Plagiarism, collusion and malpractice.  There is not a student in the ISB High School that has not heard those words at least once in these first few weeks of school.  It is obvious that Academic Dishonesty has recently become a very important and frequently mentioned topic, as our school has made significant changes to the policies regarding it.

The policy for a first offence for academic dishonesty used to be detention and getting the student’s parents/counselor involved.  However now, according to Dean of Students, Mr. Peter Roback, “besides the normal policy, we are also talking about a student’s participation in the National Honor Society and the semester honor rolls being impacted.”

A major change has been made to the policies and many students wonder why the school has decided on it now.  Mr. Roback explained that “last year the school dealt with an uptick of issues related to Academic Dishonesty.”  There were a few students citing improperly, plagiarizing significantly and cheating on major assessments towards the end of the year.

Perhaps these students were too lazy to complete their own work and took the easy way out.  After all, it is just a few keystrokes.  Command c, command v and you suddenly end up in heaps of trouble.  Or perhaps the situation was a misunderstanding where the student did not know how to cite properly, or that he/she had to cite everything.

This, according to Mr. Roback, “caused the school to look at [their] policy and decide that it could use some extra teeth behind it.”  The previous policy simply needed a bit of freshening up and the students needed a reminder.

Many students actually support this change.  When asked why she believed the school had made a change to its Academic Dishonesty policies now, a student replied by saying, “Why now? More like why not now. You cannot let this keep on happening.”  She then went on to explain that “our parents pay a large amount of money so that we can learn and increase our own level of knowledge and understanding, not be able to copy off of others.”

Though plagiarism, collusion or malpractice may seem right at the moment, how do they in any way help prepare you for the future?  Besides, learning is about doing your own work.  You cannot learn by stealing the work of others.

Various students believe that these policies are too harsh.  An anonymous source worries that she “may be removed from the high honor roll for making one tiny mistake in citing [her] sources.”  However, besides changing the Academic Dishonesty policies, the school is making sure to increase awareness about this topic.

Through communication group meetings, assemblies and classroom teachers, we students are told exactly what we have to do in order to be academically honest.  We are told how to cite our sources.  We are told not to look at other papers during tests, quizzes and exams.  We are told not to show our papers to others.

The school teaches the students how to be academically honest.  Therefore, students cannot accidentally plagiarize or cheat.  If you choose to be academically dishonest, then you are going against what the school believes is best for its students and you should be ready for the inevitable consequences.

A majority of students will never even have to worry about these changes to the Academic Dishonesty policies.  As for those students that have a habit of being academically dishonest, the school hopes that these harsher policies will deter some of them from making wrong decisions and taking shortcuts.

After all, as Bo Bennett once said, “when it comes to success, there are no shortcuts.”

Antonina (Tosia) Lekawska