Mormon Mentality - Thoughts and Asides by Peculiar People

By danithew

May. 1st, 2007 at 12:56 pm

There is a current scandal going on at Duke University in an MBA program. News reports are saying that as many as three dozen students are facing severe academic consequences because a professor discovered they had collaborated on a take-home exam. The test had required that each student take the test independently.

A New York Times article goes on to say that:

National surveys have suggested that cheating is widespread among graduate students. In a survey released last September by a Rutgers University professor, 56 percent of business graduate students admitted having cheated, compared with 54 percent in engineering, 48 percent in education and 45 percent in law school. More than 5,300 students at 54 universities were surveyed from 2002 to 2004. “This is self-reported evidence of cheating, so it’s probably underestimated,” said Donald McCabe, a professor of management and global business at Rutgers who oversaw the survey.

As they are reported, these are already shockingly high percentages. To ponder that they might be “underestimated” is a bit frightening. Based on this study, professors should expect that, given the opportunity, the majority of students will cheat.

There are plenty of graduate students and former graduate students in the LDS blogging community. There are also at least a few professors.

I am wondering what they have witnessed in regards to cheating at the graduate school level. I can honestly say I have not witnessed cheating of this sort – but most of the classes I took relied much less on exams and instead required us to write research papers. It’s harder, I think, to witness peer involvement in plagiarism.

1. a spectator

Tue, May. 1 @ 1:43pm

I am also unaware of cheating in my graduate program, but exams were minimal–as you said, more papers, presentations, practicals, etc.

As a teacher of younger students, I would say thate there is little stigma to cheating, but it seems that graduate students would be less involved as their studies really matter. Frequently, cheating (again, at lower levels) is excused (by cheaters/parents) as inconsequential since the sunject matter (history, literature) doesn’t really matter.

As a teacher, I feel it important to convince my students of the purpose and importance of every assignment and I endeavor to make every assignment truely meaningful. I think people are most likely to cheat when they see no purpose for the work or feel they are merely jumping through hoops.

2. Keri

Tue, May. 1 @ 2:04pm

I was aware of rampant cheating when I was in law school. There wasn’t a lot of cheating in the big lecture classes because the grade was based solely on an in-class essay final exam. However, in the research, writing, and other similar classes, people would often collaborate outside of class, or get help from attorney friends.

There is intense competition in law school, and the school I was at made it a point of advertising their curve, such that, regardless of how objectively well everyone did, the bottom 25% of the class had to receive a failing grade. This, of course, made the cheating problem worse.

I refused to participate in this, and I did all my own work, as did a few of my other honest classmates. We were shunned. All of the non-cheating students (myself included) ended up being in that 25%, and we were not invited to return to complete our studies.

3. danithew

Tue, May. 1 @ 2:29pm

Keri, it’s a pretty awful thing that a school’s academic system would end up punishing (pushing out) all the honest students while rewarding the cheaters.

I wonder if others who have attended law school have witnessed anything similar. Is it generally that obvious to everyone (at least the students) who is cheating and who is not cheating?

I still remember cheating on a test in junior high school (by copying answers from a friend’s/classmate’s paper) and feeling pretty awful about it. I thought about it for awhile and decided in the future I’d rather fail a test than cheat again. I’m far from perfect in a number of areas, but I was able to stick to that promise. There were a few times I didn’t feel prepared for a test and had to take it anyway.

4. a spectator

Tue, May. 1 @ 2:47pm

Keri–what a terrible experience. I have heard of the intense competition that law school curves bring out. Personally, curves seem both very out-dated and pedegogically problemtatic. Do all law schools use them? What is the rationale?

5. danithew

Tue, May. 1 @ 2:55pm

What strikes me as crazy about graduate-level students cheating to such an extent is that it means we have (or will have) a white-collar professional class that is absolutely laden with dishonest people who may have never acquired the skills they were supposed to develop.

I’ve always assumed that a minority of students would cheat – but I’m genuinely surprised by the kind of numbers that are being talked about in the linked article.

6. Keri

Tue, May. 1 @ 3:21pm

I’m not sure if all law schools use curves, but I understand that it is rather common to one degree or other. I’ve racked my brain for a rationale and haven’t come up with one. (The university was not forthcoming when I asked.)

7. Bryant S.

Tue, May. 1 @ 3:46pm

My law school definitely used a very strict curve, but I was not aware of any cheating going on, even though some of the classes did have take-home finals or research papers.

I was once asked by a friend at another law school if he could use one of my papers for one of his classes. I was a little shocked to be asked that, especially because my friend is LDS. I wonder if people rationalize such behavior, so they somehow think it’s not cheating.

8. danithew

Tue, May. 1 @ 4:02pm

Bryant, that reminds me of something. Some months ago an artist friend told me that another “artist” acquaintance asked her if she could take a piece of her (the first artist’s) work and sign her (the second artist’s) own name to it.

There are two things that are strange about that sort of request: 1) that a person would think such a thing could be acceptable and 2) that a person would be so open about wanting to do that sort of thing.

It’s especially surprising when an established professional (as was the case in the example above) makes that kind of request of another established professional.

I sometimes wonder if in some minds/circles that is the typical accepted way of doing business.

9. Bryant S.

Tue, May. 1 @ 6:03pm

That’s an interesting question, danithew. There are definitely areas where what appears to be ethically-suspect behavior is typical. Copying music, for example, has been fairly common for a lot of people for years. Speeding on the highway is another obvious example. These are easy to justify for people because they are so widespread. It wouldn’t surprise me if certain dishonest behaviors were typical in a given profession.

10. John Williams

Tue, May. 1 @ 8:13pm

Hopefully in the long run people who cheat to get MBAs or JDs won’t be successful.

I think a lot of Mormons cheat, unfortunately. It’s easy to pay lip service to “being honest in your dealings with your fellow man” but when push comes to shove and you need that A to get into medical school, the lines start to blur.