Each person faces a lot of challenges every day, and each young people meets even more challenges, since they are on the crossroads and has to make hundreds of important decisions which will define their future lives.
In this challenging world we all want to make success and some of us even violate the rules and other people’s will, in order to reach one’s goals. Of course, American people, like other nations, want to build up a strong, prosperous and integral society, but often Americans have to admit that there is a considerable lack of integrity in their community.
It is very often that leadership and integrity are regarded as two incompatible things, since the majority of people use the easiest way to cope with difficulties, violating the main principles of the right and the wrong. A lot of people talk about the lack of integrity but still do nothing to fill the gap in their own lives.
I am impressed with the example of the football player who cheated in order to win some advantage for his team, provided by Carter in his Integrity. The player broke the rule understanding that the referee would not catch him. It is very remarkable that the team, viewers and the broadcasters saw the lie and accepted it, since they belonged to the same community, they wanted the team won.
Thus, quite a lot of people were involved in this wrong situation which can be called dishonesty, and all of them lack integrity, though all of them talk about the necessity of being honest and integral person, under different circumstances. Carter notes that “if we happen to do something wrong, we would just as soon have nobody point it out” (Carter 5). Thus, people often sacrifice their integrity to reach the goal, though seeking for integrity in the American society.
Unfortunately, in the majority of the areas of life people assume the lack of integrity, but there are still hearths where integrity is praised, cherished and cultivated. Of course, these hearths are higher educational institutions where students are supposed to achieve their aims being integral people, acting rightly.
Students are taught to act correctly, without any violations of the rules, they are taught of what is right and what is wrong, and students are expected to become professionals who are able to bring integrity in the American society in any field of human’s life.
For instance, MSU’s policy on academic integrity presupposes maintaining to the main principles of integrity. Students are expected to obtain knowledge and show fair results of their studying.
The rules are simple but substantial, they make students accustomed to the basic rules which are present in their University life, and will be present in their future lives. During their study years students will obtain the understanding of the negative aftermath of the dishonesty, since there is a very simple example of such drawback of dishonesty.
If a student, for instance, cheats during the exams or uses somebody else’s work, he/she only gains the lack of knowledge and skills of his/her own. Moreover, it is very often when one dishonest act only leads to another, and also any dishonesty can only lead to punishment, sooner or later. In Universities students understand all that and form their own model of acting in terms of integrity.
To my mind, education, and higher education above all, not only broaden young people’s outlook and knowledge, but also form understanding of the essence of integrity and, thus, contribute to creation of society of high integrity.