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The Economics of Cheating




Read and discuss the following text.

Explain the words and word combinations in bold in the text.

4) Answer the questions:

1. Why are more and more students cheating nowadays?

2. What is so worrying about students’ attitude to cheating?

3. What is “honor code”? How can it help to combat cheating?

 

As a college student, I worked 15 hours a week at a university research institute. The job was fun, but I worked out of necessity. School was expensive, and the extra income was a must.

One day a week I put notices in the mailboxes of dozens of professors. One afternoon, as I was stuffing the mailboxes in the economics department, I noticed a 1arge stack of papers in the mailbox of one of my instructors. The top sheet read "Answer Key: ECON 303 Problem Set."

Economics 303 (ECON 303) was my toughest class that semester. It covered statistics and introductory econometrics. The problem sets were very time-consuming. Looking at the stack, I saw how easily I could take a copy off the top. No one would see me. I was totally alone. In the end, I didn't take a copy. Instead, I stayed up late that night finishing the problem set. In class the next day I handed the assignment in and received the same answer sheet I’d seen the day before. With a deep sigh, I reviewed my mistakes.

Resisting temptation became a weekly ritual. The papers called to me every week. There were so many copies of the answer key that I knew no one would notice if I took one. As the assignments became more difficult, it became more and more difficult to walk away.

I began thinking of reasons for taking a copy. The detailed answer sheet would be a great learning tool – a study aid, really. I wouldn't stop doing the homework. I would simply look at the answers if I got stuck. I'd save time. It would even help the poor, overworked teaching assistant who had to figure out my errors. How selfless of me!

The semester grew more intense. Classes, work at the institute, singing rehearsals, my girlfriend, those insufferable problem sets – I began feeling overwhelmed by all these commitments. I finally decided to take an answer key. I remember walking into the economics mailroom, half hoping the papers wouldn't be there. But there they were as always, and as always there was no one around. All I had to do was take the top copy and put it into my book bag.

But I stood there, thinking about the consequences. Of course, there was the honor code I'd signed. But more disturbing to me was the possibility I could be caught. Maybe the copies were numbered. Perhaps a classmate would find out. Was it worth it? Was saving myself a few hours of work worth the risk of suspension or expulsion? Calculating the costs and benefits, I decided I'd worked too hard to throw everything away on something like this. The benefit would be small, and the possible downside enormous. I walked away.

Seven years later, my college diploma now sits atop a cluttered bookshelf in my living room. It's one of the first things I see when I walk in the door, and a source of great pride. I wonder: Would I look upon it differently if I had taken the answer key? Maybe I would. My achievement would be diminished, my pride qualified. Perhaps most important, the sacrifices my family made so I could attend a first-tier university would be betrayed.

But I can't congratulate myself too much because my decision was based on fear as well as principle. Does the motivation matter? Or does it still count as "doing the right thing" when you do it for the wrong reasons?

by Carlos Lozada

2) Find the English equivalents for the following in the text:

работать вынужденно, дополнительный доход, ключи (ответы к заданиям), подсчитывать (ошибки), невыносимый, жертва.

 




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