Finally, academic institutions should take full responsibility themselves, readily and willingly, in instituting the moral values of honesty and integrity among students. Ethics in an academic environment will only be reactive, even reactionary, if the academic institution merely waits for the time when these values shall have been ingrained in the students. This kind of approach will not see success in this lifetime. Instead, academic institutions should make sure that cheating will not even have the chance to take place. The pivotal variable is not the students themselves, but the availability of opportunities to cheat that arise in an academic environment that is prone to dishonesty.

Ethics in an academic environment is very much an issue of formal controls put in place, thoroughly and consistently monitored, duly assessed on a regular and periodic basis, and appropriately punished or penalized when incursions into ethics do occur. Cheating should both be prevented and preventable. It can be prevented by eliminating the opportunities, need, and pressure for students to cheat. It can be preventable if ethics in an academic environment is seen within the framework of a policing function. This way, cheating is considered as an illegal and illegitimate misdemeanor that deserves a corresponding punishment.

The experience of learning is a tremendous effort on the part of students, oftentimes accompanied by great pressure. Honesty and integrity are part of this learning process that school administrators should bestow on the students. Those who know better in this aspect should take the cudgels for steering the students into the path of honesty. But honesty and integrity are values that cannot be taught by the schools alone. Values-formation is also very much an effort done at home, in the community, and among peers. The students are a like a sponge, all-ready and all-willing to take in knowledge. The learning mind is the perfect place to develop an ethical individual from whom the world can benefit. All students want to learn. It may also be concluded, therefore, that all students want to be honest if given the environment for honesty and integrity.

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Via The New York Times