Philadelphia Inquirer | 09/19/2006 | Survey: M.B.A. students more likely to cheat
When it comes to cheating in graduate school, a new study finds that M.B.A. students are the champs.
A survey of 5,331 students at 32 graduate schools in the United States and Canada found an “alarming” amount of cheating across disciplines, but more among the nation’s future business leaders. Fifty-six percent of graduate business students admitted they had cheated at least once in the last year, compared with 47 percent of non-business students.
The students, who were surveyed between 2002 and 2004, told researchers from Pennsylvania State, Rutgers and Washington State Universities that the most important reason for cheating was that they thought that other students were doing it.
There is a twist to this story. They were doing it because they thought others were doing it. How interesting. Can you spell “sheep?”
found by Gregory Glockner
I would think cheating and dishonesty would just be good career skills for these guys.
Do they still teach ethics?
#1 – That’s a very good point!
One word: Enron.
I would be more worried by the fact that 47% of non business students were cheating. Basically, half the people cheat. I think that says more about society, than to say MBAs are to blame for the ills of the world.
While cheating is wrong, I don’t think it is as important or devastating as it is made out to be. A student still needs to know the subject in order to pass exams and bar exams. Sooner or later in life your lack of knowledge catches up with you.
Well how in the world did you think ‘W” got his MBA, hard work? Ethics? We dont need no stinkin’ ethics.
Cheating may get you through high school and through a few lower levels college courses, but after that you are on your own. Unless of course Daddy can build a new wing off the administration building. In which case. “Mr. Gump, you are a F$%king genius! Welcome to our MBA program.”
I forgot to mention grad school brown-nosing. That will take you places those guys on Stargate SG-1 can’t go. If you have those skills down, you don’t even need to cheat.
From what I read in another article about this was that almost all Business schools have pretty much eliminated Ethics from the programs. I believe even the top flight University’s as well, ie: Harvard, Yale, Princeton.
One of the persons writting the article I read, who happens to be a PhD in business and long time Professor, wants business schools to make Ethics courses mandatory again. A good idea I think.
The study I read said they asked the students if they EVER cheated in school. If they said yes….then they narrowed it down. But they didn’t press them on the actual freguancy of the cheating. They said that a great number only cheated once. Maybe they should have asked how often they lied to researchers.
The really scary part to me was the high percentages who admitted cheating in degree programs such as Astrophysics, Architecture, Engineering, and Medicine. You gotta hope that Surgeon about to do your heart bypass wasn’t one of them.
When 10,000+ students write the same paper on the same book you run out of ways of writing an original paper.