Contemporary teaching methods have ushered in numerous changes in education, including the abolition of punishments for dishonest test-takers. This has raised concerns about the integrity of education, which must be intact at all costs. This essay aims to uphold the retention of such punishments by exploring their disciplinary effects, especially when compared to other methods.
To commence, repercussions are necessary for cheating students to rectify their behavior. This is because such dishonesty is smothered if cheaters face consequences for violating academic integrity due to the fact that they fear putting a stain on their records. Otherwise, if such actions are not corrected, they are bound to be repeated, which then normalizes such misconducts. This instills in the student a greedy and egotistic mindset – an anathema to workplace and social ethics, thereby blacklisting them from businesses in the future. Therefore, it is vital that such disciplinary actions be retained so that students can become more morally correct.
Moreover, penalties for cheaters are the only form of universal correction for such behavior. While other methods, like positive reinforcement, alleviate dishonesty to a certain extent, they are not as univerally applicable as physical and verbal punishments. This is due to the fact that there are some factors, namely parental and peer pressure, that carry more importance to students than the consequences of cheating. This then overrides the fear of getting caught, which nullifies the “soft” methods along the lines of positive reinforcement. Therefore, it is only by applying such corrective methods that students are deterred from committing such violations. Additionally, the “soft” methods do not instill discipline on a larger scale, particularly with the classroom and beyond. Students, for fear of suffering a similar fate, are more likely to take heed of the warnings and punishments delivered to the perpetrators, thereby discouraging them from performing similar actions.
To conclude. penalties for the infringement of examination integrity must be maintained, for they demonstrate corrective effects beyond those of other methods. However, it is vital that this must be pushed only to a controlled level so that the benefits can be wholly reaped.