Trust but Verify

While the idea of ‘trust but verify’ does contain somewhat conflicting elements, it is a pragmatic approach to a very serious concern in society. Academic dishonesty is a breach of trust and respect for others’ work, and should never under any circumstances be tolerated, especially in institutes of education. Plagiarism, a dominant form of academic dishonesty made ever so convenient in today’s cyber age, neither contributes to man’s quest for knowledge nor aids in the progress of our society. We therefore feel that despite issues raised with regards to the moral implications of the use of such a system, it is definitely feasible and perhaps even desirable to adopt the ‘trust but verify’ approach in our society.

The need to use plagiarism-detection software instead of relying solely on honour codes has become more apparent in recent times. The advent of the Internet has seen millions of works from all over the globe relating to various fields being published online. While this has made information many times more accessible than before, it has also provided the desperate or simply lazy student with a quick fix to their assignment woes. And although this seemingly harmless ‘lifting’ of bits and pieces of others’ work from time to time may not appear to have detrimental effects on our health and wellbeing, if allowed to go unchecked in our community will eventually result in the degradation of values of honesty, respect and integrity in society. In the very long run, academic values on whose basis are founded the very ideals of the human pursuit of knowledge will be eroded.

Now, while this situation is clearly undesirable, there are many in society who are unaware of the consequences, in the bigger picture, of acts of academic dishonesty. There are also those who knowingly flout the rules for various reasons and motives, for example the Korean researcher who passed off somebody else’s work for his own and was eventually caught and charged for fraud. Here in this case, if not for verification in the medical research and reports, would his crime have been noticed? Even though society respects and trusts its experts in the various fields, does this stop people from giving in to temptation and committing acts of academic dishonesty? On the contrary, they may abuse the respect accorded unto them by using it as a smokescreen to cover up their wrongdoing. Likewise in the context of education institutions, where students may breach the trust placed in them by their schools by taking advantage of the absence of checks for such dishonesty. It is evident therefore, that strict monitoring must be administered as a sort of blanket rule, more so in a bid to stop the dishonest few than to revoke the trust placed in students. In fact, having stringent procedures for verification of academic integrity will effectively deter those of questionable character.

As it is known schools in Singapore have also turned to plagiarism detection services such as “turn-it-in” so as to verify the integrity of papers and reports submitted by students. While must controversy has been generated on the issue overseas, none of it has been seen here locally. This could be due to the fact that Singaporean students here have a very different perspective on the use of plagiarism detection software’s. For those who would be inclined to cheat, they are intimidated into handing up original work, and are thus less inclined to cheat. Those who are less inclined to commit plagiarism, see it as a way of preserving fairness in academic competition, in the sense that, they can submit their works with the knowledge that a certain level of academic integrity has been met and thus are reflective of the respective capabilities of his or her competitors. This positive mindset held by our local students has thus led to little or no resistance against the use of anti plagiarism websites such as turn it in. So far, it has been proven to work and both students and teachers are reaping its benefits, so why the fuss? Students overseas feel that the use of websites such as turn it in constitute a breach of trust between the students and the teachers but the fact of the matter is, why would students have to worry if their work is original and self invented? If that were the case the use of turn it in would not appear to be a breach of trust but would rather constitute an act of justice on the part of the teaching staff. Students are trusting their teachers to preserve a level playing field for all and this is indeed the whole idea behind turn it in. The “trust but verify” approach is indeed a feasible solution because it not only rewards but also has proven to be effective in dealing with those who try to plagiarize.


The whole idea that the use of turn it in is a malicious attempt to assault the integrity of the student population is indeed absurd. The fact of the matter is, teachers would much rather have cheating eradicated completely than have to go through the trouble of having to sniff out plagiarism. In fact, such acts not only punish those guilty of plagiarism, it also upholds and rewards academic integrity which is an ideal situation. Many students have come up and pointed out that such sites are contradictory to the trust reflected in the code of conduct most schools uphold. However, little have come to the realization that such forms of detection glorify the code of honor they themselves have sworn to uphold and it is only just that should they be caught breaking their part of the bargain. It is indeed, ridiculous that students with the motive of cheating are assaulting a system on the rationale that it cheats their trust and integrity.

Having considered the dangers of academic dishonesty in society and having justified the importance of proper forms of verification for academic integrity in our education system, it is undeniable that the use of plagiarism software is a prerequisite to a conducive learning environment, by virtue of the fact that it weeds out those who fail to respect the sovereignty of others’ work, and removes the pressure on those of more robust character to cheat as well for fear of ‘losing out’ to their peers in the ever competitive education system of Singapore. The issue yet to be addressed here is how we should react vis-à-vis the introduction of this software in school and more importantly, how we interpret the use of such verification methods. The true value and real potential of such a system in deterrence and punishing those who fail to adhere to the rules of the game. Indeed, the focus is on the trouble makers and not those who really deserve the trust placed in them; they already have it.

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