Heads Up English | ESL Lessons - The Biggest Cheaters

The Biggest Cheaters

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Details: Parent Category: Lower-Intermediate News Lessons; Category: Education Lessons; Written by Chris Cotter

In the past year, 56% of MBA graduate students admitted to cheating. This includes plagiarizing, copying the work of another student, or bringing answers into a test. The large number of MBA cheaters means that more masters of business administration students cheat more than any other type of graduate student in any other field.

The authors of the report understand that something must be done. If the problem is simply ignored, then these students will wrongly believe that cheating is okay. Unfortunately, many professors are afraid of lawsuits; if a student is accused of cheating, he might sue the teacher or the school.

Schools must focus more on ethical codes of conduct before cheating happens. Graduate students need to be taught, and they need to understand, that ethics are important in business. Professors should repeatedly talk with students about academic ethics. They should start with recruiting, continue through orientation and initiation ceremonies, and then continue during the program.

Others have suggested using a community based reward-punishment system. All of the students in the class, for example, are punished if someone cheats. Experts say that this is like the real business world. If a person in a company behaves unethically, everyone in the company can suffer.

Preview some of the lesson material:

Warm Up: Do you agree or disagree? Why?

It's okay to cheat because everyone does sometimes cheats.
The business world is dishonest.
If you want to get ahead and make money, you need to bend the rules a little.
If I knew that I wouldn't get caught, I would cheat on a test.
The biggest cheaters are businessmen.

Fragments: Remember how the fragments were used, and complete the sentence from today's article.

In the past year, 56% of MBA...
If the problem is simply ignored, then these students will...
Graduate students need to be taught, and they need to understand, that...
Others have suggested using a community...

post-Comprehension: Talk about the following questions in pairs/groups. Remember to support your answers!

Have you ever cheated on a test? Why/not? When?
What are your opinions regarding cheaters and cheating?
What would you do if you were caught cheating?
As a student, what would you do if you saw someone cheating? As a teacher?
Why do you think so many MBA graduate students are cheating?

Google Search: Type "MBA cheaters" into Google. Look at the websites, and/or read additional articles on this topic. Discuss or write an essay about your findings.