Cheating

Cheating and Sportsmanship HPE essay-BY Elliott Biggs Just like everything in life, sports too are governed by rules, customs and even competition. Sports are a way through which we are able to connect with our past and have good feelings about the future. Sports acts as a way of bonding people despite their age, gender and race differences. Sports today, instead of bonding people and teaching them discipline and teamwork is causing them to cheat. And athletes have a reason to cheat now with all the fame, drugs and endorsements available to gain from.

Cheating in sports is certainly not something new; it has been taking place ever since sports and sporting competitions were first introduced. 2000 years before Mike Tyson bit a piece of Evander Holyfield’s ear and due to it faced disqualification in the boxing match, a boxer from Thessaly, Eupolus’s had bribed 3 of his opponents to take dives in the Olympics of 388 BC (Los Angeles Times). Eupolus’s cheating is considered to have been the first cheating act to have been committed in sports. Everyone wants to win and wants an easy way to do it.

The way people cheat in sports has become various and diversified over the years but I will discuss only three. Performance enhancing drugs, performance enhancing equipment and blood doping. First, Performance enhancing drugs. The use of enhancement “substances” for sporting events dates back to the ancient Greeks and ancient Maya. Performance potions where utilized by the Greeks to increase their abilities, and cocoa leaves where thought to be used by the ancient Maya to increase their abilities.

Today, athletes will go to many lengths to increase athletic ability, including: steroids, HGH, Amphetamines, and even animal or human organs just as the Greeks did in their time. Most young athletes will tell you that the competitive drive to win can be very intense. Besides the satisfaction of personal gain, young athletes often pursue dreams of making it to the Olympics or a place on a professional team. This competitive environment, created by our culture, has led to a more common use of steroids and other performance-enhancing agents in sports.

For a growing number of athletes, winning at all costs includes taking anabolic steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs. Some may appear to achieve physical gains from such drugs, but at what cost? The truth is that long-term effects of steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs haven’t been painstakingly studied. And short-term benefits are flawed with many potential side-effects and consequences such as loss of medals, eligibility and even death. Billie Holiday said “Dope never helped anybody sing better or play music better or do anything better.

All dope can do for you is kill you – and kill you the long, slow, hard way. ” It isn’t worth it. People can die because of these things but they will do anything to win. The use of performance enhancing equipment has many limitations and boundaries. For example, i believe that if you have to use such equipment then it is alright. E. g. Oscar pistorius. Pistorius has below the knee amputations on both legs that have been fitted with Flex-Foot Cheetah carbon fiber transtibial prostheses. He has no choice; if he wants to achieve his goal as an athlete he must use this equipment.

Some say that this puts him at an advantage, but i disagree. If they make them just long enough to give the same amount of spring as the human legs. But, if the competitors are to use equipment unnecessarily, it would be unfair. E. g. a corked bat is a specially modified baseball bat that has been filled with cork or other lighter, less dense substances to make the bat lighter without losing much power. A lighter bat gives a hitter a quicker swing and may improve the hitter’s timing. One thing that might make this fair would be if every competitor used the same equipment.

But that would not solve anything, would that not just put them back where they started. This is unfair on other competitors because it gives the athlete an unfair advantage by making them more aerodynamic, faster, leap further or maybe even swim faster by eliminating water resistance. What is the point of athletes using suits anyway, in the end it all still comes down to raw talent anyway. Say swimmer a’s time is 27. 6 secs and swimmer b’s time is 28. 4 secs. They wear the suit which takes of 0. 01 of a second. And swimmer a’s time becomes 27. 59 and swimmer b’s becomes 28. 39.

Swimmer a still wins anyway. Blood doping. The process of blood doping, also called blood boosting or blood packing, involves illicitly increasing the number of red blood cells throughout one’s body. In terms of anatomy red blood cells carry oxygen from the lungs to the muscles. With more oxygen being carried to the muscles during rigorous activity, the longer the muscles will perform without building up lactic acid. Once lactic acid builds up within the bloodstream it restricts the flow of oxygen to working muscles therefore producing fatigue. In essence with more red blood cells more oxygen can be arried to working muscles, therefore increasing endurance and reducing fatigue. For this very reason blood doping has become a favourite practice of some elite endurance athletes due to the fact that it gives them improved aerobic capacity. It allows them to perform rigorous activity, such as cross country skiing, cycling, as well as running at a higher level for a longer period of time. As you can imagine that would give an athlete a significant advantage. A new-Mexico study showed that EPO use can shave up to 69 seconds off of a world-class 10,000 meter time.

In any world class event such as track and field, a 69 second deficit is the difference between being considered the worlds-finest to just another middle runner. This is what inspires athletes to dope. But is it fair? No it is not. I have discussed in this essay three types of cheating in sports and their advantages. I have successfully answered the question, is cheating in sports ethical. Cheating in sports has been around for many hundreds of years and no-one will ever change the fact that people will cheat and find a way to win any way possible.

The purpose of this memo is to identify the ethical dilemma Helen is trapped into and her responsibilities towards making the correct decision. Helen Kanell is a final year student with a 4. 0 average grade point at the Empire State University. She is also the president of Beta Alpha Psi, the accounting student honor society. Being a president of such honorable society requires a great deal of responsibility and time commitment. Helen is already appointed a position at the Big & Apple LLC. Yet, Helen plans to complete her studies with at least a 3. 90 GPA to qualify for the highest academic honor “summa cum laude.

However, she is currently maintaining a B average in four out of five of her courses and needs to get an A at least in one course to be eligible for summa cum laude. In order to resolve Helen’s dilemma her best friend lick the copy of the Accounting 544 from the accounting department and gives it to Helen prior to the final exam. Before arriving to a conclusion Helen should consider her responsibilities towards the University, herself, and several other related groups. Maintaining academic integrity of the University should be Helen’s first priority.

It’s her duty to follow the University’s Code of Conduct to uphold its reputation. Sue should be honest to the accounting department because she represents the accounting honor society, Beta Alpha Psi. As a leader of such honorable society cheating will not set the right example for rest of the student body. Helen’s should not take a decision which will cause her to be unfair to all those students who worked hard for the exam. It’s her responsibility to be fair to other student in the class and the department. As stated by the Golden Rule “we should treat other the way we want to be treated.

No one would like to be cheated, therefore, Helen’s should not put fort her own interest and be unfair to others. Helen’s responsibility towards Big & Apple LLC is to act in a trustworthy and reliable manner. One of the reasons the company has hired is so that they can trust Helen with their financial and confidential information. She should understand the consequences of cheating in such situation because it can have a huge impact on her career. Instead of taking the wrong path to achieve success Helen should discuss her situation and seek for appropriate advice form her professor.

Although, Helen’s best friend is concerned about her situation its Helen’s responsibility to report her best friends misdeeds to the professor of Accounting 544. Helen’s responsibility is to make her friend realize the consequences of her wrongdoings. She should make her friend understand the ethical values of what’s right and what’s wrong. Cheating is not an easy way out of difficult situations. Helen’s responsibility to herself is to avoid doing things which would lower her self-esteem. She should alert herself that cheating is unethical way of achieving success and would cost her much more than expected in her career.

Making the right decision will give her peace of mind and she won’t have anything to regret for in future. Ethical values of honesty, integrity and trust should guide Helen in making the right decision in such situation. People with these values tend to think in the best interest of others. These ideals guide every individual to achieve greater success. If I was Helen I would not choose the path of dishonesty under any circumstances. My ethical values would not permit me to take advantage of the final exam cheat sheet.

Instead, I would put my full concentration on my studies and work hard towards that A. To seek advice I would go to the Accounting 544 professor. I would discuss my crucial situation with him/her to resolve my dilemma. My decision would not change even if the Empire State University has an honor code and provides a $5000 award to students that graduate summa cum laude. Regardless of how difficult the situation could get its unethical for me to cheat to achieve such an honorable award. I believe the path of fraudulence will never lead a person to a successful profession, as well as life

Though a rapidly grown trend not only in our higher institutions of learning but also the lower levels, cheating in the course work in any form ranging from the class work to the main examinations is a terrible breach of the rules in most institutions and the education system as a whole.

In an attempt to solve the suicidal issue to the academic lives of the students, many theories dealing with the sociology around the student’s life have been used as we shall examine in the proceeding chapters of our paper.

Does Cheating Really Occur?

From his book (Haaland, 2006, p. 67) informs us that a recent study conducted by The Rutgers University and The University of Guelph in a sample of 15,000 university students in five provinces admitted to several dishonesty behaviors in the examination which were sampled as: 53% of them admitting to having cheated on a written project, admitting to have cheated in an exam was in 18% of the students and many other testimonies from the students which showed how much the habit is rampant in schools.

The same survey also indicated that 48% of teachers and lecturers admitted to having caught students cheating in exams though they had no tangible evidence to take the issue seriously (Haaland, 2006, p. 98) by punishing the student or reporting the matter to the concerned authorities within the school.

What Methods Do the Students Employ in Cheating?

From our sociology, it is common knowledge that the different structures in the society we live in go a great mileage in determining the shape that our behaviors conform to (Kutscher, 2008, p. 37). It is due to this basic reason that we are going to view the methods our students use to cheat in reference to the major social theories:

The Conflict Theory

As (Kutscher, 2008, p. 73) displays the aspect in the theory, we can deduce that the various units in the society are always involved in innovations as a way of outsmarting each other in the societal ranks. To a great extent, this has resulted to students collaborating with other students with an aim of outdoing a certain group in the classroom. This ends up with the learners liaising with each other to perfume the course work hence the personal assessment is not affected.

Though it heavily leans on the culture and the intellectual phenomenon of the people, postmodernism results in to innovations that seek to improve the life standards of the people. In our current educational world, modernization has come a long way in impacting positively to the system though it is to a large extent creating big loopholes for our students to maximize on for cheating.

The internet as (Kutscher, 2008, p. 57) tells us has created a healthy avenue for the lazy students as with the click of the mouse, they can call an assignment or research done. Superior papers.com just to mention but one of them is a website where the students easily and at very affordable fees purchase already written essay for presentation to the teacher.

Quite a highly technical method that the students use to cheat in the course of their learning in the modern world unlike those methods that were traditionally used. Although traditional, some of the methods are still used by students today like writing answers on body parts and on pieces of cloth or paper as (Kutscher, 2008, p. 98) puts it.

In an attempt to eradicate the wide spread social evil of cheating in students, identification of the contributing factors to the trend is very important as it gives us a leeway to follow. Some of the most striking reasons are inclusive of:

 Conformity Social Stigma

(Kutscher, 2007, p. 121) partially lays the blame of the trend on the fact that the student culture is progressively transmitted to the students either knowingly or otherwise. Students are coiled in to viewing their work as more collaborative and not individual as it used to be in the traditional times. This smoothly leads even innocent students in to the poor practice and it therefore becomes a trend that almost has to be followed.

Class system

Un due pressure on the students in terms of the expectations laid on them in the classroom can also be cited as a contributing factor to the increased rate of students insincerity in the institutions of learning (Kutscher, 2007, p. 71).

The limited nature of time for students to perform their duties may be an explanation to some of the cheating as they are striving to beat the deadlines that are tightly placed. (Kutscher, 2007, p. 83) adds that compromising situations in the classroom may also push the student to cheating like punishment set in the classroom due to failure may force a poor student to cheat as away of running out of the punishment.

Recommendations

From the well-built facts in the pages above, we are able to single out one problem in the whole scenario. Concerned authorities keep on repeating to the students not to cheat yet they do not sit down with them and seriously deliberate on the matter.

By doing this, the teachers can be made aware of more reason why students cheat from the students themselves. On the other hand, the students will also be officially made aware of the harms of cheating not only to their chances in the school but also their intellectual lives.

Work Cited

Haaland, B (2006), Sociology: A Brief Introduction: McGraw-Hill Ryerson Higher        Education, Canada

Kutscher, M (2007), Kids in the Syndrome Mix: Jessica Kingsley Publishers, Boston Kutscher, M (2008), Living Without Breaks: Jessica Kingsley Publishers, Boston

There are a number of laws on the books that prevent misleading and deceptive conduct by businesses. This is done to boost the protections for the consumers. While some may consider these rules to be burdensome, the fact remains that they greatly help both the consumer and the business entity alike. In earlier times in human history, the populace was greatly limited in terms of what types of products or services they could acquire. With the advent of the industrial revolution and the coming information age, all of this changed.

In the modern era, people can purchase a large variety of items in order to suit their needs. Then again, they can also purchase a great many items that can serve their leisure purposes. And, of course, any purchase of a product or service should come with the reasonable expectation that the product or service delivers on what it promises. In other words, the consumer should be able to get what he or she paid for. However, humans are not perfect creatures. Mistakes happen and faulty products make their way to the market.

This is unfortunate but understandable. Then, on the other side of the coin, there are those that may be willing to deliberately mislead a consumer public into purchasing something that might be a faulty, dangerous, or outright incompetent product or service. Why would a company issue such a product? Sadly, there are those unscrupulous individuals that wish to make a profit the easy way. They do so by seriously deceiving their consumers and, essentially, stealing money from them.

These may sound like harsh words but they are not. Someone selling a weight loss product that not only will not help you lose weight in any manner is appropriating a consumer’s money in an unethical manner. When a consumer falsely advertisers something that will not yield the intended result while simultaneously presenting an adverse health risk, appropriate action needs to be taken. And honestly, the best action taken is preventive. In other words, proper laws need to be in place to dissuade such overtly unethical behavior.

So, what exactly is the definition of misleading or deceptive conduct? Are not all products guilty of exaggerating on their claims? Well, yes and no; the answer will depend upon how the advertising is performed. For example, when a detergent claims that it can get out stains completely and restore total whiteness to a fabric only to under-deliver, this is not so much deceptive advertising as much as it is a slight embellishment. In short, the detergent works and does get dirt and stains out.

The concept of ‘total whiteness’ is based on all the perfect factors coming together: a new shirt, what it has been stained with, how long it has been stained, the temperature of the water in which is was washed, the amount of detergent used, etc all become factors in whether or not the maximum efficiency can be procured from the detergent. This would not be misleading or deceptive since the detergent does work, after all. Outright misleading and deceptive advertisements, however, realize they are promising something that they cannot deliver.

The legendary “Grapefruit 45” diet of the 1980s is a perfect example of this. The product claimed that by taking a few capsules of a grapefruit supplement, one would lose weight while sleeping. The directions also stated one should not eat after 6pm. In time, it was revealed that the capsules contained nothing that would speed up the metabolism and that ceasing eating early in the evening would Misleading and Deceptive Products and Practices Examined – Page 2 lead to the body burning more stored fat while sleeping and it would do this with or without taking any supplements.

Grapefruit 45 was rightfully yanked off of store shelves since it was such a wholly deceptive and misleading product. Ultimately, customers should have a reasonable expectation that what they purchase delivers on expectations and is safe. There is no excuse for a product that does not deliver on such components. There are, however, arguments on the other side of the proverbial aisle that promote a reduction in the laws preventing misleading or deceptive conduct. Now, this is not to say that anyone wishes to see dangerous products on the market.

Rather, the concern is that excess government regulation beyond what is necessary can lead to significant decreases in a company’s ability to earn profits. Again, this is not put forth because lawmakers and lobbyists wish to see dangerous products in the market. (Well, the reasonable ones do not) Rather, it is because of fears regarding arbitrary overreach by regulating entities that improperly determine what is or is not misleading. This can lead to a number of unnecessary problems that both consumers and customers may face when seeking to procure the product or service that they would need to acquire.

Legitimate fears regarding government overreach are valid. Worries about the definition of “misleading practices” extending beyond acceptable common sense norms are also worthy of concern. However, it is also necessary to be concerned out the damage that can be done to entrepreneurs and businesses when they have to compete against an entity that is, for all intents and purposes, cheating in the marketplace. Yet, deception can be considered another word for cheating. While many will only look towards the consumer as the one that needs protection from deceptive ads, competitors will need protections as well.

After all, competitors have a right to a honest playing field. The establishment of rules that protect other businesses from unfair competition is a must. Why is this so vital? Imagine if completely false statements were made by a competitor in a series of misleading and deceptive ad campaign. Would this be fair to the business targeted in the ads? Would the false info be providing consumers with accurate information regarding where they should take their business? The honest assessment of this is that it would not. This is why businesses need help from a legal perspective in order to keep such unfair competition from rearing its head.

When a business is faced with a competitor that is – for lack of a better word – lying about the quality of his product or service, it creates a less than desirable scenario for the honest business operator. He/she must now go to great effort to compensate for the false advertisement that exists in the market. This could lead to expending a lot of time and money in order to draw attention back to their product. Yet, such a process could prove extremely difficult because it would be competing against a perpetually growing overstatement or lie. In short, misleading or deceptive practices create an unfair advantage in the consumer market.

Hence, such practices need to be curtailed to restore an honest playing field. In summation, laws and regulations that bar misleading or deceptive ads are certainly a positive thing. They protect the consumer and the competitor alike and level Misleading and Deceptive Products and Practices Examined – Page 3 out the playing field. They also keep business honest which, in turn, keeps the market a lot healthier as a result. Reference Anon. (2008). Is your ad deceptive? The Illinois Business Law Journal, Retrieved from http://iblsjournal. typepad. com/illinois_business_law_soc/2008/04/deceptive-adver. html