Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, May 18, 1990                   TAG: 9005180265
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The Baltimore Sun
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

CAMPUS CHEATING ON THE RISE

He knew how to beat the system, he told them. He was going to shave his arm, scrawl notes over it and sneak glances while the professor absent-mindedly read the newspaper in front of the room.

Hours later, James, a 20-year-old student at Loyola College in Baltimore who asked that his real name not be used, had his high score.

He has achieved a 3.2 cumulative average by cheating on 75 percent of his tests and papers. "I really don't feel any remorse," says the student athlete. "I feel very satisfied and happy that I've done well. I look at it this way: Grades depend on your ability to use the resources available to you and I utilize more resources than the average person so I'm able to do better."

Recent studies suggest that students across the United States are following similar dishonest practices to ensure academic success. The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching recently released a survey on campus life, which reported that an estimated 40 percent to 90 percent of students cheat on exams or papers, and that 43 percent of the faculty believe students today are more willing to cheat to get better grades.

Less than two weeks ago, two faculty members' offices at the U.S. Naval Academy were broken into and professors believe an electrical engineering final was compromised. The case is being investigated.

A pragmatism, rather than idealism, about their academic careers often allows students to rationalize such behavior, says Ernest L. Boyer, president of the Princeton University-based Carnegie Foundation. "College for many students has become a credentialing exercise," he says. "It's not seen as a serious intellectual quest. . . . The aim is to figure out what you need to do to get through this system."

To James, this philosophy is plain common sense. "I look at college as an investment, not a learning experience," he says simply. "I'm paying $15,000 a year to go to school. Why should I come out with a mediocre G.P.A. [grade point average] and get a low-paying job?"

If some young adults have adopted a bottom-line mentality about learning, others are overwhelmed by their own - and society's - uncertain future.

"This is a tough world for kids to grow up in," says Arthur Levine, chairman of Harvard University's Institute for Educational Management, who has studied cheating. "We're watching government officials being indicted, people in business going to jail, religious figures in trouble. . . . Ethical situations are less clear."

One of the major recommendations made by the Carnegie Foundation was a campus code of conduct that would clearly define academic and social standards as well as penalties. Fewer than 100 colleges and universities have some form of an honor code.