Dismissing Students from College due to Cheating

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Although examination cheating may be a big problem amongst college students, dismissing students immediately may not be the best way of solving it. Every student’s desire to obtain high grades create a temptation to be dishonest and even the most successful people must have undergone cheating. It is therefore important to understand that the biggest issue is passing examinations. The meaning and significance of education was reduce to passing an examination and getting good grades. Cheating is however a very serious problem and many colleges are struggling with the way of making their students acquire better grades without cheating.

College life is an unforgettable experience because it requires hard work and determination in studies and build on the future career. However, the promise students normally make to study hard normally changes because of the social life that carries them away from the significance of their future (Ehrlich & Fu, 2013). Unfortunately, they only get serious when the examinations begin and this greatly costs them. Some students will always settle for average after realizing that a sociable individual cannot compete for every field (Berschback, 2011). On the other hands, there are students who are self-motivated and are normally motivated to work hard.

Cheating simply implies that a student is more concerned with personal gain and every student, given an opportunity, would want to cheat in order to gain great grade. If any case of cheating may go unpunished then it would mean that a student will be encouraged to cheat (Gardner et al., 2008). Students will be encouraged to cheat even more because of either less severe or no punishment. However, the form of punishment differs depending on the impact of cheating. The responsible authority should weigh on the best option or remedy that can be instilled on the cheating students (Lau, Haug & Wright, 2012). Automatic dismissal may not be the best punishment to be given to cheating students. There are more other options that are more effective and efficient than automatic dismissal.

There are several things that encourage students to cheat in their examinations and the best thing is to analyze them before imposing stern action on the cheaters such as automatic dismissal. Some of the inventions of our civilization have really encouraged cheating such as the online companies, writing on either body parts or using mobile phones. The root of the problem should therefore be analyzed first before dealing the cheaters (Konnikova, 2013). Supporters of automatic dismissal argue that it gives justice to the students who have worked hard to gain better grades (Lau et al., 2012). This may not be the best remedy because another student who gets good grade by cheating does not affect a student who works hard to acquire good grade.

Automatic dismissal may be too heavy for students who cheat in examination. This method is not appropriately well suited to handling students because there are other intermediary steps of mediation that seek to be fair on the students. The student’s rights and safety should be keenly considered because dismissal may make an individual even commit suicide (Berschback, 2011). Automatic dismissal may sometimes mean that there is no investigation carried out to determine the cause of cheating. There are students who are in the wrong career and are experiencing extremely difficult situation in their studies (Gardner, Jewler & Barefoot, 2008). Cheating in examination should therefore be a good indication of the challenges a student faces. Interestingly, some students may not realize that there are other options in their career. Automatic dismissal based on examination cheating is unfair and it means that the college did not follow the correct processes and have fair reasons for the dismissal. There should be legal actions brought about cheating students that are much better and fair than automatic dismissal. Automatic dismissal may be very harmful and the colleges that apply it should face lawsuits for using excessive power in handling a cheating case (Lau et al., 2012). Decision regarding whether to automatically dismiss a cheating student should be based on the capacity of the student to remain safe and productive in their life. Counseling or using another criterion that is less punitive like automatic dismissal may be fair to students who may do well in school had they been allowed to stay.

Letting students get away with cheating or issuing them with automatic dismissal do not do them any favor, instead an appropriate punishment such as failing the students and calling their parents to talk to them may offer the best option. The students’ future should not be affected by instilling automatic dismissal and in such a case, it warrants lecturers to be vigilant for fairness to be achieved. There need to be proper student counseling before examinations and other sufficient precautions such as frisking and reading out the punitive action may be carried out. Lecturers need to take the holistic view of exam cheating specifically in the current times where the students are brought up in a decadent society.

References

Berschback, R. (2011). What new and adjunct faculty needs to know about exams, grades, and cheating? Journal of College Teaching and Learning, 8(7), 39-51. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/882840334?accountid=45049

Ehrlich, T and Fu, E. (2013, August 22). Cheating In Schools and Colleges: What to Do About It. Forbes. Retrieved from http://www.academiaresearch.com/filecache/instr/r/e/1109126_requirment_of_argument_paper.jpgwww.forbes.com/sites/ehrlichfu/2013/08/22/cheating-in-schools-and-colleges/

Gardner, J. N., Jewler, A. J., & Barefoot, B. O. (2008). Step by step to college and career success. Southbank, Victoria], Australia: Thomson Wadsworth.Konnikova, M. (2013, October 31). Inside the Cheater’s Mind. The New Yorker. Retrieved from http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/elements/2013/10/what-makes-people-cheat.html

Lau, L. K., Haug, J. C., & Wright, L. B. (2012). College faculty and administrators’ perception of student ethics. The Journal of Business Diversity, 12(1), 107-121. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1117832029?accountid=45049