Cheating

Harvard has recently acknowledged the major cheating scandal that occurred in one of their classes. Students in an Introduction to Congress class were suspected of cheating on a take-home final exam last May. The exam was  open book. After the teaching assistant suspected a sharing of answers, about 70 students were placed on academic probation. The required probation is supposed to last about one year until the students are allowed to return. Other suspected students were not disciplined. Now, students say, the professors are stressing even more the importance of academic integrity.

This type of situation proves that cheating can happen at all levels of education. When a person cheats, it causes issues for all individuals involved. If one individual is asked for the answer on a test, it may be difficult for that student to decide what to do. If the student decides not to share the answer, he or she may be considered a bad classmate or friend. However, if the student agrees to sharing the answer, that would cause he or she to be a poor student. It puts asked student in a difficult position and stuck between a rock and a hard place. Cheating negatively impacts the student community and usually causes a role strain. When it comes to cheating I know that I personally struggle between being a helpful friend and being a student of integrity. I can only imagine the difficulty of this decision at a college level. To be honest, it is a little disappointing to know that this type of role strain won't go away any time soon.