Many students interviewed felt there were very serious consequences for cheating, but those consequences were never fully realized. The teach who "caught" her students cheating gave all of them a 2nd chance to rewrite the paper. At one point an estimate was given about the percentage of university professors who "ignore" cheating even when they see it. I can't remember the exact figure, but want to say it was over a third. If this is the case, what are the consequences? Basically, it appears that a large number of students who cheat realize that they will look bad, but in terms of their grade they have nothing to loose. If they cheat and get caught, they either get the lower grade they expected to begin with or are given a 2nd chance. If they cheat and don't get caught, they end up with a better grade. In terms of their future, they see it as a situation in which they have nothing to loose except some respect from their professors who they probably won't see again after the semester is over.
The students (especially the high school students) did an excellent job of reciting all of the reasons "experts" say that they end up cheating... President Clinton lying under oath, Enron executives, etc. I was wondering if they said it because those incidents really "encouraged" them to cheat, or because the "experts" have been saying it will cause cheating for so long they think it is the reason we want to hear.
One of the sources a college professor found students plagiarizing from was a collection of papers from a 5th grade class. He stated that the 5th grade students would have "earned an A" in his class. I'm sorry, but does anyone else see a problem here? Even if these are truly outstanding 5th graders, are they really performing at the same level we would expect from college students? Have our standards in some areas fallen so low that writing at a 5th grade level (even a really advanced 5th grade level) is sufficient for not only passing a college course, but earning an A?
The statement that if a high school student doesn't have a really high GPA that they won't be able to get into college and will end up having to work at McDonald's was strangely disturbing to me on a few levels. First, these days a motivated student can get in to college with a moderate GPA in high school, though it might not be a "top tier" school. Second, a college degree will not keep someone from ending up working at McDonald's. Third, until we perfect the truly automated food industry, we will still need people to perform those jobs. At this point there is little chance of a server's job at a restaurant being outsourced, so might be a more stable career option than some alternatives. And finally, whether we really want to admit it or not, not everyone is cut out for college... just like not everyone in college is cut out for graduate school. Although I encourage everyone to engage in life long learning, the college environment is not necessarily the best environment for everyone to do that in. My step-brother is a pretty good movie critic/writer. While in college he was making high A's in his courses related to film, earning the highest grades some professors had ever given on exams. But, he could not bring himself to perform at the same level in other courses. He dropped out of college, wrote a movie script, directed and helped produce the movie, got a contract with a major film studio and is currently working on further developing his skills and passion as a script writer. Admittedly, not necessarily true for everyone, but if someone is not doing well in college, are we really doing the right thing by encouraging them to stay rather than exploring other options? (I won't even go into the friend of mine from high school (actually a year behind me) who went to a tech trade school for a couple of years and ended up "retiring" a few years ago at 24.... he got out of the dot com bubble before it burst. He now owns his own custom car shop.)
One of the scariest ways of cheating was presented towards the end... a "professional" paper-writer and test-taker. For $20/page you too can earn an A on a paper over a topic you know nothing about. What made me laugh is that just a few days ago a colleague asked me how I knew the students in my on-line course were in fact the students doing the work. I asked him if he checked student IDs in class and during exams... I've known for a long time about people like the one profiled that make money doing work for other people... he's essentially a ghost-writer, he just happens to be doing it for college papers rather than published books. Personally, I wonder if he realizes that by helping other students achieve high grades he is making his own high grades less meaningful. When grades stop distinguishing between people, then they become totally meaningless. (Okay, and some might argue that they are already at that point...)
One of the main things that seems to aid the cheaters is the fact so much testing depends on recognition rather than application. I think some cheating can be countered by giving exams that require students to do more than recognize the right answer.
I'm surprised they didn't mention the tricks of writing answers on the bottom of the shoe, taping a cheat sheet to the bill of a cap or under long hair that happens to "hang" over the face, or simply writing the answers on the desk itself. (Yes, I once sat down at a desk to watch student presentations and discovered what appeared to be "cheat notes" for another class written on the desk.)
Okay, I've gone on long enough on this... I wonder if I should devote Monday's class (our last class before the Final Exam) to a discussion of academic ethics, cheating, and the meaning/purpose of education...
- Marc
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G. Marc Turner, MEd, Network+, MCP
Instructor & Head of Computer Operations
Department of Psychology
Texas State University-San Marcos
San Marcos, TX 78666
phone: (512)245-2526
email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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