Are We Creating a Generation of Cheaters?
There's little doubt that today's graduates face a lot of pressure to succeed. But is that pressure so great that they are starting to believe that cheating is acceptable? While some would argue yes, I have too much faith in this generation to believe that is the case.
Amitai Givertz brought to my attention a blog entry published by David Maister about a study that is about to published on the honesty of 5,000 MBA students from 11 graduate business schools in Canada and 21 schools in the U.S. The study is entitled Academic Dishonesty in Graduate Business Programs: The Prevalence, Causes, and Proposed Actions. It was conducted by management professors at Rutgers, Washington State and Pennsylvania State universities, and will appear in the next issue of the Academy of Management Learning & Education journal.
The study found that 56 per cent of graduate business students admitted to cheating in the last year, compared with 47 per cent of non-business students. Does that mean that business students are more dishonest than non-business students, or that today's students or more dishonest than yesterday's students? Or does it merely mean that today's business students are more likely to admit to cheating?
My experience with Gen Y students has been overwhelmingly positive. This is a generation that despises -- no, loaths -- hypocrisy. This is a generation that has chosen to follow the model of working to live rather than following the model followed by their Boomer parents, which was living to work. Viewing the way that Gen Y interacts and operates through the bifocaled glasses of their parents leads to misunderstandings, including how they communicate with each other and how they approach their professional lives. Gen Y students think nothing of similtaneously communicating with dozens of their friends in a handful of time zones through instant messaging. Their Boomer parents see only their 22 year old sitting in front of a computer. The 22 year old sees and interacts with far more people with far more diverse results than their Boomer parents were ever able to do.
So what does instant messaging have to do with cheating? Everything. When presented with one set of facts such as instant messaging, members of the Boomer and Gen Y generations see the facts very differently. What might be regarded as cheating to a member of Gen Y might only be regarded as pushing the walls of the envelope by a Boomer. What might be regarded as dishonest by a member of Gen Y might only be regarded as aggressive by a Boomer. I am not saying that Boomers are dishonest and that members of Gen Y are all saints. But what I am saying is that before we all jump off the deep end and condemn today's business and other students for rampant cheating, I think that we need to do a better job of putting that cheating in context and creating a common definition that will transcend generational differences. Until the study is released, I for one advocate that we withhold judgment and hope that it puts the cheating rate into proper context.
Steven, thanks for broadening the discussion. Like you, I would be very loath to make distinctions of virtue between generations. However, I think reflecting on whether our socities at large have changed is fair game.
I DO think we are, as societies - worldwide and tragically - a lot more resigned to deception, corruption, hypocricy, cynisism and general bad behavior than we were historically in the past. We seem to look for excuses to say "what do you expect, everyone's like that."
Which, of course, only encourages more people to behave badly.
I worry that our sense of "the proper context" to use your phrase, has been drifting downwards.
I can't agree with you more. There is never an excuse -- never -- for behaving badly. When those around us are behaving badly, it is even more reason for us to elevate our behavior so that we can serve as role models for those who obviously need guidance.
I believe this to be more than just an individual problem. It is true, our society may be corrupt, but that still does not serve as an acceptable excuse to cheat.
I believe many people overlook other issues involved in cheating. While it is technically not accepted as a whole, it is secretly overlooked by those who serve as our "teachers".
In high school I took a class for a teacher that clearly stated, "if you all (speaking to the class) are going to cheat I better not catch you doing it." What this says to me as a student is that it is ok as long as I do not get caught. That is exactly how a lot of the other students in the class translated what he said into. There were a lot that took advantage of that, what seemed to be, invitation to cheat.
I believe that if cheating is so looked down upon in our society than it must be taught to us by our teachers and family that it is completely wrong and unacceptable, even if not everyone can get caught. Eventually everyone that cheats will get caught. They will slip up somewhere, but it is a matter of time.
In response to the guy above me, I believe that societies across the world have always been corrupt. Look at what Cleopatra did in Egypt. Then, look at how the Romans tortured people and it was considered a "game". Next, turn your attention to the Catholics and what they did across Europe and other countries during the crusades. Technically our world has always been full of "deception, corruption, hypocricy, cynicism and..." general bad behavior, but we are humans and it is only in our nature. That, by no means, justifies this kind of behavior, but I find that cheating is miniscule compared to acts that have been committed in our past and acts that are still prevalent in the present.
As long as humans have free will and the right to choose there will always be corruption.