Unit 8 - Honesty：Is It Going out of Style?
Ever thought about cheating on a test? Of course not. But some students are not quite so honest …
Honesty: Is It Going Out of Style?
Stacia Robbins
According to a recent poll, 61 percent of American high school students have admitted to cheating on exams at least once. It can be argued such a response may not mean much. After all, most students have been faced with the temptation to peek at a neighbor's test paper. And students can be hard on themselves in judging such behavior. However, there are other indications that high school cheating may be on the rise.
More and more states are requiring students to pass competency tests in order to receive their high school diplomas. And many educators fear that an increase in the use of state exams will lead to a corresponding rise in cheating. A case in point is students in New York State who faced criminal misdemeanor charges for possessing and selling advance copies of state Regents examinations.
Cheating is considered to be a major problem in colleges and universities. Several professors say they've dropped the traditional term paper requirement because many students buy prewritten term papers, and they can't track down all the cheaters anymore.
Colleges and universities across the nation have decided to do more than talk about the rise in student cheating. For instance, the Department of Psychology at the University of Maryland launched a campaign to stop one form of cheating. As 409 students filed out of their exam, they found all but one exit blocked. Proctors asked each student to produce an ID card with an attached photo. Students who said they'd left theirs in the dorm or at home had a mug shot taken. The purpose of the campaign was to catch "ringers," students who take tests for other students.
The majority of students at the University of Maryland applauded the campaign. The campus newspaper editorial said, "Like police arresting speeders, the intent is not to catch everyone but rather to catch enough to spread the word."
We frequently hear about "the good old days", when Americans were better, happier, and more honest. But were they more honest? Maybe yes, a long time ago when life was very different from what it is today.
School children used to know the story of how Abraham Lincoln walked five miles to return a penny he'd overcharged a customer. It's the kind of story we think of as myth. But in the case of Lincoln, the story is true … unlike the story of George Washington and the cherry tree. Washington's first biographer invented the tale of little George saying to his father, "I cannot tell a lie. I did it with my ax." What is important in both stories, however, is that honesty was seen as an important part of the American character.
And these are just two stories out of many. Students in the last century usually didn't read "fun" stories. They read stories that taught moral values. Such stories pointed out quite clearly that children who lied, cheated, or stole came to bad ends.
Parents may have further reinforced those values. It's difficult to know. We do know that children didn't hear their parents talk of cheating the government on income taxes - there weren't any.
A clue as to why Americans may have been more honest in the past lies in the Abe Lincoln story. Lincoln knew his customer. They both lived in a small town. Would a check-out person at a large supermarket return money a customer? It's less likely. On the other hand, would overnight guests at an inn run by a husband and wife, steal towels? It's less likely.
Perhaps this tells us that people need to know one another to be at their honest best.
The vast majority of Americans still believe that honesty as an important part of the American Character. For that reason, there are numerous watch-dog committees at all levels of society. Although signs of dishonesty in school, business, and government seem much more numerous in recent years than in the past, could it be that we are getting better at revealing such dishonesty?
There is some evidence that dishonesty may ebb and flow. When times are hard, incidents of theft and cheating usually go up. And when times get better such incidents tend to go down.
Cheating in school also tends to ebb and flow. But it doesn't seem linked to the economy.
Many educators feel that as students gain confidence in themselves and their abilities, they are less likely to cheat. Surprisingly, some efforts to prevent cheating may actually encourage cheating - a person may feel "they don't trust me anyway," and be tempted to "beat the system." Distrust can be contagious. But, so can trust!
参考译文——诚实：难道它正在变得不合时宜？
曾想到过在考试中作弊吗？当然没有。可是有些学生并不那么诚实……
诚实：难道它正在变得不合时宜？
斯泰茜娅·罗宾斯
根据最近的一次民意测验，百分之六十一的美国中学生承认曾在考试中至少作过一次弊。人们可以争论说，这样一种回答也许没有多大意义。毕竟大多数学生都曾受到过偷看邻座考卷的诱惑。而学生们在评价这类行为时有时对自己过于严格。不过，还有别的一些迹象也表明，中学里的作弊现象可能是在上升。
越来越多的州要求学生通过能力测试以取得中学毕业文凭。很多教育学家担心，更多地利用州级考试将会导致作弊的相应增加。一个明显的例子就是纽约州的一些学生，他们因拥有并出售州教育董事会的考卷样本而受到刑事轻罪指控。
现在作弊也被看作是大学的一大问题了。一些教授说他们已经放弃了传统的学期论文这一要求，因为很多学生买来预先写好的各种学期论文，教授们再也查不出所有的作弊者了。
除了谈论学生作弊的上升外，全国各地的大学已决定采取一切措施。例如，马里兰大学心理系就开展了一场制止某种作弊形式的运动。当409名学生考完试鱼贯离开教室时，他们发现除了一个出口外，所有的出口都堵住了。监考人员要求每个学生出示贴有照片的身份证。那些说把身份证留在宿舍或家中的学生都被拍了面部照。这一运动的目的是捉拿“冒名顶替者”，即帮别人代考的学生。
马里兰大学的大多数学生都鼓掌欢迎这一运动。校刊社论说：“就像警察逮捕违法超速驾驶者一样，这一运动的目的并不是要捉拿所有的人，而是抓住足够的作弊者以便把信息传开去。”
我们经常听人谈起“美好的往日”，说是那时的美国人比现在好，比现在幸福，也比现在诚实。但他们真的更诚实吗？也许在很久以前，他们确实更诚实，因为那时的生活跟今天的生活大不相同。
中、小学学生过去都知道亚伯拉罕·林肯步行五英里把多收的一分钱还给顾客的故事。我们已经把这类故事看成了神话。但就林肯来说，这故事却是真实的……而不像乔治·华盛顿和樱桃树的故事那样是杜撰的。华盛顿的第一位传记作者虚构了小乔治对父亲说“我不能说谎，我用斧子砍倒了樱桃树”的故事。然而，在两个故事中都很重要的一点是，诚实过去一向被看作是美国性格中的一个重要组成部分。
而且这仅仅是许许多多故事中的两个故事。上个世纪的学生一般都不读“娱乐性的”故事。他们读的都是些传授道德标准的故事。这类故事非常明确地指出，说谎、骗人、偷东西的孩子决没有好下场。
做父母的很可能进一步加强了这些道德标准。是不是真的如此就很难知道了。但我们的确知道，过去的孩子听不到父母谈论在所得税上欺骗政府的事——那时候还没有所得税。
林肯的故事中提供了一个线索，说明为什么过去的美国人也许是比较诚实的。这就是林肯认识他的顾客。他们都住在同一个小镇上。一家大的超级市场的结账员会把多收的钱还给顾客吗？可能性较小。反之，在一家夫妻经营的小旅馆过夜的客人会偷毛巾吗？可能性也不大。
也许这就告诉我们，人们需要相互了解才能达到最诚实的境界。
绝大多数美国人仍然认为诚实是美国人性格的一个重要组成部分。因此，在社会各级都有许多监督委员会。虽然学校、商界和政府中的作弊和欺诈行为近年来似乎比过去多了许多，但这会不会是由于我们越来越善于揭露这类不诚实行为的缘故呢？
有某些证据表明，欺诈行为可消可长，有起有伏。当时世艰难时，偷窃和欺骗事件通常便会增多。当形势好转时，这类事件往往就会减少。
学校中的作弊现象也往往有涨有落。但它似乎跟经济没有什么联系。
许多教育学家认为，当学生对自己和自己的能力有了信心以后，他们就不大可能作弊了。令人惊奇的是，某些防止作弊的努力可能反而促使学生作弊——一个人可能会感到“他们反正不信任我”，于是便很想“击败这个制度”。不信任可以有传染性。但是，信任也可以有传染性。
参考资料：
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