Cheating - is it worth it?

By: Roslyn Baatjies

Guest blogger

An afternoon conversation with my niece (6) and her twelve-year old brother revealed that they know that cheating is gaining reward by dishonest means or finding an easy way out of an unpleasant situation and that it is generally used for the breaking of rules to gain unfair advantage in a competitive situation. The example Amber cites is when a runner stands a little way ahead of others in a race before they set off.

But Shawn immediately thinks of cheating in the classroom test setting. What he tells me confirms that he knows what cheating is. He says that children go to the bathroom during tests and tell each other what the answers are to the questions. He also mentions a few other ways of cheating in tests and I ask them what happens if you are caught out. Shawn says that it means that you get zero for the test and that you have to go to detention. I ask the two of them if it’s right to cheat and they answer that it is not.

Cheating is rife at schools and universities. A recent Sunday Times article revealed that crib notes have been found on the inside of a T-shirt, on rulers or the back of calculators — university students are brazenly cheating in tests and exams.

A discussion about cheating at a recent faculty meeting revealed that lecturers are well aware of the dishonest practice in tests. In many instances it is difficult to deny bathroom breaks, because the infringing on human rights argument surfaces.

Exams are a few weeks away and I am hopeful that the NMMU Port Elizabeth campuses will equal the George Campus June exam achievement of no cheating.

Integrity is one of our six values. It is commonly described as doing the right thing even when no-one is watching.

Integrity at NMMU extends to academic integrity. To give expression to our value of excellence, the University is committed to preserving and promoting a culture of professionalism characterised by the highest standards of personal honesty and the integrity of academic work.  Since the advent of the internet, the opportunity for and actual  incidence of plagiarism have increased, and accordingly it has become necessary to promote the development of good academic behaviour, including ethical writing practices,  and to put measures in place to assist in the prevention of plagiarism.

Academic dishonesty in general and plagiarism in particular, constitute a disregard of our values and could seriously undermine the academic standing of NMMU and its qualifications.

The university launched its Academic Integrity campaign last year and put in place a policy - Policy for the promotion of academic integrity and prevention of plagiarism –as a framework through which all staff and students are empowered to maintain the highest standards of academic integrity.

I laud the university for doing this, but how strange is it that you need a policy to encourage people to be honest. I am sure that there are those who believe that it is only cheating when you are found out. I am also sure that those who have never cheated and try doing it one day, will be the ones who are caught out.

Don Galer wrote: ‘Integrity is what we say, is what we do, is what we say we do.

Good luck with the preparation for the exams and the exams themselves. And remember that the reward is so much sweeter when the result is achieved honesty.