The purpose of this paper is to address the issues surrounding academic integrity and ethical procedures as they relate to students, scholarly research and practice. We will take a look at the viewpoints of two articles that tackle this issue. When I think about the word “ethics”, morals and doing the right thing come to mind. In life there is a constant struggle between making good and bad choices, especially if the choice you choose can make or break your career. In the first article, Aaron and Roche, (2013) highlight several levels of academic dishonesty being displayed and the repercussions that followed as a result. Together Aaron and Roche, try to identify where academic dishonesty can begin and how society plays a major role in its flourish. From an early age, we are taught to be competitive and to always strive to be the best at what we do, at least that’s what most parents expect from their children. There is an enormous amount of pressure placed on children in the elementary and high school grades to achieve high scores on standardized test. Unfortunately, this type of pressure if continued can lead to cheating on the collegiate level (Schellenbarger, 2013). Academic dishonesty or “cheating”, has become a common standard amongst specialized high schoolers and prep school students. In one scenario, involving a specialized school in New York, high school students devised an organized plan to cheat on a Regents exam. Of course the students involved were caught and reprimanded, however this incident opened the door to the pointing of fingers, how and why could something like this happen? What would make students go to such lengths to cheat? The idea of teachers turning a blind eye or covering for students already accepted into Ivy League universities was presented. This notion although difficult to accept as a fellow teacher, is quite true and even more prevalent amongst athletes going off to a division I college with a full scholarship.

The authors further go on to discuss cheating scandals in colleges, professional schools, and corporate America. Indicating this is a problem and its affects are on a much larger scale than expected. A study done by Aaron and Roche (2013) surveyed over two hundred faculty and students, found that cheating can be classified as any of the following ( fabrication, misrepresentation, plagiarism, unauthorized collaboration, abuses of confidentiality, and conflicts of interest). It is apparent that some students on the collegiate level at some point during their time in college take part in one of the above classifications and are well aware that they are participating in dishonest behavior, and stand firmly behind their decisions to succeed at all costs. This blatant disregard for appropriate academic conduct in colleges and universities has prompted a movement of ideas and forums on the issue of academic integrity and a need to develop consistent policies and procedures to be followed by students and faculty members.
Spain and Robles, (2011) the authors of the second article, examine the steps taken by one university that dealt with the on-going ramifications of cheating, and wanted to find a way to put an end to it. Stakeholders at the university embarked on a series of brainstorming sessions that involved coming up with a specific committee that tackled the issue at hand, “academic dishonesty”. They would eventually decide on policies and procedures to be implemented on campus. Moving forward, faculty and students would partake in a number of surveys over the course of a year to determine statistical data reflecting student’s perception of pervasiveness of cheating activities. The data provided from these surveys gave university stakeholders, the fire and backing needed to come up with a solution to the problem. Both articles, discuss the term, “hard” or “soft” honor codes, which most universities across the country have in place as a means to govern an academic community. These codes are established by individual institutions

and help set the tone for rules and regulations to be followed. The evidence from the survey showed that once an academic integrity policy with a soft honor code was implemented, reported cases of cheating dropped significantly. Students were more aware of the consequences involved, and the long-lasting effects.
In my analysis of the above articles, it is clear that dishonesty transcends into many areas in society, it can be found in the workplace, in our government, political campaigns, and our schools. I was affected by the teaching scandal that surfaced a couple of years ago that involved teachers in the Atlanta area public schools and the late Superintendent Dr. Beverley Hall. Being a teacher here and administering the same standardized test the teachers and administrators were accused of cheating, brought a lot of scrutiny to teachers across Georgia. The year following the scandal, our school had testing monitors from the Georgia Department of Education visit some classrooms, as a newly instated testing procedure. The idea of cheating or being dishonest in some way to get ahead, has been around for years and is a learned behavior in some cultures and families.
I believe cheating or “academic dishonesty” effects the academic integrity of the university, faculty and the overall student body. Cheating in universities and colleges can diminish the validity of a degree and coursework. It can also affect the credibility of a university. I know if a school has a reputation for easy coursework and students getting by, it will attract certain students and in turn produce an incompetent workforce. It is good to see universities taking steps to crack down on these issues. I have been out of the school setting for several years, so I was not aware of some of the new policies and procedures set in place. I had the opportunity to discuss NCU’s academic integrity policy with my academic advisor, as well as view the academic integrity tutorial in detail. I don’t remember this much emphasis being placed on cheating during my undergrad and graduate studies, but then again that was over a decade ago, and times have changed. I do look forward to this challenge and know that everything that I do will be done with true integrity, honesty and commitment.

REFERENCES
Aaron, L. S., & Roche, C. M. (2013). Stemming the tide of academic dishonesty in higher education: It takes a village.
Spain, J., & Robles, M. (2011). Academic integrity policy: The journey.
Shellenbarger, S. (2013, May 15). How could a sweet third-grader just cheat on that school exam? Retrieved October 23, 2013, from http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/
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