The Chronicle of Higher Education reports this week that cheating at college has become rampant:
Some institutions, including Middlebury College, in Vermont, and Stanford University, are reconsidering elements of their honor codes because they’re simply not working. At Middlebury, the percentage of students who admitted on an annual survey to violating the honor code rose from 35 percent in 2019 to 65 percent in 2024. The most common self-reported violations were using unauthorized aids, such as SparkNotes or a friend, cheating on a test, and misusing AI.
Here’s the Middlebury data:
One professor was quoted:
“When it’s that widespread, it’s a culture. It’s not just an individual student. It is so many. And when I talk to some undergrads, they’re like, ‘Everybody does it.’”
Nice job, elite colleges!
FWIW, I no longer assign term papers in my classes, but instead have in-class short answer essay exams, or work closely and directly with students on drafts of their master’s theses.
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