Academic Integrity and Honor Codes in Schools

In today's society, there is a trend being set by both college and high school students. The trend is moving from academic integrity to academic dishonesty. What exactly is the difference between academic integrity versus dishonesty? I believe that academic integrity is a state of pride and belief in ones own knowledge and work. It is taking what you know and applying it in a scholarly systematic way without help from any other source that would make any part of the work not their own. It is taking pride and credit for work that is completely there's. Academic dishonesty on the other hand is taking someone else's work and claiming it as your own. So given the shift in trends in this …show more content…

In an article interviewing a University teacher from Wayne State in Detroit, Richard Grusin, Chairman of the English Department says, "what students don't realize is that it's just as easy for us to get plagiarized material. All we have to do is conduct a Google search on any sentence from a student's paper and then we will get a list of choices of where that sentence or work came from" (Jackson 1). It is getting easier and easier to catch students in the act of plagiarism. They cannot go forever on this destructive behavior before retribution needs to be made. Because of the fact that plagiarism and academic dishonesty are on the rise, what are colleges and universities doing to help prevent their students from falling into this trend? Many colleges and universities are setting up an honor code/policy in their schools so that students know the schools policy and the consequences that will follow if caught and found guilty of academic dishonesty. Many of the consequences result in a failed course, academic probation, and possibly expulsion. "The University of Virginia possesses one of the most prestigious Honor Codes in higher education today. Instilling moral values throughout the whole community as well as the university, the Honor Code has been in place since 1842. Known for its strict policy, the university immediately removes a student from the institution if he is convicted of any means of dishonesty" (Rubright1). Many colleges and universities