I just feel the need to express myself about academic dishonesty. I guess it’s the season. There is no great time and place to do it because it might come off as a bit of a harsh or indulgent rant. I’m doing it here because I can, with no particular audience. Maybe it will find its way to the eyes have someone who can learn from this. Maybe it will just help me.
In my view, academic dishonesty is a violation of the sacred relationship between student and teacher. I call the relationship sacred because I believe learning itself is sacred, and to enter into a relationship based on learning requires trust and vulnerability from both parties. To submit another’s work as one’s own is an attempt by the student to trick the teacher. It disregards and disrespects the trust offered by both student and teacher. Let me say it again, differently: a student’s academic dishonesty disrespects the teacher and the student’s self. Personally, as teacher, I feel disgust when I discover that I have been tricked. I don’t like admitting it, but it’s true. I want to be forgiving, but disgust is, in fact, my feeling. It’s OK; it’s a feeling. The dishonesty causes me to question the whole relationship between me and the student. I wonder whether this person doesn’t care whether I admire and respect them as a student or not. I wonder whether that student ever hopes to get a letter of recommendation from me in the future. If they did want a letter, that would mean that they care what I think, wouldn’t it? – or maybe it means that they just care what personal gain they can get by exploiting the value that the community has placed on my judgment. I would also be willing as teacher, personally, to do the work together to (attempt to) restore any relationship; this for me is a deeply held moral ideal. So, even if a student has deceived me with academic dishonesty, I would be open to letting it go, but only if truth has been re-established in the relationship. Without that good intention and work put in from the student to reconcile to the truth, however, I would want the student to know that they should assume that any letter from me would be obstructed by that incident of academic dishonesty. I would feel compelled to report it in my letter, or to decline the student’s request for a letter.
If I were a student (and I am, in fact, right now, a student of music), but if I were any student, frankly, I would maintain a constant effort/awareness/concern for making sure that I don’t do anything academically that would even be perceived within a reasonable possibility of being academically dishonest. This is because I want my teachers to feel my constant intention to learn sincerely. I want them to feel appreciated and respected for their willingness to enter into this sacred relationship of learning. I’ve been around long enough to know this: in the adult world, most people don’t care whether you learn or not, at all. Finding someone who can teach you and is willing to be paid to teach you is awesome. Paying them is not really the point, though of course it’s often necessary. It’s whether someone else is willing to spend any of their precious time alive focusing on you and your development instead of on their own journey, whatever it is. If any of my teachers are reading this, I’m grateful for you. If any of my students are reading this, this post is telling you what I expect, in case you honestly don’t know because you honestly have never thought about the depth of what academic honesty can mean. (I mean, “honestly”.) I try to remember that everyone (everyone? seems most people) does stupid shit at some point because they just weren’t experienced enough to understand the consequences of their actions.
Finally, in case any students are actually reading this, let me be super explicit about it. If I as a student did anything that looked like academic dishonesty, I would prepare myself for the possibility of that teacher (a) giving me a failing grade in whatever it is and (b) never taking me seriously again. It’s probably a testament to my own capacity for neuroticism, but beyond that, rationally, I believe they would be justified in doing so. Like, if I heard about that happening to someone else, I would think, “hmm, ok, harsh maybe, but valid, and no objection.” I would also expect that they would share the information with their colleagues, like “hey, this person is not trustworthy.” The way forward would be to step forward and fess up, with a healthy dose of repentance and a concrete plan for reform. Even if I got an A in the class, I would not assume that the teacher trusted me. Wouldn’t it have been better just to take a zero on that assignment than to violate that trust? Maybe some students would rather have the grade, but I’d rather have a solid, trusting ongoing relationship with that teacher, speaking as a student. I hope this is clear.