The article, ‘let’s not cheat our students’ by Mark Kingwell stresses the significance of eliminating the use of FD grades as a way of assigning failure as a result of cheating. Academic dishonesty is exhibited in various forms such as data fabrication, deception, corruption, academic sabotage, impersonification, cheating, and plagiarism among others. Academic dishonesty especially plagiarism is a very common occurrence in academic institutions especially those of higher learning. This is so for students who want to pursue high grades at any cost. The grade F is meant to signify the failure as a result of laziness or not offering enough academic input while the FD grade is permanently awarded to the students who cheat. In my opinion, the Usage of FD grade is not the way to go as asserted by Mark Kingwell.
Cheating becomes easy in academic institutions since it is easy to acquire academic information online. Also, society does not condemn cheating and this may call for students to engage in it. In addition, it is hard for academic professionals to not always crosscheck for plagiarism from students’ assignments or exams thus making it hard to fully implement the rules. Therefore, the use of irreversible grades is no remedy to cheating since FD grade offers no chance of recovering from the mistake for students due to its permanency and this may jeopardize the future prospects of a student in the job market. As a result, other strategies should be implemented to truly curb the behaviors in schools. For instance, students could be made aware of the educational standards needed to acquire a scholarship. They should also be informed of academic sanctions arising from cheating and I should be ensured there are fewer chances of committing academic dishonesty. Academic integrity should not be compromised in any situation and any violation should be detected and disciplinary action is taken.
From the article,” One of the strongest incentives for lying is what psychologists call deindividuation – circumstances where a person does not feel personally connected to the action. For instance, experiments show that people who give their names and addresses in potential cheating situations are less likely to cheat than those who remain anonymous” (Kingwell pr.10). Hence, it’s easier to insist that students should not conceal their identity to enhance integrity in schools This helps them to be more attached to school work which is facilitated by creating an ideal environment for learning such as conducting individual assessments and advice. This is essential in enhancing connections with the teaching staff and students will feel more engaged and appreciated and therefore will deliver accordingly.
Conclusively, FD grades should be scrapped from the policies of academic institutions. This is because mistakes could occur unwillingly and this may result in academic dishonesty such as plagiarism. As a result, the student is assigned an FD grade irrespective of the reason behind the mistake. Therefore, the nature and motive of cheating should be evaluated since some students’ especially foreign ones are not even aware of the seriousness of the offense and its dire consequences. Others are able to cheat tactfully and emerge ‘successfully’ without raising any suspicion. It’s unfair if those students passed and get away with it while their counterparts fail and are permanently affected. This may result in students pursuing more tactful actions and perfecting the art of cheating without leaving any trace even though they know it is wrong.
Reference
Kingwell, Mark. Let’s Not Cheat Our Students. The Globe and Mail. 2009. Web.