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__Paper on Articles__ Molly Henning February 18, 2008 English 101 Ms. Wendt The articles __Honor Above All__, written by Michael Josephson and Melissa Mertz, and __Cheaters Amok__, written by ABC News, are two articles about cheating that goes on in everyday life for some students, according to statistics. __Honor Above All__ simply looks at statistics of cheating in life, and suggests the idea that this could possibly result in a future lack of responsibility and honorability for this generation, and the next. However, __Cheaters Amok__ looks at statistics, but also real life experiences for some cheaters, as reported by __Primetime__, and the reactions to this news, as reported. However, ABC News’ article, __Cheaters Amok__, was the stronger article because it presented ethos, by using specific examples of cheaters in today’s society. The article __Honor Above All__ begins by explaining cheating and stating that it is becoming more and more prevalent in today’s society, and it is beginning in schools, “where academic honesty is rampant” (106). The authors give statistics, reported by the Josephson Institute of Ethics in 2002 after surveying 12,000 students, stating that 74 percent of students admitted to cheating at least once within the past year, compared to 37 percent in 1992—showing that things are only getting worse. The article also states that in general, this shows there is a general lack among students of honesty and integrity (106). As a solution, __Honor Above All__ suggests that “those who have the opportunity to” should try and be able to “promote integrity and prevent cheating” (106), however, does not provide possibilities on how to do this, but rather simply “thoughtful, systematic, and comprehensive efforts” (106). Cheating, however, is quite obviously a problem that cannot be fixed right away with extreme urgency, as the article suggests, making another generalization. The article implies that teachers, parents, and others of older generations are not trying to stop cheating, whereas this is not always the case. In the article __Cheaters Amok__, it begins by giving an example of a professor, Angelo Angelis, that has seen frequent cheating in students’ papers, and one specific example of his in which students plagiarized from fifth graders on the internet. The same statistics as __Honor Above All__ are later briefly reviewed. The purpose of this article, though, was to report the findings of the six-month investigation, done by __Primetime__, in which they “traveled to colleges and high schools across the country to see how students are cheating, and why” (107). The article proceeds, not to blame the students as the previous article did, however, stating that the kids that cheat are still decent kids and students, but they are corrupted by a world that is sanctioning things such as cheating, even though these students know it is wrong. When young students see everyone allow it, they find it hard not to get involved in something that seems like a quick fix to a bad grade. In a survey of more then 4,000 U.S. and Canadian schools, it showed that “half of all faculty members admitted ignoring cheating at least once” (108). However, __Cheaters Amok__ still puts a level of responsibility on students, for even if today’s world were more ethical, some students would still cheat. For whatever the reason though, it is a common problem, and there are many secretive ways of cheating nowadays. This article, also, unlike the other one, states possible solutions to this problem for example, college professors teaching students how to learn, behave, and overcome challenges, which will result in succeeding and quite possibly less cheating. The logos in __Honor Above All__ is very weak. Though the article provides some statistics, it does not fulfill the logos by lacking to provide any specific examples. There are also many sweeping generalizations in the article—referring to the cheaters as “young people” generalizes all young people as cheaters, and dishonest people, despite the fact that the numbers are so high for cheating among young students, this does not label everyone. Another generalization is that there will be a major problem if “young people” continue these “habits” for the future generation as mechanics, corporate executives, lawyers, doctors, etc. This generalizes all young people as cheaters, and even for the young students that are cheating, it generalizes them as unable to fulfill duties and “grow out” of their cheating stages, stating that the future generation is, basically, only trouble because cheating exists among many, but still, not all. The logos in __Cheaters Amok__, however, is very strong, using specific examples, such as quotes from students who cheat frequently, using some statistics of the cheating, and providing reasoning for the cheating other than a knack for academic dishonesty. The pathos in __Honor Above All__ is, again, not very strong. There is little emotional appeal in the article, because of the lack of specific life experiences and, again, examples, existing in the article. The most powerful aspect of pathos in the article was the persuasion that the future generations could be screwed up because of cheating and dishonesty, and there is also slight guilt through this persuasion, because of the hard “truth” that the future could be screwed because of the cheating. However, it is obvious that this is a slightly skewed view and there are many generalizations, so the guilt is not extremely strong. However, the pathos in __Cheaters Amok__ is strong as well, by using statistics, many instances of cheating, why people cheat, etc. There are many examples of personal life experiences, from professors to students and their encounters with cheating, seeing other people cheat, and professors catching students cheat. And lastly, the ethos of the articles: for both of the articles, the ethos exists through the logic that cheating is wrong. The first article questions people’s ethics and moral values on cheating, stating that their morals are completely wrong and that there is an “erosion of trust” (106) and complete academic dishonesty because of this. However, the second article questions the ethics and morals of the rest of the world, and shows how young students simply react upon what they see, even though they know that cheating is completely wrong, it is so frequent that many people are simply jumping on the bandwagon, so it seems. They both presented a strong ethos, however, __Cheaters Amok__, once again, presented a stronger argument for ethos, by further explaining the ethical reasons for cheating, and the ethics of the students. ABC News’ article, __Cheaters Amok__ was much more powerful than Michael Josephson and Melissa Mertzs’ article, __Honor Above All__, as it displayed a stronger sense of ethos, pathos, and logos. The first article simply displayed a few statistics and sweeping generalizations about “young people”, or students, without providing specific examples, quotes, etc. However, the second article showed statistics, as well as examples, and quite simply, stronger reasoning as a whole, making __Cheaters Amok__ the stronger and more powerful article.