"Whole idea of trust but verify". To what extent do you agree with this "idea" as a feasible solution to curb academic dishonesty in your country?

The objective of education is to equip students with the necessary skills and knowledge that is vital for their future endeavours and for the progress of society. Throughout the long years of education, students are plagued with assignments, which teachers believe would help them in their academic development. Unfortunately, most students are unable to see this point, especially when there is a conflict of interest, between work and non-academic related issues. Hence, they turn to the easy way out of copying the work of others. Such action is frowned upon by educators and they turn towards technology to remedy this problem. Although many students consider this as a breech of trust, such a move is crucial to curb the problem of plagiarism.

The grade given to a paper reflects the standard of a pupil, and it serves as an acknowledgment for their efforts that a student put into their work. Such feedback gives students the chance to categorize themselves into many stratus (an A grade being outstanding work and an F as substandard), and may provide intrinsic motivation for students to improve in their respective academic fields. However, plagiarism causes this system to fail in many aspects. Firstly, the teacher is no longer able to peg the student according to his grade; or rather, the teacher would overestimate the capabilities of a student and not offer additional help through remedial and tuition. Furthermore, the student is no longer able to judge his intellect standard, and is unaware of his intellectual capacity in a certain subject.

The “whole idea of trust but verify” is a paradox in itself, since trust would imply that there isn’t a need for verification in the first place. However, it is unrealistic to trust all students entirely because there are bound to be bad apples no matter how ingrained the honour code is in school culture. Moreover, with the convenience technology provides, students are more tempted to pass off someone else’s work as their own.

Relying on honour codes seems like a good idea to curb academic dishonesty at first glance. By inculcating in the students the right mindsets and values, they definitely would not harbour the idea of plagiarising. However, it can be seen that this wouldn’t be very effective in the many schools around us. Almost every school has an honour code that strongly discourages cheating. However, the students do not necessarily abide by the honour code. Most of them do not even know the honour code by heart, much less abide by them.

Hence, it is inevitable for the “trust but verify” idea to be adopted. This idea is a feasible solution to curb academic dishonesty in Singapore because checks for plagiarism serve as deterrence for students from passing off someone else’s work as their own. The Singapore education system is a strict one, and plagiarism could leave a very bad mark on one’s record. Therefore, though it may evoke some negative feelings from students, having software which can detect plagiarism is necessary and will be an effective way of curbing academic dishonesty.

At the end of the day, it is both parties, student and teacher, who benefit from the lack of plagiarism.

Benkhoo, Joel, Zoe, Cheryl, Yingxin
09S06H