9/12/2016 Abdulaziz ENG -100 Assignment No.1 Kate Brennan In “Slip-Sliding Away, Down the Ethical Slope,” by Robert J. Sternberg, the author is concerned about a real problem that begins to spread within the whole society, which, in his words “goes much deeper than the occasional incident”. In fact, it is okay for cheaters to cheat, but they do not want to be caught. He starts off by giving two examples for two types of cheating. First, copying the work of someone else and getting exam answers beforehand. He considers it to be a serious unethical behavior, whereas many students either do not see anything wrong with it or if they do, they feel it is minor and there is no need to pay attention. Sternberg explains that people think that it is easy to do the right thing, and doing the wrong thing is hard, but the opposite is true. Then he mentions eight steps for instructors and students to use to behave ethically: know there is a problem that needs your attention, mark the problem as it contains an ethical component, decide that the ethical component is very significant and that it is worth your attention, consider the ethical rule as it relates to you, see what ethical rule works for the problem, try to learn how to apply it, be ready for any negative consequences, and act if you should. He points out that not only the students may face difficulties in order to behave ethically, but also parents. They need to understand the difference between helping their children and actually doing their work. For this reason, those youth don’t rely on themselves when they get to …show more content…
Then he emphasizes that by bringing up the example of the financial crisis in 2008.To sum up, the writer’s main idea is that cheating is a severe social problem as it can lead to bad consequences, and we should avoid it at a young