<p>They just discovered it now and it was a course from last semester??</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Many well-respected and highly ranked colleges have courses that utilize take-home exams. This is not at all unusual. What is unusual is that half the students in a class would cheat. I saw a discussion on the news about this story and speculation is that after the hearings, many of these students will likely get a year’s suspension. </p>
<p>What the heck were they thinking?!</p>
<p>DD went to Rice and had many take home exams. Some were even closed book. The honor code is important to the campus culture and she would not think to cheat on them. Students were expelled or suspended for a year for even the hint of cheating. I know the extent she went to to make sure she never even had the appearance of cheating on one. A part of their orientation was a serious review of the honor code with small group discussions. </p>
<p>The article states they do not have an honor code and perhaps do not spend enough time orienting students to expectations on academic dishonesty. They may not have pursued other “small” cheating incidents. So the culture kind of slides. So stupid though.</p>
<p>Some of our ‘best and brightest’ high school students rationalize/justify cheating. Perhaps as a means to an end–getting into the highly-ranked schools… Call it pressure to succeed, call it succumbing to stress. My sister teaches AP English at a top high school and she regularly has students with ‘academic integrity’ issues. She firmly believes these kids have it worked out in their minds that cheating’s not a big deal.</p>
<p>Some of my upper division poli sci and history courses at umich had take home exams. They were primarily open book essays-- expected to be twice as lengthy or more than the typical exam essay with significantly more substance given that our books were available to quote from and analyze. They were actually much more difficult than many in-class essay exams. </p>
<p>The only way you could cheat was by working together, which I suspect would be what occurred here. I had an in-class exam once where the professor gave us a list of possible essay questions in advance and authorized us to have our own review session which most of the class attended, and she was very careful to tell us to make sure we did not all agree on the same responses to the possible essay questions or she would consider it cheating. She allowed us to go over the material and workshop possible ways to approach the questions, but our answers still had to be original-- I was a little concerned how that would work out but everybody passed the exam that should have so I guess we all took her warning to heart. Even talking about an exam with other students in advance can cross a line if you’re not careful… I am disappointed these students were so foolish. I have to wonder how good the course was that THAT many students even felt the need to cheat.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, I think Madbean made a good but sad point.</p>
<p>jym…The article states that the university board spent the summer reviewing all the exams from this class and interviewing some of the students. They wanted to get as much information as possible before proceeding with possible punishment. Sounds like they’ve handled it appropriately so far, and hopefully all those actually involved will be punished.</p>
<p>Thanks, wolverine.</p>
<p>MommaJ:
I didn’t mean to imply that they do; I was remarking that it surprises me that Harvard does not have an academic honor code, when so many other schools I know do. Every college student knows that cheating is wrong (certainly students who are bright enough to be admitted to Harvard). Perhaps honor codes are indeed irrelevant?</p>
<p>I’m pretty surprised to find they don’t have an Honor Code of some sort in place. A single sanction Honor Code would have made most of these students think twice about risking their ivy league education. Suspension? Give me a break. That’s a vacation for these kids, a few months in a tropical local.</p>
<p>oh no not harvard they walk on water at that school!</p>
<p>Unfortunately, the concepts of honor and dignity are quite weak in more and more younger people. </p>
<p>Sent from my Xoom using CC</p>
<p>No, honor codes don’t prevent cheating. And many of us get a bit worried when we read of Honor Committes and honor trials running amok. The last big bruhahhah at U Virginia a few years ago about the Honor Commiteee was embarrasing to read about. These are supposed to be bright people. Well, being smart is no bar to a flawed character.</p>
<p>I would guess that Harvard feels that they are admitting the best and the brightest the world has and they shouldn’t “need” to have a written honor code…trouble is maybe the best and the brightest aren’t the most honorable.</p>
<p>A ‘take-home’ final exam? Really? That’s just asking for trouble.</p>
<p>I assumed that everyone knew about Harvard’s dark side (and Yale’s, Princeton’s, etc.) and just turned a blind eye to it. In order words, why is this news?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>You should see Caltech. In-class exams aren’t allowed.</p>
<p>I do think honor codes can serve as a deterrent to some extent because they (usually?) include the obligation to report fellow students for any suspected breach. This would make at least some kids more wary of trying to get away with things that classmates could notice. On the other hand, they certainly don’t eliminate the problem.</p>
<p>I’ve always believed the only way to deal with cheating is to assume that there will always be some that try and do get away with it and it should be made as difficult as possible. There should be no such thing as take-home exams with the assumption that students are going to abide by a time limit (which some have) and not access forbidden sources of information. Some will follow the rules, but too many won’t and it’s just not fair to those who do.</p>
<p>Look at the Stuyvesant HS cheating episode this spring on NY Regents exams, well coordinated many participated in the ring. Who gets into Harvard? </p>
<p>“This happens all around the school,” wrote one classmate. “But you just happened to get caught and take the blame.”</p>
<p>Read more: [Stuy</a> cheat shock: 50 in ‘cell ring’ - NYPOST.com](<a href=“Stuy cheat shock: 50 in ‘cell ring’”>Stuy cheat shock: 50 in ‘cell ring’)</p>
<p>I would love to make a snide cynical comment about students willing to do what it takes to get into Harvard, but collaboration on that scale tells me there was a basic lack of understanding of what was and was not permitted, no matter what the fine print said on the course syllabus or student handbook.</p>