Maddenation
You call that cheating?
“Rutgers professor finds 40% of students plagiarize material from the Internet, other sources,” says the sub-headline in yesterday’s Star Ledger.
Don McCabe, the Rutgers-Newark, management professor who headed the study, is quoted as saying, “It amazes me … how frequently students would cite what’s going on in the ‘real world.’ Students are saying, ‘People cheat. Get over it.’”
Maybe that’s the solution to the low test scores problem. Students need to be taught more than how to put on a condom. They need to be taught to cheat!
Dad • News • 08/29/03 • 3 comments
Comments
Patrick • 08/30/03 • 8:59 AM:Unfortunately, they learn how to cheat on their own or from friends. The most proficient cheaters have an advantage in the “real world.” Those who are bad at cheating are in jail.
Patrick • 08/30/03 • 11:10 AM:The only way to stop cheating is to instill some kind of moral values in children. This ought to come from family, but that happens less and less. Religion teaches moral values, but with people taking religion less seriously, that avenue is also getting cut off too. Getting caught and punished will not stop cheating (but punishments should still be employed). I think I could be a good cheater. In fact, I have cheated on tests and things. I don’t think I ever got caught. Even one time in Memorial when Mr. Parks was subbing in our Spanish class and everyone was cheating by having their books open on their laps (the desks gave you a kind of cover). When he started walking around the room catching people cheating, I, using only my knees, slid my book closed, then, as he got closer, between my legs, down onto the floor, and out in front of my desk (as he walked behind looking). When the coast was clear, I got the book back inside the desk (which had a side compartment for books). Lots of people got busted that day, but I didn’t (and I speak Spanish pretty well now, but not because of that class). My best cheat, though, was carving my geometry formulas onto my pencil in tiny tiny writing that couldn’t be noticed even from fairly close up. Never got caught.
I’m not proud of these moments (okay, I am a little bit), but I use them to illustrate that, what? That everyone cheats sometimes? That some people cheat better than others? That even if students cheat sometimes, they can still learn?
I will say that by the time I got to college I no longer cheated. Once I had a take-home, timed astronomy final exam. He told us to be honest and only take two hours to do it. When my two hours were up, I was not finished, and with more time I would have answered the remaining questions, but I packed up my things and stopped.
Dan • 09/09/03 • 1:19 PM:i don’t recall ever cheating in college, but this one jackass used to sit in the back of the room for wastewater management tests (at ND) and ask his girlfriend questions (she sat right next to him. she was smart, he was not) and she’d give him her test to copy. that made me mad. at least if you’re going to cheat, be clever, inventive. make it something you can be proud of 15 years later. carve stuff on your pencil. don’t cheat such that the person farthest from the room can hear you cheating.
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