Studies Find More Students Cheating, With High Achievers No Exception
为何美国名校学生抄袭现象愈演愈烈

Large-scale cheating has been uncovered over the last year at some of the nation’s most competitive schools, like Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan, the Air Force Academy and, most recently, Harvard.

去年，美国一些最具有竞争力的学校陆续发现大规模抄袭现象。这些学校包括曼哈顿的史岱文森高中(Stuyvesant High School)、美国空军学院(Air Force Academy)，最近的例子则是哈佛大学(Harvard)。

Studies of student behavior and attitudes show that a majority of students violate standards of academic integrity to some degree, and that high achievers are just as likely to do it as others. Moreover, there is evidence that the problem has worsened over the last few decades.

对学生行为和态度的研究表明，有大量学生在一定程度上违反了学术道德标准，优等生违规逾矩的可能性和其他学生并没有差别。此外，有证据表明作弊问题在过去几十年来愈演愈烈。

Experts say the reasons are relatively simple: Cheating has become easier and more widely tolerated, and both schools and parents have failed to give students strong, repetitive messages about what is allowed and what is prohibited.

专家说原因很简单：作弊越来越容易，人们对作弊越来越包容，而且学校和父母都没有反复向学生着重强调，什么行为可以允许，什么行为应该禁止。

“I don’t think there’s any question that students have become more competitive, under more pressure, and, as a result, tend to excuse more from themselves and other students, and that’s abetted by the adults around them,” said Donald L. McCabe, a professor at the Rutgers University Business School, and a leading researcher on cheating.

“我觉得学生面临的竞争、承受的压力越来越大，这一点是毫无疑问的，因此他们往往会给自己和其他同学找来更多借口，而且他们周围的成年人也支持这种做法，”罗格斯大学商学院(Rutgers University Business School)教授、学生作弊问题研究的先行者唐纳德·L·麦卡贝(Donald L. McCabe)如是说。

“There have always been struggling students who cheat to survive,” he said. “But more and more, there are students at the top who cheat to thrive.”

“总有一些成绩不好的学生通过作弊来蒙混过关，”他说：“但是，有越来越多的尖子生在通过作弊来取得优异成绩。”

Internet access has made cheating easier, enabling students to connect instantly with answers, friends to consult and works to plagiarize. And generations of research has shown that a major factor in unethical behavior is simply how easy or hard it is.

互联网的应用使作弊益发简便，网络能够马上让学生找得答案，联系朋友商量，或者找到别人的成果剽窃。几代人的研究表明，不道德行为的一个关键因素是实现它的难易程度。

A recent study by Jeffrey A. Roberts and David M. Wasieleski at Duquesne University found that the more online tools college students were allowed to use to complete an assignment, the more likely they were to copy the work of others.

迪犹肯大学(Duquesne University)的杰弗里·A·罗伯茨(Jeffrey A. Roberts)和大卫·M·瓦西莱斯基(David M. Wasieleski)最近进行的一项研究发现，大学生在完成作业时允许使用的在线工具越多，抄袭别人成果的可能性就越大。

The Internet has changed attitudes, as a world of instant downloading, searching, cutting and pasting has loosened some ideas of ownership and authorship. An increased emphasis on having students work in teams may also have played a role.

互联网改变了人们的心态，在一个即时下载、搜索、复制和粘贴的世界里，人们放宽了对所有权和著作权的理解。学生的小组作业被摆在了一个越来越高的位置上，这可能也起到了一定作用。

“Students are surprisingly unclear about what constitutes plagiarism or cheating,” said Mr. Wasieleski, an associate professor of management.

“学生不明白什么构成了剽窃和抄袭，这真是让人震惊，”管理学副教授瓦西莱斯基先生说。

Howard Gardner, a professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, said that over the 20 years he has studied professional and academic integrity, “the ethical muscles have atrophied,” in part because of a culture that exalts success, however it is attained.

哈佛大学教育研究院(Harvard Graduate School of Education)教授霍华德·加德纳(Howard Gardner)说，在过去20多年里，他一直研究职业和学术道德，“道德的影响力在滑坡，”部分原因在于现在人们崇尚成功不论手段的文化。

He said the attitude he has found among students at elite colleges is: “We want to be famous and successful, we think our colleagues are cutting corners, we’ll be damned if we’ll lose out to them, and some day, when we’ve made it, we’ll be role models. But until then, give us a pass.”

他说自己发现名校学生存在着这样的心态：“我们想要功成名就，周围的人都在投机取巧，如果输给他们我们就玩完了。等到成功的那一天，我们就是楷模。但是在那之前，先得把考试这关过了。”

Numerous projects and research studies have shown that frequently reinforcing standards, to both students and teachers, can lessen cheating. But experts say most schools fail to do so.

许多项目和研究表明，经常向学生和老师强化学术道德标准，会减少作弊现象。但是，专家称大多数的学校都没有做到。

“Institutions do a poor job of making those boundaries clear and consistent, of educating students about them, of enforcing them, and of giving teachers a clear process to follow through on them,” said Laurie L. Hazard, director of the Academic Center for Excellence at Bryant University. In the programs that colleges run to help new students make the transition from high school, students are counseled on everything from food to friendships, but “little or no time is spent on cheating,” she said.

“教育机构在诸多方面都做得很不到位，它们没有明确设定作弊的界限、并保持规定的连续性，没有教育学生了解这些界限并予以实施，也没有给老师们一个明确的指引来贯彻落实，”布莱恩特大学(Bryant University)学术卓越中心(Academic Center for Excellence)主任劳丽·L·哈扎德(Laurie L. Hazard)说。高校通常会开展项目帮助高中生顺利过渡为大学生，新生可以提出从学校伙食到交朋友的各式各样的问题，但是“几乎没人花时间来谈作弊的问题，”她说。

A 2010 survey of Yale undergraduates by The Yale Daily News showed that most had never read the school’s policy on academic honesty, and most were unsure of the rules on sharing or recycling their work.

2010年《耶鲁每日新闻》(The Yale Daily)对耶鲁本科生做的一次调查表明，大多数学生从来没有读过学校关于学术诚信的政策，也没有确切了解一些相关规定，比如是否能共享资料或者将自己的作业改一改继续用。

In surveys of high school students, the Josephson Institute of Ethics, which advises schools on ethics education, has found that about three-fifths admit to having cheated in the previous year — and about four-fifths say their own ethics are above average.

约瑟夫森伦理研究所(Josephson Institute of Ethics) 是一家在德育上给学校提供建议的机构，该研究所在对高中生的一次调查中发现，五分之三的学生承认他们在前一年抄袭过——但有五分之四的学生说自己的道德水准在平均水平之上。

Few schools “place any meaningful emphasis on integrity, academic or otherwise, and colleges are even more indifferent than high schools,” said Michael Josephson, president of the institute.

只有极少数学校“给予学术或者其他诚信合理的重视，大学在这方面比高中还漠不关心，”伦理研究所所长迈克尔·约瑟夫森(Michael Josephson)说。

“When you start giving take-home exams and telling kids not to talk about it, or you let them carry smartphones into tests, it’s an invitation to cheating,” he said.

“当你允许孩子们把考卷带回家并告诉他们不要讨论时，或者让他们拿着智能手机去考试时，那就是引诱他们作弊，”他说。

The case that Harvard revealed in late August involved a take-home final exam in an undergraduate course with 279 students. The university has not yet held hearings on the charges, which may take months to resolve.

哈佛大学今年八月底公布的作弊事件涉及到279名在家完成某门课程期末考试的本科生。学校还没有就如何处理学生召开听证会，事件可能需要几个月时间才能解决。

Officials said similarities in test papers suggested that nearly half the class had broken the rules against plagiarism and working together; some of the accused students said their behavior was innocent, or fell into gray areas.

学校官员说收上来的考卷答案雷同，这意味着将近一半的学生违反了禁止抄袭和在考试中合作的规定；一些被指控的学生说自己是无辜的，或者是处于灰色地带。

Mr. McCabe’s surveys, conducted around the country, have found that most college students see collaborating with others, even when it is forbidden, as a minor offense or no offense at all. Nearly half take the same view of paraphrasing or copying someone else’s work without attribution. And most high school teachers and college professors surveyed fail to pursue some of the violations they find.

麦卡贝在美国全国范围内的调查发现，大多数的大学生都认为，就算跟他人合作是被明令禁止的行为，但这种事情只能算成是小小的违规，或者根本不违规。对于将别人的文章改了些字句就挪为己用，或者抄袭但没有注明出处的情况，将近半数的人持同样观点。而参加调查的大部分高中老师和大学教授在发现问题时并没有追究。

Experts say that along with students, schools and technology, parents are also to blame. They cite surveys, anecdotal impressions and the work of researchers like Jean M. Twenge, author of the book “Generation Me,” to make the case that since the 1960s, parenting has shifted away from emphasizing obedience, honor and respect for authority to promoting children’s happiness while stoking their ambitions for material success.

专家称导致作弊问题滋生的原因，除了学生、学校和高科技以外，家长也难辞其咎。他们援引调查报告、个人观察，以及像《自我为中心的一代》(Generation Me)的作者吉恩·M·特温吉(Jean M. Twenge)这类研究人员的研究成果，指出从20世纪60年代以来，家庭教育从强调服从、荣誉和尊重权威变成提倡孩子快乐，同时鼓动他们立志获得物质上的成功。

“We have a culture now where we have real trouble accepting that our kids make mistakes and fail, and when they do, we tend to blame someone else,” said Tricia Bertram Gallant, author of “Creating the Ethical Academy,” and director of the academic integrity office at the University of California at San Diego. “Thirty, 40 years ago, the parent would come in and grab the kid by the ear, yell at him and drag him home.”

“我们现在的文化是，很难接受自己的孩子犯错和失败，如果这种情况发生，我们往往会怪罪他人，”《创建有道德的学院》(Creating the Ethical Academy)一书的作者特里西娅·伯特仑·加兰特(Tricia Bertram Gallant)说。她也是加州大学圣迭哥分校(University of California at San Diego)学术道德办公室主任。“三四十年前，父母会冲到学校，揪着孩子耳朵，大声训斥着把他拖回家。”

Educators tell tales of students who grew up taking for granted not only that their highly involved parents would help with schoolwork but that the “help” would strain the definition of the word.

教育工作者讲了一些学生的故事，他们在成长中不仅把父母高度参与帮忙做作业当成理所当然，而且把这种“帮助”会扭曲帮助的本义也当成理所当然。

Ms. Gallant recalled giving integrity counseling to a student who would send research papers to her mother to review before turning them in — and saw nothing wrong in that. One paper, it turned out, her mother had extensively rewritten — and extensively plagiarized.

加兰特回忆说，她曾经给一个学生做诚信辅导，那名学生在交研究报告之前会发给她妈妈检查——而且觉得这种做法完全没错。结果老师发现，她的一份报告经过了她妈妈大量的重写——而且重写的这部分存在大量抄袭。

“I said, ‘So what’s the lesson here?’ ” Ms. Gallant said. “And she said, completely serious, ‘Check the work my mom does?’ ”