International students are more likely to cheat than their American counterparts, according to internal data released this week, mirroring a growing trend of academic dishonesty among foreign students in U.S. colleges.
Non-citizen students, who make up about 12.1 percent of the GW student population, were responsible for nearly a quarter of all instances of academic dishonesty last year – the highest percentage in the available data. About 100 cases of alleged academic dishonesty were reported last year.
Instances of cheating from this population have increased over the past five years, and remain a “growing” problem so far this year, Director of the Office of Academic Integrity Tim Terpstra said. In 2006, 15 percent of violations were committed by non-U.S. citizens, who made up less than a tenth of the student population. That figure hovered in the high teens until last year, when it spiked to 23 percent.
The University statistics mirror a national problem, according to a study presented at a Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education conference this month. International students are also more likely to cheat using technology, such as getting exam answers on the Internet and copying online material without proper attribution, the study found.
The authors of the study, which analyzed responses from a public research university in Arizona, did not return requests for comment. The study also found that members of Greek life are more likely to cheat, a variable GW does not track, Terpstra said.
The University hosts information sessions for newly admitted international students before the start of each semester, but Terpstra said it may expand outreach to try to rein in international student cheating. His office has not yet formalized plans to better educate international students about academic honesty.
“With the percentages going up we are going to have to certainly reach out more and try to emphasize what constitutes cheating in our culture and how to avoid it,” he said.
Terpstra attributed the trend to a slew of factors, including misunderstood rules and difficulty with English.
All cases of confirmed academic dishonesty are followed by a sanction specific to the type of violation. Those convicted of plagiarism are generally referred to the University Writing Center, while others who cheated because of poor time management or emotional health are often referred to the University Counseling Center, Terpstra said.
The majority of cases result in a failure of the assignment and a handful see failure of the course.
Junior Arjun Awasthi, an international student from India, said he wasn’t surprised, because his teachers failed to dissuade students from cheating in primary school.
“It is not very ingrained that if you are caught cheating, you are out. In high school, everyone used to cheat. There were not very serious consequences for cheating,” he said of his experience in India. “My experience is that, when I came to GW, I had never written a paper in my life. I think that plagiarism can come into play because people don’t have any clue what they are doing.”
As a professor, I am a firm opponent of plagiarism, and indeed have taken students before Academic Integrity. But this story still bothers me.
It tars all international students with the same brush. I would have a hard time believing, for example, that French or Swedish students at GW cheat more than Americans. Some countries have the same norms about plagiarism as the US does.
Some countries, however, do not. This is not a supposition — it is my well-founded judgment based on evidence and over 15 years of teaching experience.
The issue then, is the following: if a student comes from a country that has lax or non-existent norms about copying the work of others (and not attributing it to the author), or cheating on tests, the student is caught, how should the student be treated?
This is a difficult issue. Faculty members encounter it repeatedly. In the end, it calls for evaluating problems on a case by case basis. It is sometimes possible, for example, to ferret out willful cheating, while discovering that some plagiarists are clueless about their violations. (I have had, I might add, clueless American cheaters.)
In the end, just as we don’t allow bribes for grades, we have to go after willful cheating with a vengeance, as allowance of such cheating undermines the value of a GW education as a whole.
I agree with Prof. McHale that the value of my degree declines as long as faculty and staff continue to tolerate plagiarism and cheating from any student. This is not an issue of cultural sensitivity.
International students are attractive to US universities not only because they increase diversity but also because they generally pay full tuition. I strongly believe that GW is doing everybody a disservice if they are so desperate for students paying top dollar that they are willing to write off academic dishonesty. If you want to study in our universities, it ought to be your responsibility to know our rules. Claiming ignorance of traffic laws doesn’t get you out of a parking ticket in DC, so why should cultural differences relieve you of academic responsibility?
Regardless, to preserve the value of our degrees, maybe GW should reconsider admitting *any* student who claims, “when I came to GW, I had never written a paper in my life. I think that plagiarism can come into play because people don’t have any clue what they are doing.”
That’s a mighty claim you are making there Madeiline, I have over the course of my time at GW written exemplary papers, and I am on the way to being published, the reason I came here was to learn how to become a better writer/academic. Please be careful of what you say before you go on making such general statements.
Eh, they’re probably just more likely to get caught. American students have been practicing cheating and not getting caught in American classrooms since they were in middle school.
@Name:
I completely disagree with your generalization. There is very little difference between cheating in an American classroom and cheating in any other classroom. If anything, considering that those from certain other countries where cheating/corruption is seen as a way of doing business may be more inclined to cheat and even better at it than American students. If part of your existence abroad is based on getting away with cheating/bribing in order to advance in your society b/c their is no alternative, you become very good at it.
In fact, one of my TAs even pointedly stated “I am from Bulgaria, and where I come from, we invented cheating. We start cheating in elementary school and keep doing even when we get here. Don’t try and cheat on any of my exams because I WILL CATCH YOU since I’ve cheated on tests before in every way imaginable. And I’m especially watching, you, the international students.”
@Madeleine:
I generally agree with you. One cheating who is international should not necessarily be treated any differently than an American student, HOWEVER, in the U.S. there does exist the provision that one needs to be guilty of not only committing the crime, BUT HAVING THE INTENT TO COMMIT IT. In other words, if you run a STOP sign, you are guilty of running it, but if that STOP sign was covered by tree branches and no REASONABLE person would be able to see it at night, despite being guilty of running the STOP sign, you cannot be charged. In the same way, while GW’s practices may appear superficially inconsistent, they are indeed in-line with the spirit of U.S. legal practices.
Now, it’s entirely a separate matter if they intentionally treat international students better because they pay full tuition. That would be harder to prove, but would certainly be egregious and disgusting – as the same would be true if they did the same for Americans at the expense of foreigners.
That said, I am equally annoyed when professors pity international students for their own stupidity and assume WRONGLY, in many instances, that they simply did not know of U.S. customs, etc…. that becomes a bit unnerving.
Either way, as someone who writes high-quality papers that more often than not get selected by professors as exemplary works for others to consider for future writing, I have a big problem with any students getting away with cheating or copy-and-pasting Wikipedia articles. I’ve had the luck of writing group papers before were group members did that, and having read the related articles on there and in knowing how to detect a copy and paste job [checking document history; font styles and colors, HYPERLINKS, etc.], I’ve called them out on it and forced them to rewrite it while I sat next to them
@Arjun:
If your pride is so easily wounded you should consider a new profession or avoid getting published – something tells me you wouldn’t take a fellow scholar’s criticisms very well if something Madeline said which was clearly not directed at you intentionally… or really even very close to attacking you, bothers you like that.
==
I will personally admit, there are plenty of times when I’ve said to myself, why would we let cheaters in if they don’t respect our rules? I then promptly ask myself, have I ever unintentionally cheated or known of someone who has, even if just once? Knowing the answer, it becomes harder to criticize others…. but I will tell you there is a difference between systematically cheating and doing so unintentionally or b/c of stress.
I’VE SEEN PROFESSOR CHEAT many times themselves. Read lecture notes that were evidentally a copy-and-paste job from Wikipedia by a professor gets under my skin, and I annomyniously have called out those professors.
HECK – GW TODAY recently ran a Bernanke article without attribution that was 100% copied-and-pasted from another news source. I would know… I read both articles and it was evident GW copied theirs since it was posted long after the Reuters/AP article. [And no, just b/c it's Reuters/AP does not mean, even if you PAID, which I'm sure GW didn't do, that you can copy without attribute].
SO THERE – It’s full circle. What should STUDENTS do when their professors blatantly CHEAT? and what should we as GW students do when the UNIVERSITY’s administration itself CHEATS?
@Arjun:
I don’t understand why you assume Madeline is somehow attacking you indirectly. Seems odd to me, but I understand that people come here to improve their skills, if that’s what you meant to say….
==
I will personally admit, there are plenty of times when I’ve said to myself, why would we let cheaters in if they don’t respect our rules? I then promptly ask myself, have I ever unintentionally cheated or known of someone who has, even if just once? Knowing the answer, it becomes harder to criticize others…. but I will tell you there is a difference between systematically cheating and doing so unintentionally or b/c of stress.
I’VE SEEN PROFESSOR CHEAT many times themselves. Read lecture notes that were evidentally a copy-and-paste job from Wikipedia by a professor gets under my skin, and I annomyniously have called out those professors.
HECK – GW TODAY recently ran a Bernanke article without attribution that was 100% copied-and-pasted from another news source. I would know… I read both articles and it was evident GW copied theirs since it was posted long after the Reuters/AP article. [And no, just b/c it's Reuters/AP does not mean, even if you PAID, which I'm sure GW didn't do, that you can copy without attribute].
SO THERE – It’s full circle. What should STUDENTS do when their professors blatantly CHEAT? and what should we as GW students do when the UNIVERSITY’s administration itself CHEATS?
This is a timely article and one that I’ve shared with my UW20 classes. We had just been talking about the problem with the lack of scientific and statistical literacy among the US population, something that drives scientists nuts. One major cause of that is because the journalists’ own level of research and statistical literacy is so low that they generally do a lousy job of explaining research to the public. This is article is a shining example of that phenomenon.
First, there is the issue of sample size. The pool here for possible instances of academic dishonesty would be: number of GW students x number of assignments in each class x number of classes x number of semesters. We have to be talking about, what, 200,000 opportunities to cheat, at least? Given that, can we really say anything about academic integrity at GW based on 100 cases? Now, whether or not the fact that there are only 100 reported cases is surprising, that might be a story.
Second, the study does not remotely support the reporter’s claims. Using the 100 cases reported to the AI office last year does not prove that international students cheat proportionally more often than their native-born peers. It doesn’t even prove that they were caught more often. It simply proves that they are *reported* by faculty proportionally more often.
Third, responsible reporting would start to ask questions as to whether or not there might be additional reasons for the particular piece of data that is being discussed. Could it be, for example, that because faculty think international students are more likely to cheat that they check their work for dishonest practices more closely than for their native-born counterparts? Or do they find more equitable rates of cheating but report international students more often? I have no idea if either of those is true, but they are valid, plausible, explanations for the data.
This article is quite simply, irresponsible. If you are going to write an article that tars an entire population, then you should damn well know how to handle and critique the research on which you base your claims. Not surprisingly, when such irresponsibility is allowed free reign, it promotes examples of the thinly veiled xenophobia we see above.
Given how prevalent similar simplistic treatments of research are in the news media, however, I suspect this journalist and the editor that passed this will have fine careers in journalism.
I do want to thank you for a really great teachable moment for my writing class, however!
Mark Mullen
University Writing Program
Rachel–
You have a weighty responsiblity as a journalist, and that responsibility is the same even though you are a student journalist. Your job is to tell the truth, a feat at which you failed in this article, but if you’re lucky, you’ll get a chance to try again. Don’t miss out on it. As Beckett said, “Try again. Fail again. Fail better.”
@Mark Mullen: Thanks for pointing out the pitfalls of this miserable article! I couldn’t have said it better myself. That said, the students who volunteer to write for campus newspapers anywhere need to understand that they are under as much journalistic responsibility as any reporter writing for a major newspaper. Just because they get perhaps 3 credits for participating in a newspaper writing lab by writing articles here doesn’t mean that it is a chance to be sloppy. Perhaps as an instructor in the University Writing Program you can address this matter with members of the writing corps at the Hatchet–believe me, they need a talk.
***
To the article author, Rachel Getzenberg:
As for the issue of cheating itself, it is a very broad and complex topic. Dissertations have been written to understand the behavior and the circumstances behind cheating. So what lends you the authority to make such sweeping conclusions just to meet an editorial deadline?
Also, by non-US citizens are you including permanent residents? Oh, and what about naturalized US citizens? What, they suddenly don’t cheat upon receiving US citizenship? So you see where even your use of citizenship terms is already reflects your lack of understanding on people’s citizenship status. So to condense any relationship regarding cheating behavior and citizenship status into a brief article with a declaration that “foreign students cheat more than Americans” is at best a sign of ignorance and at worst just purely irresponsible.
Do us a favor, please seriously consider taking a class on statistics, on some advanced psychology, sociology, and perhaps finding a job where you have no contact with people making public policy.
Also, the Hatchet’s editor-in-chief deserves a lashing here for letting this article go. How irresponsible.
I currently go to a California Community College. It is true. Almost all of the international students I witness cheating are those from Asian foreign countries such as Indonesia, China, Hong Kong, and Korea. Since they all speak their native tongue, they bond together and collect past exams and past papers of everything in a course. In my personal experiences, courses in chemistry, math and physics. Some professors never change the format of the exams therefore these students easily ace the course. Then head onto Berkeley. Also, they never write their UC Essays. They pay someone or ask an native English speaker to write their essays.
As a lecturer at several Asian universities, I can assure everyone that cheating and plagiarism are the norm in Asia and that cheating is done on a massive scale in order to pass such things as SATs ACTs, TOEFL and other tests. Without the cheating, the students are absolutely sure that they will fail exams. This is what they know. I myself was a student uo to 2007 and never saw cheating in front of me in American universities, but knew that it went on. In the States, people tend to do their own work, not trusting in others. In Asia, it is a group mentality and often one student will provide the effort for all the rest. The education in Korea and Kazakhstan, as examples, may look good on paper, with so many graduates, but we teachers are not allowed to fail students. Yes, that is correct.
At our MBA program, we had a scandal where all the Indians got caught cheating on their finance final. What’s stupid was that:
A) You get a B if you know how to calculate Present or Future Value
B) The final was open book/Open Notes/Open computer. If you wanted to use investopedia, you could. The only thing you couldn’t use was another person. Of course, the Indians still felt the need to cheat.
It was quite obvious they were cheating because you could hear a lot more typing than what was necessary to type an excel formula or a google keyword, and people behind them could see they were on google chat.
Somehow they didn’t get kicked out, although anyone who felt compelled to cheat in that class deserves to get kicked out.
As long as one group (REGARDLESS OF THE GROUP) wants a different set of rules for them over other groups of people; there will always be inequality. And this group that wants special privileges; will never earn the trust and respect from society as a whole. You can pass all the civil rights laws you want. Your not allowed to discriminate in public accommodations for reasons protected by law; but you are allowed to discriminate against others when it comes to who you love, who your friends are, and who let get up close and personal. You can’t make someone listen to you, like you, love you, trust you, be your friend, or associate with you. The point of all this is that if one group of people feels they are not subject to rules and regulations of society (hence your college and the cheating issue); there will never be true peace, respect, and equality. You’ll have people being courteous to each other to their face. That courtesy is a veil covering up their true feelings of hate, anger, and resentment that lies beneath the surface because of favoritism or perceived favoritism. It is not a crime to have feelings, but if those feelings manifest themselves into actions prohibited by law; than it is a crime. When I was pursuing my Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice; I had one of the international students at my college come to me and tell me this Chinese student who barely spoke English was having her do her papers and work for her. It really made me angry because I am physically handicapped and had to undergo dialysis while finishing a 4 year college degree. When I think how hard I worked for what I have and to see my feelings and concerns are more pervasive from reading this article; it makes my blood boil. I don’t care what someone’s ethnicity is, race, religion, and any other identifying characteristics are. If you cheated your way through college, you will not earn my respect or trust. You lie your way through school, you lie your way through life. We all REAP what we sow. I wouldn’t want a doctor or nurse caring for me knowing their degree wasn’t worth the paper it was printed on due to CHEATING their way through medical and/or nursing school. I wouldn’t want an attorney representing me if they cheated their way through law school. When people don’t do the work necessary to earn their degrees, the degree they have isn’t worth the paper it is printed on. When people cheat, they are really cheating themselves out of a future. When called upon that knowledge later down the road of life; it won’t be they and there may not be anyone to help them. It’s like being stranded in a vehicle out in the middle of the desert with no gas and no one to help you. The consequences of that are unthinkable.
Thank you you all for reading,
Manny
Hey Hatchet!!!
One warning, two warnings, three warnings, what happens when a student from this overpriced – zero ranked university, cheats every paper – every class – every semester – every year. GWU’s President, Steven Knapp says his hands are tied and money goes a long way, money is the key for any for-profit university. I agree.
My students plagiarized, plagiarized, plagiarized and then when they felt tired they plagiarized again.
In fact one student, who is a Russian speaker from my program [but not a Russian "national"], has plagiarized every class. We passed him and he is unable to read English at a college level and never wrote an original paper.
The money is great though, at the end of the day, that’s all that counts.
Any questions?
esiadean@gwu.edu
meast@gwu.edu
cherber@gwu.edu
yckim@gwu.edu
krulfeld@gwu.edu
davisgwu@gwu.edu
logsdon@gwu.edu
palmer@gwu.edu
sachar@gwu.edu
jft@gwu.edu
yin@gwu.edu
Michael E. Brown & Staff
Dean of the Elliott School of International Affairs
Professor of International Affairs and Political Science
Office: 1957 E Street, NW Suite 401
Phone: (202) 994-6241
Fax: (202) 994-0335