Cheat Sheet

Shelby has been studying for the past two weeks for her final in chemistry. Her grade in the class
is much lower than it should be, and her father has warned her to improve it or there will be
consequences. So declining party invitations, restricting her time with friends, and spending
hours in the library, Shelby has done a lot to prepare for this exam.
Come test day, Shelby sits next to a mutual friend of hers that lives on the same floor in their
dorm. Talking with her before the test begins, Shelby notices that this friend has hidden a cheat
sheet at the top of her backpack.
Ordinarily, Shelby wouldnt be concerned about it; however, the professor has already
announced that he will be grading the test on a strict curve. Even if everyone does really well, the
professor will divide up the grades to make sure theres a limited amount of As and Bs. Should
Shelby report what shes seen to the teacher? Should she keep it to herself? What would you do?

Shelby should report it to the teacher and not keep it to herself, for several reasons (based
on? A Framework for Thinking Ethically?). 1. According to the utilitarian approach,
Shelby should think about what would result in the greatest good for the greatest number
of people. By letting her friend cheat, she is allowing the greatest good to diminish
because the curve will be distorted as a result, affecting a lot of students. Though it might
hurt her friendship, she should at the very least, anonymously reports her friend in order
to preserve and promote the greatest good. 2. Rights/Duties, Fairness, and Common Good
based: Shelby has a responsibility, as a member of the class to protect the integrity of the
grading system. Just because it is her friend who is cheating, doesnt mean that her friend
is exempt from immoral behavior. If Shelby knew a girl that she disliked was cheating,
would she be more motivated to report her? Since all people are seen as equal, Shelby
should not hold her friend to a different standard. She could either confront her friend
directly, or warn her that she will be reporting her to the professor. She can respect her
friends dignity by providing her with transparent options. Either way, Shelby cannot
allow the disparity in grades be perpetuated if she can help it because the issue of passing
the test is important to everyone and not just Shelbys friend. They are all trying to obtain
a passing grade, not just Shelbys friend. It is unfair and hence unethical, for her to tip the
balance in her favor. 3. Virtue approach: integrity and honor are two virtues that Shelby
should embody and help promote. The way in which the conceptions of these two virtues
are manifested is through action. Shelby must ask herself what is the highest state of
character she can aspire to? She obviously recognizes the virtue of discipline and
handwork, as evidenced by her preparation leading up to this test. Likewise, Shelby
should push herself to think about the values she should live up to, those being integrity
and honor in this particular case.
Source:
http://www.scu.edu/r/ethics-center/ethicsblog/thebigq/13490/Cheat-Sheet#sthash.KYqueWyh.dpuf

A Tale of Two Cheaters

Rebecca is a freshman this year, and the transition from high school to college has been pretty
academically difficult for her. She has always been an excellent student, however, so she takes
the challenge in stride.
After turning in a final paper for one of her English classes, Rebecca receives an e-mail from her
professor informing her that she has failed the class. Rebecca cant believe itperhaps she put
less effort into this paper than her others, but she certainly didnt produce F-quality work! She
immediately responds and asks why. Her professor informs Rebecca that she had included a
paragraph in her paper that was copied and pasted verbatim from an online source, and that
Rebecca had failed to provide a citation. The professor then refers Rebecca to the section on
academic integrity in the course syllabus, which clearly states that any student found plagiarizing
will fail the course.
At the same university that week, Nick wraps up his first round of sophomore year exams. Hes
thrilled to be heading home for break after an extremely tough quarter, and is pretty happy with
his grades as they begin showing up online. However, he notices he received a C in a class that
he was expecting a solid A in, and e-mails his professor to ask why. His professor responds that
she found several instances of plagiarism in his final paper, so he failed his final assignment, and
that affected his final grade. She also notes that this is consistent with her policy on academic
integrity as stated in her syllabus.
Ultimately, for similar acts of plagiarism at the same school, Rebecca and Nick suffer very
different consequences. Rebecca fails a course, while Nick fails a final paper. Is this fair? Should
schools force faculty to have the same policy about plagiarism across the board, or should it be
up to the facultys discretion? What would be a fair punishment?

I would say that this ethical implication is quite simple. Rebecca and Nick have both
committed the same "crime", so they should of course get the same consequence. As a
professor it should not be accepted if one treats its students differently. In her syllabus it
says that plagiarism is punished with failure of the course, so she is not living up to her
own rules if she treats it differently. One might say that if a couple of sentences is
different than a whole paragraph, but plagiarism is plagiarism. If one takes this to the
extreme we can connect it to the famous trolley cart story, if one pushes the button to kill
a person or pushes a guy of a bridge, you are still killing someone. I think that if the
professor wants to give different consequences then she has to specify what the limit of
plagiarism is before one fails the course.
Source:
http://www.scu.edu/r/ethics-center/ethicsblog/thebigq/16050/A-Tale-of-TwoCheaters#sthash.9dbirH4J.dpuf