Hello, please help to evaluate my essay. If possible, please grade it on the 6-point scale. Thank you very much!
According to a recent report, cheating among college and university students is on the rise. However, Groveton College has successfully reduced student cheating by adopting an honor code, which calls for students to agree not to cheat in their academic endeavors and to notify a faculty member if they suspect that others have cheated. Groveton's honor code replaced a system in which teachers closely monitored students; under that system, teachers reported an average of thirty cases of cheating per year. In the first year the honor code was in place, students reported twenty-one cases of cheating; five years later, this figure had dropped to fourteen. Moreover, in a recent survey, a majority of Groveton students said that they would be less likely to cheat with an honor code in place than without. Thus, all colleges and universities should adopt honor codes similar to Groveton's in order to decrease cheating among students.
Write a response in which you discuss what questions would need to be answered in order to decide whether the recommendation and the argument on which it is based are reasonable. Be sure to explain how the answers to these questions would help to evaluate the recommendation.
The author recommends adopting an honor codes similar to a college's to decrease cheating among students because the college seems to be successful at using the codes. However, the recommendation lacks persuasive elements because it builds upon precarious arguments. There are certain questions that demand solid answers in order to validate the adoption of the honor codes.
First, the author suggests that all colleges and universities adopt honor codes similar to Groveton's because the college seems to be successful in mitigating cheating. Granted that cheating is indeed decreasing at the college, we do not know for certainty that same success can be expected at other colleges and universities. What we need to know is that whether students at Groveton possess any distinct characteristic that helps them to actually honor the codes. The honor codes appear to promote self-regulation and self-discipline in which students are expected to act in ethical manner in any academic endeavors. Perhaps students at Groveton come from strong ethical foundation, so they uphold the codes very serious and act according with any guidance of the codes. If students from other colleges and universities do not possess such desirable ethical attitudes, we cannot expect them to voluntarily honor the codes or report any suspicion of cheating. Consequently, the recommendation will be more likely to fail to achieve its good intention when honor codes is adopted at other schools.
To further evaluate the author's recommendation, we also need to know if the honor codes are actually upheld at Groveton. Based on the observation of decreasing cheating cases reported, the author implies that adopting the honor codes is a successful method to counter cheating. However, the argument is tenuously weak because the mere declining figure does not guarantee that fewer students are cheating. Students at Groveton, under loose supervision of teachers, may cover cheating for their friends. They may not honor the codes in the first place by not reporting any suspicion at all. If this is the case, the recommendation is seriously weaken because adopting the honor codes may not only fail to prevent cheating, but also worse, provide spare room for students to cheat given the paucity of teachers' monitoring.
Apart from this flawed argument, the decreasing figures of student's cheating at Groveton are also questionable. The figures are reported upon 5-year observations, and there could be a great chance that the number of students at Groveton could have been decreasing over the last 5 years. There could be a case in which the number students at Groveton could have fallen by half, which accordingly make the proportion of student's cheating unchanged during the time. This scenario will subject the recommendation to skepticism. In essence, we need to know if there was any significant change in the number of students at Groveton over the last 5 years.
The last question we want to have a solid answer is the validity of the recent survey at Groveton. There are no indications to suggest that the survey is conducted in an objective manner and is evaluated in equity. Groveton may concoct the survey with intention to buttress and promote their honor codes, and to build any image of a highly ethical college. Or students at Groveton did not response to the survey with honesty. In result, the author's whole argument will fall apart. Perhaps an independent third-party verification is required to assess the true effectiveness of the honor codes when adopted at Groveton College.
While the author's intention to seek an effective approach to prevent cheating among students is appreciated, his arguments are wanting in concrete evidence to justify that an honor codes would be successful. He needs to provide more information about the characteristics of Groveton's students, the intrinsic effect of the honor codes at Groveton, the number of students over the last 5 years and most importantly, the validity of the survey. Unless the answers to these questions are elucidated, the recommendation to adopt an honor codes school-wide will be abnegated.
