass?” Are you a victim in the “pervasive change in societal values?” The Christian imagery is thick here. But the author does not stop there. He quotes a provost at Vanderbilt as saying, “No one cheated [in the 1960s]” (Clayton 21).