Students will show academic integrity — if colleges support it

[ZacharyObama]

By Colin S. Diver

September 05, 2012

Colin S. Diver, the former president of Reed College, is the former dean of the University of Pennsylvania Law School and taught for many years at Boston University.

Recent allegations of widespread cheating in a course at Harvard have provoked much hand-wringing among Harvard professors and administrators. Their diagnoses and prescriptions predictably fall into two groups, depending on whether one is optimistic or pessimistic about the ethical capacity of today’s college students.

Optimists believe in the efficacy of moral education and responsibility. They would fix the problem by giving students clearer exam instructions or by providing incoming freshmen instruction on academic integrity. Pessimists recommend eliminating all open-book exams, implementing tighter exam security, and increasing punishments for cheating.

Count me among the optimists — but with a healthy dose of realism. Having served for the past decade as president of Reed College in Portland, Ore., I have seen that ambitious, competitive college students can exhibit academic integrity if the institution supports and honors it.

But instilling such a culture requires far more than superficial palliatives: it requires a whole set of interlocking institutional commitments that promote honorable behavior. The foundation for that culture at Reed College is called the “Honor Principle.” At Reed, all members of the community — students, faculty, staff, and administrators — are directly accountable to their peers for the consequences of their behavior. In that spirit, examinations are not proctored; students are honor-bound to comply strictly with the instructor’s rules regarding consultation of sources.

More: http://www.bostonglo...WfYJ/story.html

Edited September 5, 2012 by ZacharyObama