Cheating Isn’t the Problem 571.3
Cheating Isn't the Problem.mp3
Although rising cheating rates in schools have signaled that the hole in our moral ozone is getting bigger, the media seem to have just discovered there’s a problem. The latest student trick they’ve uncovered is the use of the Internet and cellphones.
This drives me crazy because the more we focus on all the clever ways youngsters cheat, the more likely we are to ignore the fact that the biggest single factor in escalating academic dishonesty is the failure of parents and teachers to diligently teach, enforce, advocate, and model personal integrity.
It’s adults, not kids, who have the greatest responsibility to create an ethical culture that nurtures the virtues of honor, honesty, and fairness. Part of that responsibility is to commit to the integrity of exams and grades. We can thwart high-tech exam cheating by old-fashioned low-tech methods:
• Don’t let students bring anything into the exam room that isn’t essential to the test.• If calculators are necessary, assure that they’re emptied of any improper information.
• Prepare alternative forms of exams.
• Don’t give the same test to different classes throughout the day.
• Have an attentive adult proctor each exam by continually walking among the test-takers.
What message do schools send when these simple procedures are ignored?
The truth is, we’ll never solve the cheating problem until those who have the opportunity to instill values and shape attitudes of young people engage in thoughtful, systematic, and comprehensive efforts to promote integrity and prevent cheating.
This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.
Comments
The suggestions you give fo solving the cheating problem may help reduce cheating, just like hiring more policemen will reduce crime, but none of the methods mentioned, in my opinion, will instill a reversal of the concept that it's all right to cheat if I don't get caught. What's needed is broader and deeper use of student-led Honor Codes and thoughtful, dedicated indoctrination of students to help them understand the value of self and peer-imposed academic (and other) integrity. This may not be easy to achieve but will free teachers to concentrate on teaching their subject, not on being a policeman and offering students the challenge of ouwitting the teachers' attempts to catch or prevent cheating.
Stated differently, educational institutions need to teach students how to behave honorably afer they are out of school and no one is watching them. We have to know that they have this inborn desire to behave honorably and nurture its expression.
Franky, it has surprised me that I can't recall seeing anything on Honor Codes in the months I've received your newletter.
Posted by: Robert B. Leisy | June 20, 2008 12:03 AM
I firmly believe that it is the parents first and foremost who are responsible for instilling in their children the ethical and moral characteristics that society so desparately needs. Children reflect what they see at home -- and it is very clear what it is they are observing. There are those who will claim that the Internet is everywhere and exposes kids to things they shouldn't see. While that may be true, it doesn't negate (or provide an excuse for the failure of) the parental responsiblity for raising ethically and morally sound children.
Posted by: Anton | June 20, 2008 7:39 AM
Frankly, I'm quite shocked at the suggestion that teachers are somehow neglecting their duties of "cheater prevention." Most teachers I know are quite diligent about monitoring their rooms, making different tests, etc. It is the pressure these kids are under to PERFORM that has them running in circles trying to please everyone. We've got standards and test scores running the show. What do you expect? I know it's a cliche, but "Where there's a will, there's a way."
Teachers give the tests and can outline expectations and encourage integrity, yes, but it is the parents, the students' peers, and the media who have the power to raise or lower the bar on cheating. Teachers are a small piece of the much larger puzzle.
Posted by: Michelle A. | June 20, 2008 4:15 PM
Michael:
How can we blame students for cheating when it is being blatantly taught to professionals?
Last year I started to take a professional development course entitled "Analytical Skills" which was supposed to last a full year, with new class topics held the first week of each month.
The second month a young lady came and taught part 2 of the course "Critical Thinking Skills". She started off by listing items which would improve our critical thinking skills and listed several itmes which would aid in doing this. One of the items she listed was "If you do not cheat, you are not trying hard enough"!!! Needless to say, I dropped out of the entire proram.
With this being taught to professionals, can we blame high school students !!
Posted by: MGC | June 27, 2008 4:25 PM
I hope MGC told the people offering the professional development course why he or she was dropping out. Unbelievable!
Posted by: Kelly Pauley | June 30, 2008 9:20 AM
Why do a number of teachers (and their unions) object to testing when it is applied to them? Witness the whining both about rating schools under "No Child Left Behind" and the use of testing in connection with merit pay for teachers. Unfortunately, a few teachers even cheat on these tests. I am not indicting the profession--there are a few bad apples in every bunch--but trying to bring up a point of discussion. Could it be that it is testing itself, not cheating on tests, that is the problem? When children crave a college education to obtain status and income, and the deck is stacked to favor certain groups (legacies, big donors, politicians' kids, etc.), perhaps the system is askew. Shouldn't a person seek an education in order to make better decisions in life and to actualize his or her potential? If so, tests would only be a way of seeing how to achieve this most effectively, so cheating would be self-defeating. However, apparently becoming an educated person (and an ethical person?) is not as important as money and status in our society. Just a thought.
Posted by: Bob J. | June 30, 2008 12:39 PM