Exposing the Cheat Sheet, With the Students' Aid (School Cheating Pandemic)

New York Times ^ | 25 November 2003 | JANE GROSS

[shrinkermd]

FYI. Success at any cost really does have a price. Especially troubling is "...There is ample statistical evidence of the explosion of cheating in high school. Michael S. Josephson, who runs an ethics institute in Los Angeles, found in 2002 that 74 percent of 10,000 high school students surveyed nationwide had cheated on a test in the previous 12 months, up from 61 percent 10 years earlier. Donald McCabe, a Rutgers University professor, published similar findings in 2001: of 4,500 high school students, 75 percent had cheated at least once on a test, up from 50 percent in 1993 and 25 percent in 1963...'

[2banana]

The label of the bottle had been peeled off, the history of atomic theory printed on the back and the label restored in preparation for a chemistry test. The test taker hoped for a handy crib sheet

Holy cow, if you have the time and energy to do this - you have the time and energy to study and not need a crib sheet!

[Tax-chick]

One parent asked, "Am I doing something wrong if I proofread a paper?" Another wondered if the cooperative work the school encouraged was confusing students about helping one another with homework. A third suggested the restoration of ethics in the curriculum, eliminated "when politically correct things came into play."

Several thoughtful suggestions from parents who obviously are actually concerned about whether their children actually learn anything. Although the idea of teaching ethics is a waste, I think ... unless they're teaching morals, absolute right and wrong, backed up by the example of the adults, it doesn't do any good. I recall "ethics" in college: "Consider various options and their outcomes and then decide what's 'right for you.' "

[SquirrelKing]

When I taught (less than 5 years ago) I had a huge problem with the PARENTS helping their kids cheat. For the most part it consisted of doing their homework for them. Some were stupid enough to complain to me that my assignments were too hard and that they couldnt do them!

[grania]

Holy cow, if you have the time and energy to do this - you have the time and energy to study and not need a crib sheet!

When I was teaching, that's about what I found. The kids with really skillful cheat sheets knew the material really well, even when the cheat sheets were confiscated. The ones with lousy cheat sheets didn't usually know the material.

Three points:

1. With the calculators they use, the line for cheating in math and science has blurred. Students program in formulas, etc; the less skillful just hide the cheat sheets in the cover.

2. My favorite teacher trick: When the little darlins' wrote the formulas or definitions or examples on the desk the day before, change them and don't tell them. <^..^>

3. Many teachers give "group tests" (what the heck does that prove?) Many teachers allow students to come into the tests with formulas on small pieces of paper.

Personally, I think these ideas are junk. If students don't have to memorize things, how are they going to recognize them in the future? All they're doing in these situations is learning to mindlessly follow procedures and/or get along with the "team".

[AppyPappy]

Cheating is a game. A friend who is a teacher caught a whole class cheating. The kids don't see anything morally wrong about it. It's just a game.

And the parents WILL sue. Parents see the teachers as mere workers and a possible barrier to their child getting into a good school BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY.

[SquirrelKing]

Preach it, brother.

[KevinB]

More fallout from the Clinton years.

[Lil'freeper]

"upside down" priorities, their "ruthless" pursuit of grades "over knowledge."

This summarizes the flaw in mass schooling. The kids see it as nothing more than a game- less than a game, actually. School is an utterly meaningless exercise; there is nothing wrong with cheating, in their minds, because it doesn't mean anything. Get the grade on the report card and move on- go hang out with friends, play video games, or whatever.

In his essays and books, John Taylor Gatto explores the depths of the meaninglessness in modern schooling and the lengths kids will go to fill the meaning void in their lives. It's a problem that won't be fixed by legislation or 'standards'; it will require a cultural revolution.

[PhilipFreneau]

>> With the calculators they use, the line for cheating in math and science has blurred. Students program in formulas, etc; the less skillful just hide the cheat sheets in the cover.

Every teacher should have a stash of cheap calculators to hand out to students to use during testing. The use of a personal calculator would result in a big fat zero on the test.

[pepperhead]

I remember back in high school I had a couple of classes with a few guys who would cheat on everything. They all got better grades than me. Then one day my senior year the ACT test scores came back and I beat them on everything. They all asked how in the hell I beat them on the test. They had seen my grades and knew that they were not as good as theirs. Then I told them how I did it. All these years they were cheating and doing as little work as possible, I wasn't.

[dawn53]

Here's a link to an interesting article I read this past week. Evidently the new "breed" of calculators, TI-89's, are presenting quite a quandry for math teachers.

My kid was homeschooled, we used Saxon and only used a calculator occasionally for Trig functions (but many times I had him divide out the ratio to come up with the tangent, sin, etc. so he would understand how that "number" on the calculator was calculated).

Anyway in his College Algebra class his teacher only allows TI-83's. She also gives tests where they have to reproduce the formulas without a calculator, so they must memorize certain basic formulas (distance formula, quadratic equation, etc.).

But the thing I find most interesting is that she gives out several different versions of the test. Chances are the person next to you isn't getting the same test as you are, so what would be the point of trying to copy off someone else's paper.

http://www.sptimes.com/2003/11/23/Tampabay/Math_students__use_of.shtml

[pepperhead]

More fallout from the Clinton years.

This isn't fallout from the Clinton years. They were cheating just as much back when I was in high school during the first Bush's term.

[wideminded]

I believe it was the New York police officer Serpico who said that in the police force about 5% were totally corrupt, 5% totally honest, and 90% would just go which every way the prevailing wind was blowing. This statistical estimate would seem to apply here as well.

[PeterPrinciple]

I recall "ethics" in college: "Consider various options and their outcomes and then decide what's 'right for you.' "


That is scary

[cb]

I'm 56. Last year I took a college geology course for fun. By the end of the term every member of my class knew that I knew the material. Waiting for the final to start, several wanted to sit by me and cheat. I told them I came from an era where cheating was FROWNED upon. They replied, hey...its like networking. Today you help me, later I might be able to help you. Nothing wrong with that.

He, he. I said, well, my car needs washing! Needless to say there were no takers. All of it is just an excuse to not do the work. If you substitute other work, they're not interested in That either.

[Tax-chick]

That is scary

It is, but those are the "ethics" being practiced by many my age (35-45) in the business world today. It's in every newspaper/tv report. And it's what passes for "character" or "values" instruction in most schools at any level, because moral absolutes are the only "absolute" no-no.

[CatoRenasci]

When I was in high school in 1963, cheating was rare and frowned upon by other students.

I have to say, though, we often did math or science homework in a group (the same half dozen of us all through high school), parcelling the problems out, getting together and sharing our work. The practice did have explicit approval, however, from the teachers, all of whom knew exactly what we were doing. We even had a room reserved every morning in the school library for an hour before school for our meetings. Of course, we were all good students, and each of us made sure the others understood what we were doing. It really reinforced our work. Some teachers even asked us to include particular kids who were having trouble in our group. We'd usually try to accomodate the request, but if a kid was having trouble because they were lazy and not working, they found our study group wasn't a free ride -- you had to pull your weight. Others who just needed a little more explanation time and were willing to work ususally found us very helpful.

I didn't see anything like that again until law school, where students were expressly encouraged to form study groups to discuss cases and other course materials.

My undergraduate school, The Virigina Military Institute, had a strict honor system with both a non-toleration clause and a single sanction (dishonorable dismissal). There, some professors allowed joint work, others didn't. One had to ask, because assignments were certified as one's own work, subject to whatever collaboration the professor had permitted (or sometimes required).

As my own children have been in school over the past fifteen years or so, I've seen much, much more required collaboration (where one's grade depends not only on one's own work but on the work of others). Cheating now seems rampant in my own daughters' high school, which is close to Westport's Staples mentioned in the article, and which has a similar (though much larger) student body and college admission pressures. It's a rough world out there, and these kids are under tremendous pressure from both peers and parents to achieve -- it's like Lake Woebegone where all the children are above average, don'cha' know? No one wants to be the kid who had to go to East Pottowattamie State Teacher's Normal School when his or her peers went off to Harvard, Yale, Amherst, Williams, Julliard, or schools of similar fame. Other than flunking kids caught and preaching integrity is ultimately the best course, the schools need to stop putting kids in a position where they have to lie to avoid being penalized when conflicts arise. Every teacher or program seems to demand that it is the first priorty, and when there are conflicts, kids who are honest about it are penalized. Those who feign illness (usually with parental complicity) are not. Similarly with misbehavior: honest kids caught having broken a rule who fess up are slammed with zero tolerance policies, those who continue to lie (absent overwhelming evidence that would stand up in court) are let off the hook. Bad life lesson.

[PeterPrinciple]

I have worked with some very good rural people who historically have been honest, but just the other day in doing a tax review I had an indication that someone wasn't showing some income that should have been.

It is tempting when everyone does it and also when the politicians don't spend it wisely.

My general rule is show all the income but get aggressive on the expenses. One is a "gotcha" the other is a debate....and I'm sticking to it.

[Tax-chick]

show all the income but get aggressive on the expenses

That's a good rule, especially if all the expenses are well documented. It's very hard to conceal income, if an auditor really goes looking for it. ... Which is not to say that our criterion should be "Can I get away with it?" :-)