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Understanding Millennials: The Year of The Cheat

By Julianne Scibetta, Albany College of Pharmacy

Not that you lied to me, but that I no longer believe you – that is what has distressed me.
-Nietzsche

This year and especially this summer seemed to be full of ethical questions and dilemmas, made very public.  In the competition for faster, better, more, there is more pressure to go above and beyond, to have superhuman powers and strength, in order to achieve those high expectations.  But through these extraordinary means, have we begun to overshadow natural talent?  Are we encouraging a culture of cheating?

Cheating is not unique to this generation.  For as long as students have passed notes in class or hidden their comic book behind the textbook, there have been, in a way, text messages and wireless-phone internet connectivity.  But as technology brings us the world’s smallest camera phone, it just gets harder to spot those messages being passed – and harder for us to convince students that it’s wrong.

Sports
For many months now we have been watching as American baseball becomes embroiled in a downward spiral of steroid abuse investigations.  This is one of the more recent and more unbelievable cases of cheating that has been publicized, bringing into question whether our consumptive need for more and for heroes has finally put a moral toll on our decision making.  Without outright outrage from the public, however, it’s difficult to say exactly how this smear will affect the uniquely American pastime. 

If you were watching anything about sports this summer you might have noticed the Tour de France.  In all the speculation leading up to the conclusion – who would be crowned king now that Lance Armstrong had taken himself out of the picture?  With Floyd Landis’ miraculous recovery to first place after falling behind toward the last third of the race, all eyes were on him that a new champion had been found.  I think it was too much of an eye-raiser for the judges, ultimately place the new champion under scrutiny – scrutiny that would eventually cost him his title.  At the time this was written it seemed as if Floyd would be the first cyclist to be stripped of his title.  Is it too late to wonder whatever happened to a second wind?  I personally would like to believe that there would be one hero out there. 

Plagiarism
My next case points to a Millennial student.  There was an incident last year involving a budding young author allegedly plagiarizing from other books.  Several of Kaavya Viswanathan’s paragraphs and sentences in How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life were strikingly similar to previous works of fiction by Megan F. McCafferty, all novels about young suburban women coming into their own.  Maybe you could chalk it up to the subliminal internalization of phrases from vivid writing that really struck a chord and influenced your own, as Viswanathan admitted.  But this young author came under a lot of scrutiny and pressure for this, especially since she was starting her career at Harvard University and her book had been lauded by critics.  It only took a few weeks for her publishing company to cancel her contract and for the public finger to wag. 

Of course this case came on the heels of Oprah’s public finger wag at the author of Million Little Pieces, James Frey, for embellishing pieces of his own life (often dramatically) and billing it as an autobiography.  And perhaps you missed that pesky little trial in England investigating whether Dan Brown’s research for The Da Vinci Code crossed the line into plagiarism.  (The verdict was in Brown’s favor, in case you were wondering). 

In literature I think this raises some interesting questions about finding the line between fiction and nonfiction; if it’s an important question to ask and if it is one that should be answered.  I spent the better part of my undergraduate education combing through fine details in novels searching for these same questions and wondering what it all means.  But for our society, what kind of message are we reinforcing?  Where once the moral of the story was more important, is the inspiration of extraordinary abilities more important than the truth?  Is a mediocre baseball season just as exciting as one pimped up by steroids?

No, not if you ask those raking in the dough from all the publicity, good and bad.

And perhaps this is an important time for cheating to be brought to the forefront in our discussions in class.  Especially as the world’s smallest cell phone makes its appearance in the hearts, minds, and palms of our students.

Speaking of cell phones - Did you hear about the Mosquito Tone?  Even if you have heard of it, chances are you probably haven’t heard it.  This story broke a few months ago about a cell phone tone that is virtually inaudible to adults but piercingly audible to those with much younger ears.  It developed from an actual instrument used to keep teenagers from loitering outside of stores in the U.K.  These intrepid youngsters found a way to turn this weapon against its users.  On the one hand it’s probably better that you not hear it, as it’s just as bad as nails on a chalkboard.  On the other hand, hearing it among students signals a text message coming through – leaving the potential open for more distractions and possibly cheating.  This AOL website (http://mobile1.aol.com/cnet/mosquitotones) has a great chart for testing yourself by providing the tone at varying levels of frequency.  For the record, I couldn’t hear the “official” Mosquito Tone frequency.  Be forewarned, it is teeth-rattling.

It is in this blur of right and wrong in which our students find themselves caught in the middle.  And that’s when I hear something else ringing through the halls, sending a chill down my spine: “It’s only cheating if you get caught.”  I’d like to know what it’s known as otherwise.

Food for Thought
As I flipped through the news channels last night, I saw a spot for a new internet site called TeachersPayTeachers.com, where subscribers (teachers) can sell their intellectual property (lesson plans) to other subscribers (teachers).  That seems reasonable in a way; you spend so much time crafting your lessons and worksheets why not make some extra cash on the side selling it to others?  If you’re not that attached to your intellectual property what could be the harm to become your own mini-publisher and enjoy the benefits of capitalism?  I know that many of you out there who are well-seasoned faculty have very strong opinions about this and I can feel your spine straighten at the thought.  My personal jury is still out on this one but something way down inside doesn’t sit quite right.  I don’t mind sharing ideas with colleagues if it benefits the greater good.  But a little voice tells me, and not unconvincingly, that this site sounds an awful lot like another website where subscribers (students) can sell their intellectual property (papers) to other subscribers (students).  We punish that, don’t we?

Questions or comments? Contact the author at j.scibet@usip.edu.

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