{"id":12607,"date":"2012-09-10T05:45:27","date_gmt":"2012-09-10T09:45:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.geneveith.com\/?p=12607"},"modified":"2012-09-10T05:45:27","modified_gmt":"2012-09-10T09:45:27","slug":"why-they-cheat-at-harvard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2012\/09\/why-they-cheat-at-harvard\/","title":{"rendered":"Why they cheat at Harvard"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Harvard University is currently being torn by a cheating scandal.\u00a0 It was discovered that nearly half of the 250 undergraduates in a course called \u201cIntroduction to Congress\u201d cheated on a final exam.\u00a0 Why would so many of the nation\u2019s ostensible best and brightest at American\u2019s most elite university do that?\u00a0 Harvard professor Howard Gardner has been studying his students and offers some explanations:<\/p>\n

Over and over again, students told us that they admired good work and wanted to be good workers. But they also told us they wanted \u2014 ardently \u2014 to be successful. They feared that their peers were cutting corners and that if they themselves behaved ethically, they would be bested. And so, they told us in effect, \u201cLet us cut corners now and one day, when we have achieved fame and fortune, we\u2019ll be good workers and set a good example.\u201d A classic case of the ends justify the means.<\/p>\n

\nWe were so concerned by the results that, for the past six years, we have conducted reflection sessions at elite colleges, including Harvard. Again, we have found the students to be articulate, thoughtful, even lovable. Yet over and over again, we have also found hollowness at the core.\n

Two examples: In discussing the firing of a dean who lied about her academic qualifications, no student supported the firing. The most common responses were \u201cShe\u2019s doing a good job, what\u2019s the problem?\u201d and \u201cEveryone lies on their r\u00e9sum\u00e9.\u201d In a discussion of the documentary \u201cEnron: The Smartest Guys in the Room,\u201d students were asked what they thought of the company traders who manipulated the price of energy. No student condemned the traders; responses varied from caveat emptor to saying it\u2019s the job of the governor or the state assembly to monitor the situation.<\/p>\n

One clue to the troubling state of affairs came from a Harvard classmate who asked me: \u201cHoward, don\u2019t you realize that Harvard has always been primarily about one thing \u2014 success?\u201d The students admitted to Harvard these days have watched their every step, lest they fail in their goal of admission to an elite school. But once admitted, they begin to look for new goals, and being a successful scholar is usually not high on the list. What is admired is success on Wall Street, Silicon Valley, Hollywood \u2014 a lavish lifestyle that, among other things, allows you to support your alma mater and get the recognition that follows.<\/p>\n

As for those students who do have the scholarly bent, all too often they see professors cut corners \u2014 in their class attendance, their attention to student work and, most flagrantly, their use of others to do research. Most embarrassingly, when professors are caught \u2014 whether in financial misdealings or even plagiarizing others\u2019 work \u2014 there are frequently no clear punishments. If punishments ensue, they are kept quiet, and no one learns the lessons that need to be learned.<\/p>\n

Whatever happens to those guilty of cheating, many admirable people are likely to be tarred by their association with Harvard.<\/p>\n

via When ambition trumps ethics \u2013 The Washington Post<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In other words, the students, while bright, have no sense of vocation, don\u2019t believe in objective morality, believe the end justifies the means, and are fanatically ambitious in a materialistic, self-aggrandizing kind of way.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/blockquote><\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Harvard University is currently being torn by a cheating scandal.\u00a0 It was discovered that nearly half of the 250 undergraduates in a course called \u201cIntroduction to Congress\u201d cheated on a final exam.\u00a0 Why would so many of the nation\u2019s ostensible best and brightest at American\u2019s most elite university do that?\u00a0 Harvard professor Howard Gardner has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1281,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,15],"tags":[409,991,1015],"class_list":["post-12607","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-education","category-ethics","tag-cheating","tag-harvard","tag-higher-educaiton"],"yoast_head":"\nWhy they cheat at Harvard<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Harvard University is currently being torn by a cheating scandal.\u00a0 It was discovered that nearly half of the 250 undergraduates in a course called\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2012\/09\/why-they-cheat-at-harvard\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why they cheat at Harvard\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Harvard University is currently being torn by a cheating scandal.\u00a0 It was discovered that nearly half of the 250 undergraduates in a course called\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2012\/09\/why-they-cheat-at-harvard\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Cranach\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cranachblog\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-09-10T09:45:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Gene Veith\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Gene Veith\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2012\/09\/why-they-cheat-at-harvard\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2012\/09\/why-they-cheat-at-harvard\/\",\"name\":\"Why they cheat at Harvard\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-09-10T09:45:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-09-10T09:45:27+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1\"},\"description\":\"Harvard University is currently being torn by a cheating scandal.\u00a0 It was discovered that nearly half of the 250 undergraduates in a course called\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2012\/09\/why-they-cheat-at-harvard\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2012\/09\/why-they-cheat-at-harvard\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2012\/09\/why-they-cheat-at-harvard\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Why they cheat at Harvard\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/\",\"name\":\"Cranach\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1\",\"name\":\"Gene Veith\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Gene Veith\"},\"description\":\"Gene Edward Veith, Jr. is a writer and retired literature professor, serving as Provost Emeritus at Patrick Henry College. 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