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Why cheat (in school)?
By The Linguist 02-03-2009 10:18 PM
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1726 views |
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I gave a quiz in my class last week - I'm a college professor. This was just a simple, 5-point quiz meant to check that the students had done the reading assigned for that day and had been paying attention to the previous day's lecture. Basically if you came to class and read what was on the syllabus, you couldn't fail, and if you did fail, it's not a big deal since this quiz counts for so little. One of the questions asked for a definition of a particular slang term that we had discussed in class. As I was grading the quizzes, I noticed one student gave an odd answer to the slang question. A quick search verified my suspicion: he clearly had googled the term during the quiz and gave the response from the first google result.
This is cheating. There is no question that this violates stated policies about academic dishonesty. I'm not interested in debating that. What I want to understand better is why someone would put their academic standing at risk over such a meaningless quiz. I'm not filing any charges against the student, but I know that other professors might make a bigger deal out of this. Depending on his record the student could be put on academic probation for this kind of violation. So, why would he do it? BTW, this is a class of about 25 students and not in a big lecture hall. He could easily have been caught in the act if I had wanted to walk around the room while they were taking the quiz. I know that some of you CAGs are college students. So, maybe you can help me understand this student's mindset. |
 Comments (Total Comments: 34) |
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xGunCrazyx
- 02-03-2009, 10:30 PM
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Personally, I wouldn't have risked it myself on such a small point quiz.
I have had a very close encounter to being caught cheating though, and I will never risk it again. We were supposed to have our first drafts of our assignment prepared for peer review, and I wasn't finished with it yet. My buddy lent me his rough draft file, and all I did was swap around some paragraphs to make it look a little different. When we were in class, the teacher said she would be reading over each rough draft to make sure we did it. Me and my friend thought we were busted, but luckily she only glanced over each paper. I swore that after that day, I would never try anything that stupid again. I'd much rather receive a poorer grade than get caught and be humiliated with the possibility of being kicked out of class as well. While I think it would be sorta lame to report him on such a small instance of cheating, I'd maybe talk to him after class to let him know you realize what he did and to explain to him you don't want to see it again. If he doesn't think you figured it out, he will likely continue cheating. Maybe he'll think twice next time if you let him know though  |
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Lizzy Jane
- 02-03-2009, 10:32 PM
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Not to make any excuses for him, but perhaps he is under a lot of stress and feels that he needs every point to pass. (Personal I would rather fail the quiz as oppose to cheat and take the chance of being caught.) But people do some stupid things when under stress.
We have no way of knowing what is expected of him on a daily basis outside of class. Professors at college of making it seem like theirs is the only class that they have and heaven forbid if you should have a job or family to take care of besides that. (Not saying that you are one of these, considering 1. that I do not know you and 2. that I have never had you for a teacher.) All I am saying is that perhaps he had not done the readings and simply had not the time to get to it. Perhaps he was afraid he would fail the test. However, since you talked about it IN class none of these really justifies his actions. The best way to get to the root of it would be just ask him point blank and find out his reasons for such an act. |
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nitrozoom
- 02-03-2009, 10:40 PM
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I can posit two rational explanations. The first being the student didn't agree with your statement that this was a "meaningless quiz." The second would be that he felt he couldn't be caught.
BTW I get a kick out of your blogs. You must post more! |
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DarkNessBear
- 02-03-2009, 10:41 PM
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I cheat as often as I can. I don't like to, but sometimes it's a must. It depends, if you are teaching at a Community college than it is reasonable.
I don't want to be there, I just want to get all my crappy classes over with and go home. This is not what I set out to be in life and it's frustrating when your teacher acts like this is the most important thing in your life. All I want to do is go to class and listen to something interesting for a bit, maybe learn some new things and get my 'points' and get the heck out of there. No Mr. Teacher; I'm not in the mood to write 40 pages on why Piaget and Mead are awesome. If it's a "real school" (university) or a school that I am in to learn MY field of interest. Than yes, DON'T let the SOB's cheat, kick their asses. Why the hell else are they there? If it's community college, don't be such a hard ass. |
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Nathan_Sama
- 02-03-2009, 10:42 PM
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Umm I'm in High School, but maybe he was testing to see if you would notice him searching google so he could pull that stunt again?
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paintball745
- 02-03-2009, 10:44 PM
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well i cheated on my finals senior year in high school and te only one i reamber was javascript because i almost got caught because a couple of the lines of code i copied was the exact same meaning i lift all the spaces the same and such. but on a a 5 point test i wouldnt cheat it is just stupid i would tell him he cheated and call him out on and and tell him your giving him a 0 on that test for cheating.
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zenprime
- 02-03-2009, 10:46 PM
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Sometimes people do stupid irrational things. Ask him about it, but in a seriously non-confrontational way. Gods forbid this guy is under serious stress and needs help but doesn't know how to ask for it.
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eliter1
- 02-03-2009, 10:56 PM
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I have never cheated on a Quiz or Test in college and to be honest I don't see the need for it. I have failed small and big tests, and sometimes I have gone into a room knowing I am going to fail but I still don't, I consider myself an hones person (most of the time). Cheating is just not who I am. Even if I did cheat on a test I am a ISM/CE major and that would not help me when I have to do my labs. Some people are just stupid and risk a lot when the cheat especially in insignificant tests, which makes me think why are they attending college in the first place?
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The Linguist
- 02-03-2009, 11:05 PM
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Wow, great feedback!
I let the student know I knew by writing "Google much?" on his quiz. @LizzyJane: you weren't kidding in your blog! you ARE stressed out about school. Since this is only the 3rd week of class here, I doubt my student is really swamped with schoolwork. But you're right he could have a lot of out-of-class crap to deal with @DNBear: this is at a large research university not a community college though I don't agree that this distinction should make a difference to the student. |
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Torque
- 02-03-2009, 11:13 PM
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small quiz points add up esp. when your doing bad in class and or need to achieve a certain grade. People will go to almost any lengths to achieve some of their goals. Also did you give him a 0 for the quiz?
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Lizzy Jane
- 02-03-2009, 11:13 PM
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Just out of curiosity what do you teach? (You probably posted this and I missed it along the way.) |
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grndoom
- 02-03-2009, 11:18 PM
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That's a pretty ballsy student you've got. I'm too scared to try and cheat at my school; besides, I'm not paying tuition so I can sit in classrooms and NOT learn. That's just stupid. Plus, it's so early into spring semester why would the student sweat 5 points?
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mykevermin
- 02-03-2009, 11:23 PM
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How did they google this? Was it take home?
What was the slang term? |
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The Linguist
- 02-03-2009, 11:29 PM
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@fazfznz: i didn't give him a zero for the quiz; I forget exactly what he got but I think he got some of the other questions right.
@lizzy Jane: we tend to start pretty slow around here. This was actually the first graded assignment for the class and they had to read about 20 pages total over the first 2 weeks of class. This is an English class so much of that reading was short stories; i.e. easy stuff to read compared to a physics textbook. The good news is that this was probably the only question I'll ask on a quiz or exam this semester that could realistically be answered with the help of Google. I normally ask more obscure stuff or, for exams, ask things that require actual thinking. |
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Blackout
- 02-03-2009, 11:30 PM
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I don't cheat but in college it seems like every little assignment counts, and if ya screw up on even one assignment it can really hurt your grade. Maybe the guy was just worried about failing.
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Lizzy Jane
- 02-03-2009, 11:36 PM
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Ahhhh... You are just the guy to answer my question then. Right now I am taking a class about film and trauma theory. We have multiple books for this class. The problem is nobody writes in plain English. Why the hell can they not write intellectual sounding books in ways that do not require reading a single paragraph a dozen times before the light bulb goes off in your head that even gives you an inkling of what the hell they are trying to say?
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The Linguist
- 02-03-2009, 11:44 PM
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@Myke: I figured he had an iPhone or some other web-enabled device. All the classrooms have wi-fi. I know he didn't use a laptop; I would have noticed that. The term was "Mother Carey's Chickens," a phrase used by Melville.
@Lizzy Jane: you answered your own question. If they weren't written with jargon-spiced, convoluted syntax, they wouldn't be "intellectual sounding books." Maybe I blog on that topic sometime. |
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bsesb2003
- 02-04-2009, 12:04 AM
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Some people just don't care much anymore about being honest, which takes a lot more time and energy that to be dishonest.
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blackjaw
- 02-04-2009, 12:13 AM
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I'm a college graduate and have a few classes left in an MBA and I find cheating dispicable. I really don't understand why anyone would want to risk their academic career, but I've seen people get the boot for cheating in the MBA program.
Whether this is something small like peeking at the paper next to yours, or something larger like copy/pasting on a thesis, it is all cheating and is a sign that you are lazy and probably don't deserve to be there in the first place. There are so many bright people that don't have the opportunity for higher learning and it pisses me off to see something wasted on an idiot that feels the need to cheat. Personally, I'd put it in his/her file and watch them closely from now on. If they were willing to cheat on something so small, they will, or have, cheated on something big. These are the people that feel "entitled" and exactly the people that I would not hire to work with me. |
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mykevermin
- 02-04-2009, 12:17 AM
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danke for the answer.
There are a ton of reasons students cheat. Why they do is irrelevant, because you're not going to change those motives, not matter how many inspired "stay home and study, put down the beer bong full of 'natty lite'" you may give. Putting protections in place to cover cheating is all you can do. So, it sucks that this person cheated, but they made the decision to do so. Remember (and you know this as a teacher, but it's not something students consider): teachers don't *give* grades. Your work dictates the grade you deserve. You cheat? You don't prepare? Don't be upset if you perform poorly. You can't stop cheating, but you can catch it. |
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