CHEATING BY STUDENTS - FINDINGS, REFLECTIONS, AND REMEDIES

Cheating among students is surprisingly frequent and may be increasing. The 1991 study reported herein was prompted by an episode of cheating involving three second-year medical students at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine (UNM SOM) and was undertaken (1) to elicit the opinions of faculty members and students at that institution about whether selected descriptions of students' behaviors were unethical; (2) to document possible discrepancies between the opinions of the two groups concerning these behaviors; (3) to define the prevalence of unethical behavior among current students as estimated by faculty and students; and (4) to determine how best to approach future instances of unethical behavior. Questionnaires were distributed to all faculty and students. The first two parts, sent to both groups, concerned reactions to a series of described physician and student behaviors. For each described behavior, respondents were asked whether or not it was unethical and, for the described student behaviors, whether they had personal knowledge of such behavior by local medical students. The third portion of the questionnaire concerned faculty perceptions regarding students' behaviors over time. With the exception of the class involved in the cheating incident, faculty and students were surprisingly similar in their opinions regarding the ethical nature of the described behaviors. According to both faculty and students, there was a significant incidence (greater-than-or-equal-to 10% of the respondents) of unethical behavior at the school of medicine, most commonly in relation to cheating on examinations. The authors comment that the prevalence of cheating and other unethical behaviors at their institution is significant but probably no higher than those reported at other medical schools. The possible impact of a post-1950s approach to the teaching of morality in public school and college is discussed. It is hypothesized that this new morality, which is ''silent about virtue,'' may contribute significantly to an apparent confusion among both U.S. faculty and students regarding unethical behaviors. The authors conclude by proposing remedial actions for their own school that may be useful at other schools as well. They stress the role of the faculty in fostering students' understanding of the core values of honesty, compassion, dedication, integrity, self-sacrifice, and other qualities essential to the practice of medicine. Faculty may find unexpected allies not only in students brought up to understand and honor traditional Western values but also in the increasing number of U.S. medical students reared in the great moral traditions of non-Western cultures.