Integrity I recently read an interesting article about a group of students cheating. The question that was lingering throughout the article was, has integrity declined leading to issues such as cheating? Cheating has become a problem, and in this case a highschool teacher did something about it. Christine Pelton failed 28 sophomores from her biology class after finding evidence that they had plagiarized their semester projects. The principal and superintendent gave her their support and agreed with giving the students zeros until parents complained to the school. The parents fought for their children’s wrongdoing, and as a result, the school board backed down. Mrs. Pelton resigned from her teaching position based on the lack of integrity.
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The beginning and appropriate approach was failing the twenty eight students on their assignment. That was not the long term result in this case. Instead, the school board acted by going easier on the guilty. Christine showed integrity by noticing the cheating, and quitting when she was overruled by the school board. Teachers ignoring cheating now could get students kicked out of college later on. Schools can not blame cheating on students anymore. A surprising 74% of high school students had cheated or plagiarized based on McCabe’s experiment in the years 2000 and 2001. This problem affects everyone. I have already listed off how it involves the cheaters, parents, administration, and school board, but the other students are also affected. Some students are hard workers that do their own work, and they have to compete with cheaters. I know for a fact that I have put a lot of work into my academics. It does not seem fair that cheaters are still rewarded and receive the same privileges after they don’t do their own work or understand it. The Kansas school must have realized that cheating is wrong which is why they acted on it initially, but now that they gave up it defeats the purpose. Cheating will never end, but this almost promotes it. Cheating happens in our school, but I do not notice it all the time. It is naive to think it does not happen at all. Although it happens, it does not make it okay. …show more content…
Not only do I have strong feelings towards the subject, but I can relate to it on an extremely personal level. I was left with the question, has integrity declined leading to issues such as cheating? Cheating has become a problem, but it does not matter what it is. If it is wrong, our schools should be capable of fixing the issue instead of just promising to. I completely support Mrs. Christine Pelton in her overall decisions and actions, and I honestly look up to her. The results from these incidents affect the students, teachers, administration, and parents. The most important things you can learn in school are habits and life lessons, and if cheating is portrayed as okay then our system is failing. I hope the future brings hope and change, but until then I am not afraid to speak my mind and address these problems. Growing up, observing, and having hand in hand experiences with the idea of integrity and all it stands for has been the fundamental reasoning behind my
The beginning and appropriate approach was failing the twenty eight students on their assignment. That was not the long term result in this case. Instead, the school board acted by going easier on the guilty. Christine showed integrity by noticing the cheating, and quitting when she was overruled by the school board. Teachers ignoring cheating now could get students kicked out of college later on. Schools can not blame cheating on students anymore. A surprising 74% of high school students had cheated or plagiarized based on McCabe’s experiment in the years 2000 and 2001. This problem affects everyone. I have already listed off how it involves the cheaters, parents, administration, and school board, but the other students are also affected. Some students are hard workers that do their own work, and they have to compete with cheaters. I know for a fact that I have put a lot of work into my academics. It does not seem fair that cheaters are still rewarded and receive the same privileges after they don’t do their own work or understand it. The Kansas school must have realized that cheating is wrong which is why they acted on it initially, but now that they gave up it defeats the purpose. Cheating will never end, but this almost promotes it. Cheating happens in our school, but I do not notice it all the time. It is naive to think it does not happen at all. Although it happens, it does not make it okay. …show more content…
Not only do I have strong feelings towards the subject, but I can relate to it on an extremely personal level. I was left with the question, has integrity declined leading to issues such as cheating? Cheating has become a problem, but it does not matter what it is. If it is wrong, our schools should be capable of fixing the issue instead of just promising to. I completely support Mrs. Christine Pelton in her overall decisions and actions, and I honestly look up to her. The results from these incidents affect the students, teachers, administration, and parents. The most important things you can learn in school are habits and life lessons, and if cheating is portrayed as okay then our system is failing. I hope the future brings hope and change, but until then I am not afraid to speak my mind and address these problems. Growing up, observing, and having hand in hand experiences with the idea of integrity and all it stands for has been the fundamental reasoning behind my