Cheating in America

Over at Insidehighered.com there is a story about cheating in higher ed. There is evidence that it is prevalent and on the rise. In the comment section there is this attitude:

"Cheating is the essence of American Society!"

"How else are all of these people supposed to get ahead in American Society?? The myth that hard work and honesty will make you succesful (successful) is just that-a myth."

This is one propagated by many, mostly Marxist-leaning faculty that believe the meritocracy in America is a sham. Our capitalist system is built upon those willing to exploit and cheat their way to the top. While there are those that rise in this fashion, Americans believe otherwise, i.e. hard work, and honesty is what built America and will continue to do so. This is what I experienced when I lived in blue state, such as New Jersey and in the red state in which I now reside. If we stop believing this America will quickly fall.

The next question is why so many faculty believe in the cheating, capitalist pig syndrome? Universities in themselves are soft on cheating. I caught a cheater 8 years ago and was surprised this did not result in expulsion, merely a zero on that assignment through my university'spolicy. I did make him feel uncomfortable enough to leave the university. I was happy to railroad that cheater out of my university.

05/11/07 Update: an opinionjournal.com article on cheating in higher ed.


...One disincentive to cheating that he advocates: ease up on tough grading standards. One might wonder whether there isn't enough grade inflation already and also whether today's relatively affluent and leisure-afforded students are really under more pressure than their forebears...
...Fewer and fewer students seem to believe that academic cheating violates their own internalized standards of honesty and good character....
...Many professors and administrators are quietly doing exactly that: abandoning take-home tests and their temptations and devising cheat-proof exams (multiple versions of the same midterm, for example) or requiring students to submit their term papers through Turnitin.com, a Web-based plagiarism screener. ...