Examine the Factors Affecting Cheating Behaviour Among Students

Cheating behavior among students is an issue that has grabbed the attention of scholars over the last decade as new technologies and processes in learning continue to make it increasingly difficult to detect academic dishonesty. Cheating can be considered to be a pattern of behavior aligned with thought patterns that distinguish dishonest students from others. In examining the factors that affecting cheating among students, this essay presents that there is a relationship between societal actions, a cheating culture, and personal influencers and what dishonest students see as the right and easier path to follow.

One of the main motivations of cheating is an education system that focuses on performance, and a society that links excellence and job opportunities to top performance in schools. The result is that students feel pressured to perform in order to secure good jobs and compete for top positions in the professional realm. Cahn (2018) establishes a correlation between academic and professional integrity expressing that one role cannot be expected to display integrity and be absent in the next. However, this is not the position of a majority of dishonest students as they see cheating as a way of jumping the entry hurdle.

Personal factors such as poor class attendance, insufficient preparedness, workplace pressure, peer influence, and a culture of cheating are major influencers to the spiking rates of academic dishonesty. Rahimi and Goli (2016) found that academic dishonesty has spiked over the last decade becoming an issue of concern and continues to spread at an alarming rate. This is the same period that has seen an increase in online learning and unsupervised exam taking. Text A presented that cheating has shot up significantly with more than 55% of college heads identifying plagiarism in student papers as a real issue of concern. The personal and student factors influencing the increasing cheating behaviour are noted by Cahn (2018) to be an extension of a larger societal problem where people want to get ahead by all means. Therefore, the personal factors combine with societal expectations and a need to qualify for other professional requirements later in life.

In conclusion, cheating behavior among students cannot be pointed to a single phenomenon, but rather a myriad of factors that come together to influence behaviour. Societal pressure to perform, peer pressure, and student factors, and a culture of cheating are likely to continue pushing students to cheat. The discussion has established a relationship between societal actions, a cheating culture, and personal influencers in pushing students to cheat.

References

Cahn, E. S. (2018). Ethics in the Classroom: A Ten-Year Retrospective. Journal of Educators Online, 15(2), n2.

Rahim, M., & Goli, A. (2016). English Learning Achievement and EFL Learners’ Cheating Attitudes and Cheating Behaviors. International Education Studies, 9(2), 81-88.

Text A. Class Notes. Do Online Students Cheat More Often?