Effective Solutions to Student Cheating

A few years back and in a different school system I was in my freshman year in high school. I was not too fond of my Chemistry class therefore I decided to use a shortcut on the final test at the end of the first quarter. It seemed a lot easier the idea of using my class notes during the test than to study for it. I was caught and rewarded with 20 for the test which represented 50 percent of the grade for the quarter. Needless to say that I was failing the quarter, and I had to go through months of assiduous work in order to bring my final grade to a passing level, so I would not be in danger of failing the first year of high school and go through a very competitive exam to be re-admitted. Above all I had to face the punishments imposed by my parents who were extremely strict about integrity and honesty in education. The price that I had to pay and the consequences of my bad decision were extremely high, but that was one of the biggest life lessons that I have learned. In today's school system students are cheating more often and with such an ease, and they are even rewarded for it, they will find it easier to cheat in other situations later in life. By introducing the honor codes in schools, having the teachers preventing and responding to cheating and involving the students as peer influence would be the key in reducing the cheating that became such a pervasive problem in schools.

The school must tackle the problem of cheating and to promote a culture of academic integrity by introducing honor codes in school system. Dan Gilgoff is mentioning in his article "Click on Honorable College Student " about "Rutgers University management professor Donald McCabe and honor code supporters say traditional college honor codes--with proctor-free exams and student contracts barring cheating, stealing, and lying--endow students with both privileges and responsibilities." Schools need to have zero tolerance policies concerning cheating, in this way the students will re-evaluate their integrity and honesty before cheating. According to Tom Lickona from SUNY Cortland "The honor codes can work. He cites the example of John Moss, a teacher at Wasatch High School in Heber, Utah, who required his students to sign pledges reading.... In that way, he keeps their attention on the question of honesty."(Goode) Honesty and integrity can take on importance in the minds of the young if teachers talk about it and emphasize it.

Teachers must be vigilant and alert to all the newer forms of cheating and work diligently to prevent it.