Morality and Academic Integrity

I remember a situation from a few weeks ago when I was at the grocery store. I was completing my one hour trip, which I mostly spent on my phone gossiping with a girlfriend. Now I usually have my purse on my shoulder throughout my trip because I don't like to leave it unattended, but sometime after looking at the makeup I must have sat it down on top of the makeup in my basket. Since I was on the phone when I got to the register, I just removed the stuff from my basket I saw and commenced to pay for my items never lifting my purse again. As I was putting my items in the car I noticed the makeup, I quickly went back into the store to let the clerk know what had happened and returned the makeup.

I think if this situation had happened years ago when I was a teenager or even a young adult I probably would have kept going. Back then, I would have thought, "Its only make up!" But in this situation, I felt a sense of conviction. I believe that if you do good, good things will happen to you and even something as small as keeping makeup I didn't pay for, could alter good blessings that may come to my life. I can agree with Gilligan when she says, "...women define moral problems in terms of caring, seeking to avoid hurting anyone." (Gilligan, Sullivan, & Taylor, 1995)

I think academic integrity is upholding a truthfulness and sense of honesty in an educational setting and also being truthful when completing assignments and not utilizing others work for my own. I think it's important for Ashford students to uphold academic integrity because speaks to the quality of the university and its students and shows that we are morally competent individuals that don't take education for granted.