A quick look at the literature on cheating on examinations in college should convince you this behavior has reached epidemic proportions. Consider the following data showing the escalation of cheating on exams over the past five decades:
| Table 1 - Percentage of Students Admitting to Cheating on Exams in College: 1940s—1990s | ||||||
| Source | 1940s | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s |
| Drake (1941) | 23% |
|
|
|
|
|
| Goldsen, Rosenberg, William, & Suchman (1961) |
|
38% | 49% |
|
|
|
| Baird (1981) |
|
|
|
|
76% |
|
| Jendreck (1989) |
|
|
|
|
40—60% |
|
| Davis, Grover, Becker, & McGregor (1992) |
|
|
|
|
|
40—60% |
| Davis & Ludvigson (1995) |
|
|
|
|
|
40—60% |
Other isolated reports place the rate of cheating in college in the 1990s as high as 80% or more.
What about cheating in high school? The self-report rates there are even higher than in college. For example, Davis, Grover, Becker, & McGregor (1992) surveyed over 6,000 college students. The percentage of students who reported cheating in high school never fell below 78% for any of their samples.
