Journal for Week 3

This past week in our honors class we discussed cheating. The result of our survey was 18 that they had cheated and 10 that they had not cheated on a test, paper, or even a homework assignment. In my opinion cheating on papers and tests should not be grouped with cheating on homework. A lot of students will help each other on homework if they do not understand it well. I think that if both students are actively working on the assignment together and discussing the answers then this should not be considered cheating. I do believe that cheating on tests and papers is wrong. I agree that pressure and stress lead to cheating. Procrastination can also lead to cheating.
For this blog I read the University's code of conduct on cheating. I agreed with some of the points listed but others I do not agree with. In my opinion cheating on a test or plagiarizing a paper should be handled and hold different punishments than copying someone's homework. If a student copies another student's homework they are only hurting themselves by not learning the information. A punishment of being kicked out of class, required to change major, or even expelled from school just for copying a homework assignment is beyond extreme. I believe that the student should receive an F on the assignment and that is all. However I believe that when a student cheats on a test once they should receive an F on the test and required to have a meeting with the teacher. If a student cheats on more than one test I believe that they should be removed from their major if it was a class for their major. I feel this way because if the students do not know the material they will not make a good employee. Plagiarizing a paper is also serious business and I believe that a student should meet with the professor to determine if it was accidental or intentional. If it was accidental I believe the student should receive a deduction in their grade but nothing more. Intentional acts should be dealt with as the code of conduct mentions. When considering whether the code of conduct is effective in stopping cheating I have to say no. Cheating will always happen on campus. Most students in my opinion that actually care about school will not risk cheating on a paper or test. And sometimes a student needs help from a friend on a homework assignment even to the extent of copying because of the pressure, expectations, and busy lives students face daily.