My Voki

Academic honesty

Dishonesty in any area of life leaves "tracks in the soul." I don't remember where I got that phrase, but I owe its creator a debt because I use that analogy a lot. Just as one wagon after another crossed the United States and wore such deep ruts in the land that the wagons could not have gotten out of the track even if they had wanted to--for sure not without a lot of damage--so sin wears tracks in a human's soul until they cannot escape without a lot of damage or at all. The problem is that the tracks from sin only lead to death so one way or the other, you'll take a lot of damage. Part of the problem is that sin in any area of life stains all the rest of one's life. So, while academic dishonesty doesn't seem like it would be a huge deal, it colors the rest of life and makes it difficult to be honest in any other area.

I would be upfront with my students about the dangers of academic dishonesty from a moral perspective, but also from a practical one. They will learn to be lazy; they will fail whatever they were caught cheating on; they will establish patterns that will have greater and great consequences as life goes on, etc. I will have a zero-tolerance policy, but make it clear that I will do whatever i can to help them either not have to cheat or recover from cheating. And, I will do my best to not place them in compromising situations where they might be tempted to cheat.