<p>“The honor code is important to the campus culture and she would not think to cheat on them.”</p>
<p>H. doesn’t have an honor code.</p>
<p>“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>
<p>That’s what I suspect, too. Take-home exams are less common at Harvard than at some of its peers, and a lot of kids might have interpreted “open-internet” to mean that they could exchange emails or chats about the test. Of course, negligent cheating is punishable just like intentional cheating, but I bet they will find that a lot of the kids were acting in careless good faith. We’ll see how it comes out in the wash.</p>
<p>My daughter attends a college with an active honor code. While I’m sure it doesn’t prevent cheating entirely, the honor code pervades the campus and its philosophy. It’s discussed and ratified every year, there is a great deal of thought about balance, and it’s taken quite seriously. My d takes take home exams quite often and is extremely responsible about self-proctoring. I don’t think she’s all that unusual.</p>
<p>While I do think these honor codes can and do run amok, they do have value and yes, they do make a difference.</p>
<p>It’s not the case, apparently, that the students didn’t know better, or the guidelines were unclear:</p>
<p>From an online report quoting a Harvard representative:</p>
<p>“The exam had clear instructions that no collaboration was allowed, Harris said.”</p>
<p>Harvard students aren’t any better or worse ethically than any others, but they are rarely poorly informed about course requirements. Pleading ignorance is not going to work in this case, I sincerely hope.</p>
<p>Who cares if there is an honor code or not? Cheating is cheating. </p>
<p>There is no doubt in my mind that these HARVARD students did not “unknowingly” cheat. </p>
<p>Especially after a summer that Harvard spent investigating this issue, looking at exams, interviewing students…etc. </p>
<p>I hope that they all get expelled. If they cheated this time, they’ll cheat again but just be smarter about it. It sort of taints Harvard graduates, and punishes those that did not cheat.</p>
<p>Speaking as someone whose main job is communication with students…just because you wrote it on the exam/syllabus/emails doesn’t mean that they read it. </p>
<p>In fact, that’s a wild understatement. You can safely assume that a majority of students will not read the instructions. It’s something I deal with every single day, and these are high-caliber students.</p>
<p>It certainly wouldn’t absolve anyone of wrongdoing, if true. But it might help us understand what went on and what it means for the university.</p>
<p>How about the students meant to cheat 'cause they thought they’d do better as a result? Everything to get an edge. </p>
<p>Future Wall Street executives.</p>
<p>I am actually surprised at the rather mild comments here. I strongly oppose academic dishonesty, cheating, plagiarism and always mentioned to my kids that I want them to do their own work. Nothing is worth the disgrace of cheating (caught or not)
If I were “in charge” at Harvard, I would expel them. No “one year off,” no reduce grade by one grade, etc. These students, we are constantly told, are the brightest and best, and they need to live up to their promotion. Otherwise, we will always wonder…
It’s called having character and a backbone.</p>
<p>It happens at every school in huge numbers. It is the only possible result when a group of motivated people are fighting for high stakes. Getting into Harvard is one huge cheating competition (tutors, embellished accomplishments, alumni donations, etc.). Why would it stop there when they are now competing for jobs, grad schools, etc?</p>
<p>That’s 2% of the undergrad population, and nearly 8% of the 1641 students who accepted admission to the Class of 2016. Even if the accused students are from various classes, any major sanction would hit a sizable population of students.</p>
<p>Looking at this another way, at Harvard’s sticker price of $53K for tuition, room, and board, that’s $6.6 million in one-year revenue. Of course, many pay less than sticker price, but the financial stakes here aren’t small for either side. I doubt if Harvard offers refunds to students booted out for cheating. </p>
<p>But, if a one-year suspension were enforced after the end of the current semester, the school would bear the brunt of the delayed revenue. I suppose Harvard can afford it better than just about any school, but it’s not insignificant.</p>
<p>To assign a take-home exam and assume that no cooperation will occur is wildly optimistic in any environment. The service academies have strong honor codes but have had cheating scandals. The scale of this is unusual, though.</p>
<p>It will be interesting to see whether some well-heeled families attempt legal action to protect their kid’s reputation. I’m sure there are a few alumni exerting quiet pressure to make this go away.</p>
<p>The whole thing seems dumb. They should just forget about it and focus on creating a more controlled atmosphere for exams. Harvard students (and those from other top schools) will use any edge they can. No reason to tempt them.</p>
<p>It makes sense to be mild because we don’t know what really happened yet. It’s a big deal, it’s big news, it’s worthy of discussion. I just don’t think it’s time to jump to conclusions about what the punishment ought to be or whether all 125 students are guilty.</p>
<p>If you don’t come down hard on those for whom it is more likely than not that they cheated, it will just cause more students to cheat in the future. </p>
<p>And these cheaters will go on to get great jobs that other worthy and honest candiditates deserve. </p>
<p>If they choose to just suspend them for a semester - they better make sure they print the reason for the suspension on the said students’ transcripts. </p>
<p>And I’m sure Harvard has plenty of students begging to get in, so I don’t think the argument of ‘lost revenue’ is that compelling, especially when the repercussions of allowing cheating to occur and graduating said cheaters is alot worse.</p>
<p>I’m sure Harvard could fill those seats of students that were out for a year or a semester.</p>
<p>My son told me about the measures that his school took to try to control cheating (you can’t stop it). Taking backpacks, phones. Kids write notes on baseball cap lids, water bottles and that’s not even getting into the high-tech stuff. They could probably cut down on cheating with comprehensive oral exams at the end of the semester but this would be pretty labor intensive.</p>
<p>Unless they can definitively prove cheating in specific cases, they will and should face legal liability for making arbitrary decisions on students’ futures. If it was my son whom I felt was being unfairly treated, I would mobilize the other parents just so that the school understood the implications for their decision.</p>
<p>“If it was my son whom I felt was being unfairly treated, I would mobilize the other parents” </p>
<p>^duh, parents will do that. You’re part of the problem. Parents will always feel like their cheating children are being unfairly treated. I actually think that Harvard parents are probably even worse about this than others. </p>
<p>“I would mobilize the other parents just so that the school understood the implications for their decision.”</p>
<ul>
<li>It is the students who have to realize the implications of them choosing to cheat. not only on themselves and their futures, but of their classmates as well. Don’t put that on the school/administrators. Its not the schools fault that the students risked their own futures.</li>
</ul>
<p>Of course it would be the gov concentrators. Who else?</p>
<p>“Unless they can definitively prove cheating in specific cases”</p>
<p>Obviously, they’ve spent time looking at all the exams, and interviewing several of the students involved. </p>
<p>I don’t think they punish students who were good at covering their tracks, unfortunately. However, one’s whom word-for-word and sentence-for-sentence plagerized. That’s more than enough evidence, but still won’t be enough to satisfy the proud parents of the cheating & entitled students who were caught. The ONLY thing that would satisfy many of these parents would be a verbal confession, and even with that, they would still argue that their little Johnny or Susie deserves another chance.</p>
<p>And now the rest of us will have to sit through another series of common sense “community meetings” where we can talk about the importance of honesty, as though the idiots and cheaters were a majority, or even a large minority, of the student body.</p>
<p>^haha, which is another reason it’d be good to expel the cheaters. Otherwise, this graduating class (and possibly future classes) will have a tarnished reputation based upon the action of a few, and an inapproriate response form Harvard administrators that allows them to stay enrolled.</p>