Mary Charlotte Cannon

Andrea Swintal
UCOL
29 September 2014
Positive Integrity
Once an individual has entered the work force after completing college, the
foundations of positive and righteous integrity come into play. If one decides to cheat
their way through college, they will grasp no knowledge of what their life will soon
revolve around. Contrary if one decides to buckle down and apply themselves in
college, their hard work will pay off. A common misconception weaving throughout
college campuses is the myth that if college-aged kids study and work hard in college,
they will be perceived as a nerd or not cool. The men and women who are labeled, as
losers are soon to be the CEOs, CFOs and bosses of those who chose to cheat in
college.
Unbeknownst to many, cheating on a test does not help in the long run. 60.8% of
polled college students admitted to cheating. An admittedly informal 2007 poll conducted
by the popular website CollegeHumor revealed that 60.8% of 30,000 respondents
most of them within its core demographic confessed to cheating on their assignments
and tests. This lines up closely with a questionnaire sent out to Rutgers students as well,
to which 68% of students confessed that they had broken the universitys explicit anticheating rules. And the number only seems to swell as the years progress, with freshmen
the most likely to fudge their way through class. Many courses, assignments and tests in
college are cumulative. Starting from the beginning of class, each task assigned to the

student will have a snowball effect. For example, the terms reviewed on the first quiz will
be present on the second quiz and so on. In the beginning, if just a couple of terms are
being reviewed and the student decided to exhibit negative integrity by making a cheat
sheet; then from that point on they have not learned anything. Meaning, since they
cheated on the first one they will feel no grief from cheating on the second, third or any
from then on out.
One way to prevent negative integrity from being implemented and accepted into
ones brain, one should start the semester with a clean slate and an appropriate schedule.
A common misconception students make is that there are not enough hours in a week to
do schoolwork, have a social and maintain mental sanity. However, if a student meets
with an advisor and is proactive, they will create a schedule implemented with study
breaks, enough time for a full nights sleep, and not overwhelm themselves. Once a
schedule has been made that will allow students to study, complete homework and show
positive integrity things will slowly fall into place.
Woven into the world of business, it is quite easy to decipher who had tendencies
to show positive or negative academic integrity in their schoolwork. Students who have
practiced positive integrity in college are more likely to have higher paying jobs, higher
ranks within the company and all around more successful in adulthood. Integrity is
essential to all elements of education and scholarship. Without integrity, research cannot
be trusted, academic credentials cannot be relied upon, and degrees and diplomas lose
their value. To guard against that, it is necessary for us to articulate and enact the values
that underpin educational standards and practices As previously stated, positive

integrity should be installed into the brains of students all around both the country and the
globe, little do they know how much it will pay off in the long run.