The Cheating Culture

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The Cheating Culture by David Callahan is a interesting read. The main theme of the novel is that society has recently shifted to one in which cheating has become more acceptable. Far from a simple decline in morals, this change is a result of the complex interaction between a move to more winner-take-all situations in society and a recent exclusive focus on drugs and sex by the moral front.

While often completely biased and propagandist, the stories presented are incredibly interesting at showing how cheating in the real world isn't always just a simple moral choice. For instance, if you're an auto mechanic who is told that to increase cost-effectiveness you will now be paid on commission, you might find a few more problems in the cars that you see. You might justify this to yourself by at first only recommending that optional repairs be made, but soon you might expand to suggesting that even repairs that aren't necessary are required. It's a slippery slope and people at all income levels and from all backgrounds, can fall into it.

What's worse is if the general impression of society is that everyone is cheating. If you feel that everyone else is cheating on their taxes, it's much easier to justify doing it yourself. Callahan presents evidence that both more people are cheating than they used to and that the perception of the percentage of others that are cheating has also gone up. It's hard to tell how much you should believe his so-called "evidence" because it is definitely lopsided in ordered to support his conclusion. For instance, he mentions a high-profile case of cheating by students in the introductory computer science course at Dartmouth University to support his claim that cheating is rampant even in the Ivy League and that schools generally look the other way. While the students in this case got off without punishment because the administration eventually decided it was too hard to prove, 3 students in my introductory computer science course at Princeton University were suspended for a year for cheating. Callahan doesn't seem to grasp technology too well or he would have realized that the difference is that in the former case it was hard to prove and in the latter it was relatively easy.

Summary

This book is an interesting read but should be taken with a grain of salt. It presents some interesting stories and relates some complex realworld moral situations and shows how these could have been less likely given some reasonable policy/attitude changes. It's also an interesting look at a modern liberal view. I only wish he could have presented balanced evidence and let me decide for myself. Unfortunately, in the end, Callahan has an alternative agenda that hijacks his morals - just like the people he rails upon in his book.