Don,
I think you have two different concerns here: what happens when you give a test
and whether members of a certain ethnic group may be more likely to cheat.
It appears from what you've presented that these students have cheated -- the
identical homework papers, swapping papers, talking during the quiz -- and I
wonder what the consequences were for those behaviors. Do you have a clear
definition or plagiarism and consequences (or does your school)? It would seem
that if these students are receiving failing grades (or worse) that these
actions wouldn't continue to occur as often.
Also, have you considered changing your test-taking environment for all
students? For example, having the chairs arranged in such a way that they
couldn't talk or exchange papers during the exam; creating alternate versions
of the same test so that copying would be of no use; having assigned seats for
taking tests; only allowing bathroom visits before the exam, or only allowing a
student to use the bathroom if he or she has an emergency (and then only one at
a time). Otherwise, it seems that you've created an environment that assumes
everyone is fair and honest, but one that also will allow the "amoral punks" to
cheat.
Of course, these students may find other ways to cheat, but at least you've
made it harder for them to be successful at it.
I don't know about whether certain ethnic groups are more likely to cheat, but
I did find this interesting article in this morning's Raleigh News & Observer.
The link is a bit unwieldy, so I'll post the text here and include the link at
the bottom.
-------
Paper: The News and Observer
Edition: Final
Date: 02/23/2000
Page: E4
Headline:
Teachers' words may clash with cultures
###End Headline
Source: The Washington Post
Text:
When a teacher in a U.S. school tells a Mexican-born father
that his daughter is contributing a lot to class discussions, his
reaction may be dismay. The problem isn't a language gap but a
clash of cultural values.
That's the conclusion of a study by a group of California
educators, who said American teachers need to make an adjustment
when dealing with parents and students from a "collectivist"
culture.
Because the culture of the father in the example above
emphasizes the well-being of the community, he may think that his
daughter is showing off and taking time away from the classroom
lesson.
The teacher, on the other hand, raised in a culture that
values individualism, wants to see students express their ideas.
For the same reason, a Latino student may become uncomfortable
when a teacher praises him in front of classmates or encourages
him to think critically about what he reads in textbooks and is
told in class, the study said. In the student's culture,
authority resides in the textbook and the teacher.
The researchers recommended that teachers praise such students
for how their performance helped the class as a whole. When
talking to the students' parents, teachers should emphasize the
child's success at cooperating with others before moving on to
individual achievements, the report said.
The study, called "Bridging Cultures," was sponsored by the
San Francisco-based educational research agency WestEd and is
available at www.WestEd.org.
###End Text
http://search.news-observer.com/plweb-cgi/fastweb?getdoc+nao_public_archive+nao_00+8218+1++%28collectivist%29%3AText
---------
--Steve Jones
=====
Steve Jones
[EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
C.E. Jordan High School
Durham, NC 27707
This Week In Psychology
http://www.jordan.durham.k12.nc.us/psychology/thisweek.html
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