A new kind of family heirloom

Bud Whitley

Kenneth J Chapman, Richard Davis, Daniel Toy, and Lauren Wright write in the Journal of Marketing Education “The research results … indicate that students are much more likely to cheat in situations in which friends (versus mere acquaintances) are involved.” However, what theses authors and others often over look the dangers of academic dishonesty between siblings. Siblings participating in direct sharing of answers in class or sharing of old notes promote one of the most dangerous forms of academic dishonesty. The most common form of this particular brand of cheating occurs when an older sibling will give to their younger brother or sister the old notes and tests and hand outs they had received from the teacher the younger sibling currently has. This would give the younger sibling an unfair advantage over his or her class mates. Having already seen the material and possible examination questions, these students would naturally do better in a class than their fellow students. If the teacher decided to recycle old test questions, then the student receiving material from an older sibling would have already seen the exact question and therefore know the exact answer. Also, what’s to stop the younger sibling from sharing the materials with his or her classmates and friends? If they did such a thing, then the cheating problem would double or triple or quadruple depending on the number shared with. A major cheating problem exists when one student “passes on” his information to another younger sibling.