A Moral Conundrum--What would you do?

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

<p>I'm just curious about the sort of responses I get from CCers on a school-related moral conundrum, inspired by a conversation that I overheard in the halls at my school.</p>

<ul>
<li><p>Suppose you are hardworking student and you might even have a shot at being valedictorian. You have finals and you're feeling pretty good about them except for one 2-day final in a math class. You need at least a 50% on the final to get an A in this class. You take part one--and find many of the questions to be different not only from the test review, but also many of the problems you've done in class and think that this is going to be harder than you thought. For some of the questions it seems, there is no way you could've prepared. </p></li>
<li><p>You (and only you) become aware of a group of students (let's call them "the collective") who have obtained the final and know the questions beforehand. They are unwilling to share the test with anyone who didn't either help them obtain said final or is going to help them solve some of the problems on it. If they get high scores, they could ruin the curve for everyone else.</p></li>
<li><p>You muse over part two, your teacher will be away and the test will be administered by a proctor. There will be no chance to ask questions and clarify what you don't know. You REALLY want an A and a chance to be valedictorian. What do you do?</p></li>
</ul>

<p>A) Offer to help the collective in solving the problems in exchange for getting both problems and answers.</p>

<p>B) Threaten the collective with ratting on them to the teacher/proctor should they not provide you with either B1) problems or B2) problems and answers. </p>

<p>C) Wait to see if you get a 50% anyway, and if you don't, tell the teacher and hope that justice is served at the expense of arousing the collective's anger. (You don't necessarily have concrete evidence, but you KNOW they're doing it.)</p>

<p>D) Ignore it and try to study anyway. If you can't get a 50% on the final, you don't deserve an A in the class.</p>

<p>E) Ignore it because no self-respecting valedictorian would stoop so low as to cheat in such a way (oh really?)</p>

<p>F) Wait to see if you get a 50% anyway, and when you do, tell the teacher anyway, drawing the anger of the collective. [Not Recommended]</p>

<p>G) Create an alternative solution.</p>

<p>Please put yourself in this character's shoes for a moment and answer honestly. What would you do? I said it was inspired by a conversation I heard in the hallway, and I stand by my statement...</p>

<p>...but your response may be more meaningful than you first assume...</p>

2

<p>I don’t usually say this but in that case, snitch anonymously. </p>

<p>A) Don’t do this, you’re helping the cheaters.
B) If you don’t want to be hazed the rest of your high school life, don’t do this.
C) I don’t like that risk, especially if the curve could get ruined.
D) You could do this but see C.
E) Don’t just ignore it because see C.
F) Do it anonymously.</p>

<p>But I’m 99% sure that at least one of the people in this group is one of your friends. In that case, you have to decide if risking your friendship is worth saving your valedictorian status and the grades of many students in that class.</p>

3

<p>Honestly, I would be tempted to help the collective solve the set. But this temptation would soon be followed by many thoughts of my dad explaining the so many awesome things he usually does. Then, I would choose option (D) unhesitatingly.</p>

<p>However, if the situation (weapons/drugs/etc) were more serious in my own morals, I would definitely:</p>

<p>(G): Inform the authorities.</p>

<p>I don’t encourage The Collective’s actions but I believe that such people/groups work towards their own doom. Their actions are their catalysts. Why should I interfere and slow down the process? :p</p>

4

<p>I would try to ignore what i heard. I feel sort of ashamed of myself when I occupy my mind with things like that because it just seems like misplaced emotional erergy and thought. Thinking about that kind of thing never really got me anywhere or made me feel any better or anything. </p>

<p>I don’t really see how one can consider those options without feeling unpleasant things. once again, it doesn’t seem healthy. So * please *, wiscongene, read genetics or a nice book or something.</p>

5

<p>No time for reading books, my friend, I need to study for finals. ;)</p>

<p>Interesting responses so far. I will post a more in-depth response after a few more responses.</p>

<p>I should add that as I…er…imagined…this scenario (;)) no one among the known collective is a bad student or a dummy, per se. They’re all better than average. Though it was known beforehand that the ringleaders were pretty shady–just the kind of people who could pull something like this off.</p>

<p>The problem with the anonymous approach is that I’m not sure if it can be done that way. The teacher or proctor would be suspicious of the rat’s involvement to begin with–and without any evidence in hand, it would be difficult to actually bring the collective’s actions to light without a testimony that would make them aware of who the rat was…</p>

6

<p>I wouldn’t do it. If you get caught, it will explode in your face.
If you lose your A, report the people.</p>

7

<p>I guess it’s hard to say because I’ve never gone to public school, so I don’t know what it’s like to have the possibility of valedictorian…I doubt I’d tell any teachers because it’s not my business. And I definitely wouldn’t want to get involved in a cheating situation where I could be so easily convicted. So D, I think.</p>

8

<p>I’d talk to the teacher, telling them that the final has been leaked. I would not give names regarding “the collective,” but suggest that the teacher make a new final exam as the one that was leaked wouldn’t validly serve as a test of knowledge.</p>

9

<p>D) 50% is incredibly low…</p>

10

<p>I would turn in “the collective” as soon as I knew. I get the grade I get. That’s the only honest way to do things.</p>

11

<p>definitely D</p>

12

<p>An “A” indicates mastery of the material. A grade of 50% is usually considered an “F.” Failing the final exam (the object of which is to test your mastery of the material taught throughout the course) does not indicate mastery of the material. Ergo, if you get most of the final exam wrong, you don’t deserve an A. You don’t deserve an A if you cheat by obtaining the test ahead of time, either. It’s a question of personal integrity, which will continue to be important in life long after the fleeting relevance of high school grades has faded. Do you believe that you should get what you want, or what you deserve?</p>

<p>Turning in the other students isn’t as direct a question of personal integrity, though some might construe it that way (possibly that failing to report cheating is equivalent to being party to the cheating), but that’s something you need to decide on your own, and is less pressing than the matter of your own behavior.</p>

13

<p>D. If they’re potentially the valedictorian and sill can’t get a 50% on a final, no matter how hard, it’s a bit sad. That’s half of the problems wrong. Personally, I respect my teachers, myself, and everybody else I work with to cheat on things. It just seems like a dumb idea to me. I know tons of kids in my class who cheat though, and you kind of just let that slide. I don’t seeing it as being worth it to turn people in - just deal with it, and know that they’ll stop succeeding eventually.</p>

14

<p>A. Definitely.</p>

15

<p>If I were you, I would do what silencefell said. During the first semester of my WHAP class, I heard a few people in my class talking about how my teacher always took our quiz questions from a certain website. I later checked the website myself, and turned out to be true. The next day I told the teacher that the quizzes we took were available online and could be accessed by anybody. He now makes his own quizzes.</p>

<p>It also felt really nice to see the shocked expressions of the people who had been relying on the online quizzes when we took our next quiz.</p>

16

<p>I would talk with the teacher BEFORE the final. I would tell him about the situation and propose that he use a different final (either one from previous years, or he makes a new one (it’s math, so switching up the numbers isn’t hard)). If this doesn’t work, I’ll talk to the department chair; and propose the same thing.</p>