Consequences of Violating Academic Integrity

Introduction

Dictionary.com defines integrity as following moral and ethical conduct (2018). Academic integrity is defined as honesty and responsibility in academia (University of Oklahoma ND). Academic integrity is an important principle that every student should follow. There are many ways in which academic dishonesty can happen. When it does happen it there can be several impacts. Academic dishonesty can have an impact on your school career, the people around you, and your future.

School Career

Academic dishonesty is not just cheating. It involves plagiarism, fabrication, deception and much more (Berkeley City College 2018). Every school handles academic dishonesty in different ways. You could fail a class. If you get caught cheating, you could fail that class and get a bad grade on your transcript. Even if you plagiarized on accident you could still fail the class or just fail the assignment you were working on (Seattle Pi 2018).

A more serious consequence would be getting suspended or expelled. If a student has a history of academic dishonesty or the school has harsh policies against academic dishonesty they can chose to suspend or expel you from the school. If that happens it would be hard to get into another school or get a job because they would know about your history of dishonesty (Seattle Pi 2018). Your academic reputation might be ruined. No one will want to accept you into their college or hire you because they will know what you did in school. If you are going to graduate school that could also affect you chances at getting the job you want in the future. These are just some of the consequences that could occur from being academically dishonest.

People around you

Academic dishonesty not only affects you, it affects other people around you. It may not seem like it as first, but the students that do not cheat and are honest about their work get hurt by those who do cheat. When students cheat, their grades tend to be better than those who do not. If a teacher decides to curve a grade the students that do not cheat might not benefit as much as that do. When the honest students see how well the dishonest students do it might make them feel like their hard work is not worth it. It may even encourage them to cheat so they can reap the benefits too (Baron 1998).

It also affects the school. Those that start off cheating in high school get better grades and get into colleges off of their cheating. Once they are in college they will probably have to keep cheating to keep up with all of the work. It may even cause some of the honest students to not get into colleges because of the dishonest students having better grades that they do not deserve. It also devalues education. The goal of school is to educate and for the students to learn. But people become concerned with grades instead of actually learning. It becomes less about the degree and more about the grades and the GPA.

Future

Academic dishonesty affects you throughout your life. Cheating does not just happen in school. It happens in the real world too. Having a record of academic dishonesty will make it very hard for you to find a good job. Employers will not want to hire you if you are known to not be honest. It speaks to your integrity. Cheating becomes a habit if it is done over and over again. If it becomes a habit it will carry over into your work life (Grown and Flown 2018). Some examples of dishonesty in the workplace are using company supplies inappropriately and lying on documents like time sheets. Similar to school there are consequences for being dishonest. Instead of failing a class or getting expelled, you could get in trouble or even be fired. The dishonesty does not stop in school it continues into your career (Harding, et al 2004). The whole point of going to school is to learn. Cheating hinders your ability to learn what is being taught. In your career there may be a time where you need to remember something you learned in school. But if you cheated or were dishonest in any way you might not know what you need to know in order to be successful in your career (Classroom 2018).

Conclusion

Academic dishonesty affects your school career, other people, and your future. It affects your school career because if you are academically dishonesty you could fail a class or be expelled from your school. It can also affect graduate school. Academic dishonesty can affect your acceptance into graduate school. It affects other people because it can encourage them to be dishonest too. They see the dishonest people doing well in school and may be envious because they are not doing as well. Lastly, it can affect your future. It can affect the way you do your job. Which can have serious consequences. Academic dishonesty is all about integrity. It is important to have integrity in everything that you do.