Suppose that copying test answers, using crib sheets, copying someone else’s homework, plagiarism, and teaming up on work when you should be flying solo are included in the definition of cheating. In this day and age, one must define cheating because to some students copying someone else’s answers during a test would be research, not cheating. Suppose further that you asked 25,000 high school students if they had ever engaged in “cheating.” You would get a whopping 90% saying, “Duh, yes!” Dr. Donald McCabe of Rutgers has been keeping score, as it were, on cheating since 1963. The rate of overall cheating has tripled. Copying from others’ answers on tests has doubled from 26% to 52%. Crib-sheet use on exams has climbed from 6% to 27%. But Dr. McCabe and Dr. Jason Stephens of the University of Connecticut are not prophets of gloom. They have fixes, and they work.  The kids aren’t bad, but their cultures are. The students all know cheating is wrong; they are having trouble sticking with the non-cheating program because the practices are so pervasive. As Dr. Stephens says, this cheating thing is not a problem of bad seeds, but the result of bad soil. To get the rich loam thing going you need the following:
1. An honor code — i.e., write down the rules, including the definition of cheating.
2. Buy-in from the kids, in terms of developing the code and the rules and then through reporting violations, including self-reporting.
3. Enforcement of the code and the rules. Enforcement is to culture what integrity is to individuals. Without enforcement there is no incentive for honoring the rules. Â
Dr. Stephens is conducting a study on the use of these tools, including the presence of a control high school in each of three demographic areas. The Barometer wishes Dr. Stephens well and awaits his results and recommendations. His work is critical because as Dr. McCabe has long taught us — if they cheat in high school, they bring it to college. And if they cheat in college, they bring it to work. And if they bring it to work, well, markets, trust, and all. We feel the pain.Â
About mmjdiary
Professor Marianne Jennings is an emeritus professor of legal and ethical studies from the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University, retiring in 2011 after 35 years of teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in ethics and the legal environment of business. During her tenure at ASU, she served as director of the Joan and David Lincoln Center for Applied Ethics from 1995-1999. In 2006, she was appointed faculty director for the W.P. Carey Executive MBA Program. She has done consulting work for businesses and professional groups including AICPA, Boeing, Dial Corporation, Edward Jones, Mattel, Motorola, CFA Institute, Southern California Edison, the Institute of Internal Auditors, AIMR, DuPont, AES, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Motorola, Hy-Vee Foods, IBM, Bell Helicopter, Amgen, Raytheon, and VIAD.
The sixth edition of her textbook, Case Studies in Business Ethics, was published in February 2011. The ninth edition of her textbook, Business: lts Legal, Ethical and Global Environment was published in January 2011. The 23rd edition of her book, Business Law: Principles and Cases, will be published in January 2013. The tenth edition of her book, Real Estate Law, will also be published in January 2013. Her book, A Business Tale: A Story of Ethics, Choices, Success, and a Very Large Rabbit, a fable about business ethics, was chosen by Library Journal in 2004 as its business book of the year. A Business Tale was also a finalist for two other literary awards for 2004. In 2000 her book on corporate governance was published by the New York Times MBA Pocket Series. Her book on long-term success, Building a Business Through Good Times and Bad: Lessons from Fifteen Companies, Each With a Century of Dividends, was published in October 2002 and has been used by Booz, Allen, Hamilton for its work on business longevity. Her latest book, The Seven Signs of Ethical Collapse was published by St. Martin’s Press in July 2006 and has been a finalist for two book awards.
Her weekly columns are syndicated around the country, and her work has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the Chicago Tribune, the New York Times, Washington Post, and the Reader's Digest. A collection of her essays, Nobody Fixes Real Carrot Sticks Anymore, first published in 1994 is still being published. She has been a commentator on business issues on All Things Considered for National Public Radio.
She has served on four boards of directors, including Arizona Public Service (1987-2000), Zealous Capital Corporation, and the Center for Children with Chronic Illness and Disability at the University of Minnesota. She was appointed to the board of advisors for the Institute of Nuclear Power Operators in 2004 and served on the board of trustees for Think Arizona, a public policy think tank. She has appeared on CNBC, CBS This Morning, the Today Show, and CBS Evening News.
In 2010 she was named one of the Top 100 Thought Leaders in Business Ethics by Trust Across America. Her books have been translated into four different languages. She received the British Emerald award for authoring one of their top 50 articles in management publications, chosen from over 15,000 articles.
Personal: Married since 1976 to Terry H. Jennings, Maricopa County Attorney’s Office Deputy County Attorney; five children: Sarah, Sam, and John, and the late Claire and Hannah Jennings.
