{"id":2295,"date":"2008-03-06T16:36:34","date_gmt":"2008-03-06T21:36:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/dms\/dms\/fax-journal\/past-issues\/2006-2007-edition\/professionalism-and-honesty-integral-to-higher-education\/"},"modified":"2018-12-04T15:03:10","modified_gmt":"2018-12-04T20:03:10","slug":"professionalism-and-honesty-integral-to-higher-education","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/dms\/past-issues\/2006-2007-edition\/professionalism-and-honesty-integral-to-higher-education\/","title":{"rendered":"Professionalism and Honesty: Integral to Higher Education?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

by Gregory Tayrose<\/p>\n

\u00a0Harold Sox stated professionalism \u201cconnotes everything that we admire in our colleagues and strive for in ourselves.\u201d1<\/sup>\u00a0\u00a0 I will now assume we can all agree that maintaining honesty with our patients is an important aspect of our profession.\u00a0 I will also propose that honesty as a personality attribute should be integral to the character of physicians.\u00a0 In addition, if I have not been too presumptuous or ambitious with my expectations already, I also think that other professions and institutions should share the same goal.\u00a0 In fact, the Center of Academic Integrity, located at Duke, has an \u201cAcademic Integrity Assessment Guide\u201d which is \u201cthe most powerful tool to assist colleges, universities, and secondary schools to assess the climate of academic integrity on their campuses.\u201d2<\/sup>\u00a0 <\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Apparently the Dook Fuqua School of Business did not get the memo.\u00a0 Nine of its students are facing expulsion, fifteen students will be suspended for a year, and nine more will fail a course as a result of a cheating scandal.3<\/sup> I know it is hard to imagine, but other flagship schools educating some of our country\u2019s brightest students make the effort to admit students based on more than simply high scores. . . such as those with good character.\u00a0 In fact, one of MIT\u2019s former Deans of Admission, Marilee Jones, took time, in what I believe must have been a busy schedule, to give presentations surrounding what should be expected of budding scholars.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Ms. Jones has received multiple awards, including MIT\u2019s highest award for administrators, the \u201cMIT Excellence Award for Leading Change,\u201d and awards for her\u00a0 \u201cspecial service of outstanding merit.\u201d4<\/sup>\u00a0 She has been described in the New York Times as being, \u201cthe voice of reason and sanity.\u201d She remarked that children today are a \u201cpoorly nourished generation\u201d with \u201coverstressed kids and unrealistic parents with high expectations.\u201d5<\/sup> I understand the argument, and commend her for spreading a positive message aimed at lowering pressure for students navigating through the educational system, but an important fact that she did forget to mention is how she misrepresented her credentials when first applying for her MIT job.\u00a0 At various points in her career, she claimed to have degrees from Union College, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and the Albany Medical College, but she apparently had no degree from RPI, did not ever attend Albany Medical College, and it is unclear if she had an undergraduate degree at all.6<\/sup><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It would be easy to believe that these two previously mentioned examples are anomalies in the academic world, but this is not the case.\u00a0 One of the scandals should not surprise anyone. . .as Dook was the school involved (if my last comment offended anyone not<\/em> affiliated with Duke, please know I am sorry).\u00a0 But, in the same News and Observer article I read about the MBA scandal, an eye-opening survey was mentioned.\u00a0 It stated that 47% of graduate students across the nation admitted to cheating in the last year.3<\/sup>\u00a0 <\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I will not pretend to have a solution, and I will not pretend that cheating does not occur at most places of higher learning.\u00a0 At a minimum, I think certain procedures should be implemented.\u00a0 First of all, I believe that professionalism and honesty can be taught and fostered.\u00a0 Learning about professionalism does not have to be done through silent teaching, but can be formally integrated into curriculum.\u00a0 Admissions offices can investigate claims made on applications, and background checks can be performed prior to admission.\u00a0 We, as a community, can be more active in self-regulation, and perhaps some can put aside their questionable motivations and remember why we learn \u2013 to help others.\u00a0 Cheating on a test will certainly not help a patient nor will it facilitate our patients\u2019 trust in either doctors or medicine.\u00a0 I really wonder what a scandal, like the MBA incident, would do to the field of medicine if one \u201cactually\u201d occurred at a medical school.\u00a0 How would our next patient view us?\u00a0 For those with questionable motivations and actions, realize that the negative consequences are potentially much greater than a quick trip to the honor court.\u00a0 \u00a0
\u00a0<\/p>\n

1. Sox HC. The ethical foundations of professionalism: a sociologic history.<\/span><\/p>\n

Chest. 2007 May;131(5):1532-40.<\/span><\/p>\n

2. The Center of Academic Integrity Home Page<\/em>.\u00a0 2007.\u00a0 <<\/span>https:\/\/secure2.mc.duke.edu\/academicint<\/span>egri<\/span>ty\/index.asp<\/span><\/a>>.<\/span><\/p>\n

3. Stancill, Jane.\u00a0 \u201cCheating shakes business school\u201d.\u00a0 The News and Observer online.\u00a0 Published: May 01, 2007 12:30 AM. Modified: May 01, 2007 05:20 AM.\u00a0 <<\/span>http:\/\/www.newsobserver.com\/102\/story\/569568.html<\/span><\/a>>.<\/span><\/p>\n

4. Sos, Zac and Davis, Richard.\u00a0 \u201cMIT dean resigns in lying scandal\u201d. CNN online.\u00a0 Posted: 5:56 p.m. EDT, April 29, 2007. <<\/span>http:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2007\/WORLD\/americas\/04\/27\/mit.dean\/index.html<\/span><\/a>>.<\/span><\/p>\n

5. Lombardi, Kate Stone.\u00a0 \u201cHigh Anxiety of Getting Into College\u201d.\u00a0 NY Times online.\u00a0 Published: April 8, 2007.\u00a0 <<\/span>http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2007\/04\/08\/nyregion\/nyregionspecial2\/08wecol.html?ex=1333684800&en=8b1ca5abc401c0cd&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss<\/span><\/a>>.<\/span><\/p>\n

6. Semenkovich, Nick. \u201cAdmissions Dean Resigns After Lying on R\u00e9sum\u00e9\u201d.\u00a0 The Tech online.\u00a0 Vol 127(21).\u00a0 Friday, April 27, 2007. <http:\/\/www-tech.mit.edu\/V127\/N21\/jones.html<\/a>><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Gregory Tayrose \u00a0Harold Sox stated professionalism \u201cconnotes everything that we admire in our colleagues and strive for in ourselves.\u201d1\u00a0\u00a0 I will now assume we can all agree that maintaining honesty with our patients is an important aspect of our profession.\u00a0 I will also propose that honesty as a personality attribute should be integral to … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":80868,"featured_media":0,"parent":2238,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"class_list":["post-2295","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","odd"],"acf":[],"_links_to":[],"_links_to_target":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/dms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2295","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/dms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/dms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/dms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/80868"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/dms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2295"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/dms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2295\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/dms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/dms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}