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Ethical decay shakes the halls of ivy In the space field it's called a midcourse correction. Higher educa tion—caught between skyrocketing costs and a plummeting supply of new students—is on a crisis course, ac cording to a report, "Fair Practices in Higher Education," by the Carnegie Council on Policy Studies in Higher Education. The council sounds an early-warning signal for a mid-course correction to avoid what it sees as ethical decay on the campuses. Partly because of a declining na tional birthrate and partly because a college degree is considered by some to be of less value than it was in the past, enrollments are predicted to drop 25% by 1992. Because most col lege and university budgets are en rollment-based, such a loss of stu dents would result in moderate to serious dislocations for most cam puses and financial ruin for some. The council is "concerned about the prospective frantic search by many faculty members, many de partments, and many colleges for scarce students in the 1980's and 1990's... such conditions are likely to lead some students to try to take even greater advantage of the situation, and to make some colleges even more reluctant to insist on ethical conduct by students and even more likely to engage in improper conduct them selves. "We are concerned that these negative behavioral traits may indi cate a larger and more deep-seated problem: a general loss of self-confi dence and a sense of mutual trust, and a general decline in integrity of conduct on campus. The basic prob lem may be bigger than the sum of its component parts." Among the "certain signs of dete rioration" cited by the council are: • An increasing amount of cheat ing by students in academic assign ments. • Substantial misuse by students of public financial aid. • Theft and destruction by stu dents of valuable property, specifi cally library books and journals. • Inflation of grades by faculty members. • Competitive awarding of aca demic credits by some departments and institutions for insufficient and inadequate academic work.
students, the March 1976 issue of that redoubtable American journal, Mad magazine, satirizes the hard-sell ad vertising of some college courses: "Learn Russian! 250 million people can't be wrong!" "Learn Chinese! 880 million people can't be wrong!" "Learn Arabic! Two sheiks who con trol 68% of world oil production can't be wrong!" The report notes several proposed remedies: improved grading stan dards, stronger penalties for academic "Fair Practices in Higher Education: dishonesty, and more stringent ac Rights and Responsibilities of Stu creditation procedures. If the states dents and Their Colleges in a Period of and higher education associations Intensified Competition for Enroll cannot do a better job to curb dubious ments" by the Carnegie Council on Policy practices and eliminate fly-by-night Studies in Higher Education, Jossey- institutions, the unpalatable prospect Bass, San Francisco, Calif., 1979, 91 pages exists that the federal government plus xiii, $7.95. will do it for them. Higher education must profit from the lesson learned Reviewed by Lawrence P. Verbit, pro by the private schools. fessor of chemistry at State University of One particularly useful recom New York, Binghamton, who has served mendation states: "Every institution on several committees concerned with of higher education that has not al professional standards and ethical ready done so should produce a code values. of rights and responsibilities through the collaborative efforts of adminis tration, faculty, and students." I thought I might discover some • Inflated and misleading adver thing shattering to say about deteri tising by some institutions in the orating ethics in chemistry depart search for students. ments, but I could uncover little that The report cites numerous exam had changed substantially over the ples of all these problem areas, such past two decades of my experience. as the results of Carnegie surveys on Will it border on heresy to say that grade inflation: Between 1969 and some things have gotten better? 1976, the proportion of students with Student input is sought on matters A and Β grade-point averages rose to affecting them; they have a genuine 59% from 35%, whereas the propor right of appeal; the existence of dis tion with averages of C or lower advantaged groups, including the dropped to 13% from 25%. handicapped, has been discovered, At research universities, the pro and so on. I would stress that these state portion of students who acknowl edged that they had engaged in some ments are not the result of a scientific form of cheating rose to 9.8% in 1976 survey. But I did not find significant differences in checking with some from 5.4% in 1969. Nearly half the students respond colleagues at public and private in ing to the 1976 Carnegie survey be stitutions around the country. During the past 20 years of my ac lieved successful students had to "beat the system" to make it, and 8.8% ademic experience, there has been a stated that outright cheating was low baseline level of notebooks taken, needed to get good grades. The most lab experiments sabotaged, data poignant response was that 66% of the fudged, and, lately, computer time students thought it possible to get stolen. But I do not discern a significant good grades without really under rise from the baseline in chemistry standing the material! Related to the report's discussion departments. Many of us were guilty of inflated and misleading advertising of grade inflation, but it now seems to by some schools in the search for be coming under control—far better
Carnegie Council report decries fall in academic standards, which may merely reflect decline in social mores overall
Sept. 10, 1979 C&EN
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COURSE LOANS TO UNEMPLOYED ACS MEMBERS
If you're a n ACS member a n d are c u r r e n t l y unemployed, you c a n borrow ACS Audio Courses free. Each course, p r e p a r e d by a leading a u t h o r i t y , consists of a set of audiocassette tapes a n d a n i n t e g r a t e d reference m a n u a l . There a r e over 4 5 ACS Audio Courses to choose from, in s u c h a r e a s as analytical, o r g a n i c , a n d polymer chemistry; chemical engineering; business/management; a n d personal development. You m a y borrow a n y course for u p to two weeks. The reference m a n u a l , c o n t a i n i n g d i a g r a m s , g r a p h s , equations, a n d other information discussed by t h e lecturer, is y o u r s to keep for future study. ACS will ship Audio Courses free of c h a r g e . Your only expense is t h e r e t u r n postage. Only one course per p e r s o n will be made available at a n y one time. For f u r t h e r information a n d a complete listing of courses, write: Department of Educational Activities American Chemical Society 1155 Sixteenth Street, NW W a s h i n g t o n , D.C. 20036
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C&EN Sept. 10, 1979
than the inflation in the economy as a whole. Chemistry departments may or may not be areas isolated from ethical decay. But the Carnegie Council report serves an important alerting function, and it is being taken seriously by the academic community. Although the council points out that academic ethics and standards are slipping, it does not attempt to deal with the question of why this might be so. As scientists, we need to ask this question. It strikes me that one of the reasons for deteriorating standards, where they exist, can be attributed to powerful external forces which have been affecting the colleges and universities for some time. The mores and standards of our society are permeating the thick-walled towers of academe. This does not mean that academics have failed in their purpose. Neither are they blameless for the consequences. It means that they also are products of a society where distrust, fear, disrespect, and melancholy are still on the rise; where cheating on rules is a national pastime; where white-collar crime and shoddy, lethargic work are increasingly tolerated. What model do students have to look up to? Is it any wonder that their values reflect the society in which they have grown up? Colleges and universities traditionally have filled the role of guardians and transmitters of knowledge and values. Perhaps too little attention has been paid to the latter area in the past 20 years. Let higher education again fulfill its historic role of upholding the highest standards and transmitting the highest ethical values to future generations. D
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Auuior& of Papers in American Chemical Society Books and Journals
A useful guide to the preparation of scientific papers with emphasis on international recommendations, national standards, and changing technology. This revision incorporates many of the changes introduced into ACS journals and books over the past 10 years: abbreviations and symbols that reflect international usage; special manuscript requirements for microform supplements; limitations imposed by computer composition; enhancements brought about by system developments. Several new concepts are introduced in this edition: a new format for reference citation; manuscript preparation with a specific composition system in mind; and the prospect of further changes evolving from further system developments — computer technology serving information transfer.
Wastewater Engineering: Treatment Disposal Reuse. 2nd Ed. Metcalf & Eddy Inc., xviii + 920 pages. McGraw-Hill, 1221 Ave. of the Americas, New York, N.Y. 10020. 1979. $26.50.
This valuable reference will be an effective aid to new authors as well as a useful companion to more experienced writers.
What Every Engineer Should Know About Patents. William G. Konold et al. vii + 124 pages. Marcel Dekker Inc., 270 Madison Ave., New York, N.Y. 10016.1979. $9.75.
122 pages (1978) clothbound $7.50 LC 78-6401 ISBN 0-8412-0425-X
Who's Who of American Women. 11th Ed. 1979-80. xiv + 903 pages. Marquis Publications, 200 East Ohio St., Chicago, 111. 60611. 1979. $52.50. An Index to Standard Interest Profiles in Science and Technology 1979. Miriam D. Bonham, editor. Chemical Information Center, Dept. of Chemistry, Indiana University, Bloomington, Ind. 47405.1979. $10. Research & Development: AAAS Report IV. Willis H. Shapley, Don I. Phillips, xvi + 137 pages. American Association for the Advancement of Science, Dept. BR, 1515 Massachusetts Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20005. 1979. $6.50.
122 pages (1978) paperback $3.75 LC 78-6401 ISBN 0-8412-0430-6
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