Unintended Lessons: Plagiarism and the University

Abstract

Plagiarism, like other ethical problems, flourishes in atmospheres with few consequences. The finding by one survey that only 27% of college students thought cutting and pasting someone else's work was “serious cheating” is troubling evidence of student inclination to cut corners ethically. Papers are easily copied from the Internet, and adult role models in the larger world are equivocal. Academic settings themselves may subtly encourage such behaviors if they think of their students as customers and outsource teaching to adjuncts. Plagiarism detection software, though helpful, is not without its own problems. Colleges and universities that carefully outline consequences, particularly if these are part of an honor system collaboratively run by students and faculty, can reduce plagiarism.

Faculty reluctance to report student plagiarism: A case study

“…They alert the academic community to the growing concept in universities of the student being a "valued customer or client" (Ryan & Guthrie, 2009:324), a view that may contribute to the erosion of academic values when tough decisions need to be taken with regard to the behaviour of such a student as in the case of plagiarism. In addition, fear of student litigation and the impact of such on institutional reputation, may also contribute to inaction when dealing with student plagiarists (Thompson, 2006). Samier (2008:3) suggests that faculty inaction in dealing with student academic dishonesty is a result of accountability being defined with reference to internal political and bureaucratic university authority "instead of higher order moral principle".…”

“…That they are leaders in their own organisations makes their behaviour even more alarming, particularly considering the link between student dishonesty and later dishonesty in the workplace (Laduke, 2013). Thompson (2006) notes that her student plagiarists showed no remorse but looked her in the eye, protesting their innocence; they were simply angry that their plagiarism had been detected. She further suggests that this anger often sways administrators.…”

They do not buy it: exploring the extent to which entering first-year students view themselves as customers

“…With three separate instances suggesting that students who express a customer orientation would believe that it is the institution's responsibility to ensure that they find a job upon graduation, there was a reasonable level of confidence in the content validity of the items based on this idea. Similarly, George (2007) discussed the lessening of non-monetary costs of education associated with a customer orientation, and when combined with research on the decreased number of hours per week students use studying (Astin, 1998), rampant grade inflation (Clayson & Haley, 2005;George, 2007), and increased incidents of cheating and academic dishonesty (McCabe, Trevino, & Butterfield, 2001;Thompson, 2006), it may seem that current students might expect to receive a good grade having done little academic work. Again, given the multiple scholars who discussed this phenomenon, I created a survey item based on this idea.…”

Exploring a Customer Orientation: Free-Market Logic and College Students

“…The amount of nonclass time required of the student is decreased, good grades become easier to attain, and academic rigor is replaced by academic laziness (George, 2007). Giving credence to the argument that a focus on student satisfaction is antithetical to a meaningful educational experience, concurrent with the rise of the conceptualization of students as customers has been a substantial decrease in the hours per week students use studying (Astin, 1998), rampant grade inflation (Clayson & Haley, 2005;George, 2007), and increased incidents of cheating and academic dishonesty (McCabe, Trevino, & Butterfield, 2001;Thompson, 2006). Similar to students' own hesitancy to engage with the ambiguities inherent within the educational process, scholars assert that a customer-service approach restricts the extent to which faculty will actively challenge students' preconceived ideas about particular course content and the social, cultural, and economic realities of our world (Brule, 2004;Titus, 2008).…”