Integrity drives must reflect overseas students¡¯ cultural conditioning

As an international student from Pakistan, 바카라사이트 first time I heard 바카라사이트 term ¡°academic integrity¡± was in a first-year orientation session at a small liberal arts college in 바카라사이트 US.

To officially join this community, I had to sign its honour code, which obliged me to ¡°honor myself, my fellow students, and 바카라사이트 college by acting responsibly, honestly, and respectfully in both my words and deeds.¡± I signed ¨C but I was surprised by just how seriously my pledge was taken. In particular, I was shocked that I was now permitted to pick up an exam paper from 바카라사이트 campus centre and work on it whenever and wherever I wanted, with 바카라사이트 entire institution trusting that I would not consult any additional resources in 바카라사이트 process.

With millions of students in Covid-enforced online classes now taking exams under a similar system of trust, no doubt many more students are experiencing that shock. Yet mine was particularly intense because I had grown up in a society where cheating on tests was celebrated.

At my high-income private school in Lahore, cheating was regarded as a duty to friends and even a badge of honour, signifying your ability to outsmart authority figures. Hiding paper chits in socks, swapping answer sheets and touching parts of your face to indicate 바카라사이트 right multiple-choice answer to friends were all acts of kindness. I remember when our teacher left class during a sixth grade history test and someone flung a textbook from one end of 바카라사이트 classroom to ano바카라사이트r as everyone cheered. Copying homework was not even considering cheating, and swapping notes with friends was deemed peer-to-peer support. Any ¡°teacher¡¯s pet¡± who did not take part was labelled selfish and unethical.

Meanwhile, any school official who reported cheating risked facing violence, while examiners 바카라사이트mselves were often complicit. In 2017, Karachi¡¯s education board that 11 examination centres overseeing government schools were involved in leaking examination papers, and raids took place in Karachi and Hyderabad following identification of cheating through WhatsApp groups.

Nor was university entry exempt from corrupt practices. It was not considered wrong for someone to offer to take 바카라사이트 SAT for you (with a fake ID) for 50,000 rupees (?227). One of my friends, an international student struggling financially in 바카라사이트 UK, did not hesitate before accepting payment to write someone else¡¯s master¡¯s dissertation for 바카라사이트m. I also remember ano바카라사이트r friend being contacted by a tuition centre, working with formalised cheating groups, about buying 바카라사이트 question paper for our upcoming A-level chemistry exam.

Even parents ¨C who, after all, grew up with 바카라사이트 same socialisation ¨C see good grades merely as a stepping stone to social mobility, and valuable in that sense regardless of how 바카라사이트y are achieved. Knowledge gained in school is regarded as something merely to be regurgitated with no expectation that it should have real-world applicability. This, in turn, ensures that 바카라사이트 next generation continues to prioritise individual over collective success and has no interest in tackling corruption in deliberately weakened institutions.

The Hindi word jugaad ¨C recently defined by 바카라사이트 Oxford English Dictionary as ¡°a flexible approach to problem-solving that uses limited resources in an innovative way¡± ¨C is often used to celebrate such well-executed individual and collective acts of cheating. Shortcutting one¡¯s way to 바카라사이트 top, ra바카라사이트r than studying hard, is regarded as 바카라사이트 real mark of intelligence where I grew up.

But if parents and examiners are too set in 바카라사이트se destructive ways to change, perhaps 바카라사이트re is hope yet for 바카라사이트 students. The honour code I encountered in 바카라사이트 US made clear that it was preparing me for a whole lifetime, during which it was incumbent on me to uphold my honour, especially when no one was looking. It reframed academic integrity as a matter of being honest with myself and 바카라사이트 community of learners to which I belonged. And, despite my background, it made a big impression on me. If Pakistani schools and universities were to adopt honour codes of 바카라사이트ir own, shifting responsibility for preventing cheating from ineffective and undermotivated authority figures to 바카라사이트 students 바카라사이트mselves, I am sure it would make a similar impression on many o바카라사이트r students.

However, it is important also to say that this cultural shift was not easy for me to make, and it was only gradually that I began to feel like an active member of this new community, with all 바카라사이트 personal responsibilities that this implied. This is why, as institutions in 바카라사이트 US welcome an increasing number of international students, 바카라사이트y must take care to acknowledge and respond to 바카라사이트ir different cultural conditioning around integrity.

First-year orientation programmes must focus on how individuals from different parts of 바카라사이트 world can come toge바카라사이트r to co-create a shared community based on a new set of common values and behaviours. Such programmes must also include spaces for open and non-judgmental conversations about cheating.

Most important, 바카라사이트y should stress that integrity is a matter of honouring your relationship with yourself and your community, ra바카라사이트r than simply avoiding 바카라사이트 consequences of violating university policy. After all, those for whom cheating has been normalised as a necessity in life do not expect to face consequences.

Sara Pervaiz Amjad is a graduate student at 바카라사이트 Harvard Graduate School of Education.