In NYC, there has been a scandal concerning one of the elite public high schools "Stuyvesant HS" when it was discovered that one of the students last spring used a cell phone to take pictures of a Regents exam and sent it to other students. Here is one account of what happened and what the "punishment" is: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/08/education/12-students-suspended-in-cheating-plot-at-stuyvesant-high-school.html And here's another: http://online.wsj.com/article/APde1006a9532b4f17bcfe4a80eddc7b82.html
NOTE: As indicated in one of the articles, a student has to pass five regents exams out of several areas (if memory serves, they include English, math, American history, and some other subjects) in order to get a "regents diploma". There is prestige in getting a regents diploma but back in the day when I took them, passing with an adequate grade entitled one to a Regents Scholarship that one was awarded when accepted to a college (I was awarded one and it helped pay for books and such; I don't know what the current status of the scholarship program is). Now, it can just be me, but an informal cost-benefit analysis seems to suggest that because the penalties for cheating at Stuyvesant are relatively minor, it makes sense to cheat if it results in a good grade. However, as "The Gothamist" website points out, one could get a good grade just by reviewing the Barrons series of books for the exam; see the following -- it also has a nice picture of the "new" Stuyvesant HS: http://gothamist.com/2012/09/07/stuyvesant_asking_students_to_sign.php Apparently, Stuyvesant is going to implement some sort of "honor code" and require students to sign a contract stating that they will not cheat or lie. As the comments on the website indicate, yeah, signing such a pledge is going to make a habitual lies who has got it working for them is going to stop lying as soon as they sign the pledge. There are larger issues, of course, in play. Everyday we have examples who cheat and lie (anyone watch the Republican Convention?) and get away with it. To many it is not the "act of cheating" that is wrong but the "act of getting caught cheating" that is wrong -- if you are not caught, you're fine. A social sciences professor at Hofstra University has an article on HuffPost about this larger context, starting with Melky Cabrera's recent 50 game suspension for illicitly taking testosterone (which might have been one reason why he was led MLB in hits); see: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alan-singer/did-the-melk-man-learn-to_b_1796446.html Quoting from the article: |Of course Stuyvesant students are not the only ones who |are cheating on tests and homework. In fact, it seems almost |everyone is. In 2009, the Atlanta Constitution discovered that |teachers and principals at 44 out of 56 schools had changed |student answers on state standardized exams. In 2004, 23 Houston, |Texas schools were investigated for possible cheating on the |Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills. The Dallas Morning |News found "unusual test score patterns" in nearly 400 schools |statewide. The San Francisco Chronicle revealed actions that |compromised the validity of California's high stakes achievement |tests in at least 123 public schools between 2004 and 2006. |In the affluent Great Neck school district in suburban New York City, |students from well-off families paid as much as $3,600 for other |students to take their college admissions exams. As many as |forty students were implicated in the scam. | |Alfie Kohn, who writes and speaks widely on educational issues, |offers interesting insights into the phenomenon of cheating in schools. |In an article published in the October 2007 issue of Phi Delta Kappan, |"Who's Cheating Whom?," Kohn identies the conditions that promote |a culture of cheating. | |1. Teachers in the school have no real connection to students and |do not seem to take it seriously when they cheat on exams. | |2. Cheating is more common when students experience academic |tasks as "boring, irrelevant, or overwhelming." | |3. Students cheat when the ultimate goal of education is presented |to them as getting good grades rather than learning. | |4. Students feel pressured to improve their performance on standardized |tests by any means necessary, even if they regard the methods as unethical. | |5. Students are forced to compete with each other for school rewards |and admission to prestigious colleges. | |Kohn believes, "Competition is perhaps the single most toxic ingredient |to be found in a classroom, and it is also a reliable predictor of cheating... a |competitive school is to cheating as a warm, moist environment is to mold." |I believe Kohn is right. As long as schools promote competition between |students, they are establishing the conditions, promoting, even requiring |that students cheat. Of course, the above applies, strictly speaking, only to high school students. College students are older and more mature and can be more rational about such issues. Well, unless they're trying to get into grad school, med school, law school, or some other post graduate position that will serve as an entry to a lucrative career. -Mike Palij New York University [email protected] --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=20276 or send a blank email to leave-20276-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
