Does the title confuse you? Perhaps the confusion lies directly behind the issue at hand. That issue, academic honesty, maybe more accurately referred to as academic dishonesty, is a problem that not only faces educators around the country, but also the honest student, however rare, in almost every institution.
Still confused? If so, then I am silently making my point strikingly clear. There is no doubt that over half of the students who were, and still are, academically dishonest have not the slightest inkling that their actions are in some manner inappropriate. The problem of academic dishonesty, of course, starts with the family, in the home, years before "college major" ever enters a students vocabulary. And, consequently, there are hundreds of experts that blame dysfunctional families, a lack of moral values, or even television for the problems educators are currently facing. All fine and dandy, but the average student, educator, father, senator, or psychologist probably couldn't explain what morals are, what determines right and wrong, or how to combat the same points they indicate represent the problems leading to academic dishonesty. The entire problem may have begun not long ago, since most would agree that academic honesty didn't move towards academic dishonesty until recently, but morals will never be taught, morals will never be understood, morals will remain as ambiguous as the definition of entropy.
The title, then, represents the confusion that all students face as they move through life, from one set of rules to another, from one school to the next, until they reach yet another destination, WPI. Before the application is read, and certainly before the first class begins, every student that is qualified to be here, which is an honor to say the least, has some understanding of WPI's philosophy: work in groups, work more in groups, and work in groups. Then that first class begins, and the Professor calmly announces that all students "must work independently on assignments," proceeding to preach about how working in groups can be more harmful than beneficial. And do you think there was a single student in that class that didn't work in some kind of study group that met regularly throughout the term? Then you are just as ignorant as the Professor. The fact remains, however, that every student in the class was academically dishonest, acting against the Professor's word every minute, yet all the while following the school's philosophy on learning.
Academic dishonesty at WPI, and most likely at every institution around the world, is a matter of confusion, a lack of communication, and a number of mixed messages. Quite frankly, the school is certainly NOT to blame and neither is any of the faculty. According to Webster, probably the only authority that can be trusted these days, the students are to blame. "Truthfulness; sincerity; not deceptive or fraudulent" show the characteristics of an honest student. Unfortunately, those students who worked in groups against the educators' word were not trustworthy or sincere, but deceptive and fraudulent. Of course, the students who cheat on exams, stretch the use of a graphing calculator, or plagiarize to produce the perfect paper are all cows of a different color. And whatever color that is, the only solution that will bleach it white again is effective communication, strict penalties, and an understanding of the seriousness of the issue.