<p>Comments?</p>
<p>Thanks so much!</p>
<p>It would be a lie to say that no cheating goes on. If that were the case, there would be no need for a BoC. But the honor code does work for the most part, and academic cheating (based on anonymous polling) is much less prevalent at Tech than at other places, where tests are supervised.</p>
<p>Social Relationships? That's too broad... what do you want to know?</p>
<p>Sometime this term, there's going to be an extensive, anonymous poll on the honor system, which should provide some data. </p>
<p>Until that's done, no one can credibly give you a lower bound on how much cheating actually occurs, but frankly, just from judging from the attitudes of the people I know, it is not a significant problem.</p>
<p>Of course there are BoC cases, but the vast majority of the cases I've seen (as a BoC rep) are either a) misunderstandings of the honor code applied to a specific exam/problem set, or b) cracking under an immense amount of pressure. Rarely have I thought that defendants have planned to cheat far ahead of actually doing it. Of course maybe that's because people who plan to cheat are better at and get away with it, but I think that's being a bit overly cynical considering: a) the palpable respect for the honor system most students have, and b) the honor system working so well not-academically which is much more measurable - e.g. I've accidentally left valuable things in accessible places only to find them unperturbed days later.</p>
<p>It'd be nice if your question were more specific. </p>
<p>Cheating is bad. Don't do it. If you get caught, it's a big waste of time for everyone involved, as a lot of people actively work to ensure that the community is protected from cheaters. </p>
<p>Social Relationships are good. Core, specifically its 5 terms of math and 5 terms of physics, really helps to forge strong relationships between people (especially members of different houses), since there's no social glue like hardship :) House dinners (weeknights) and social events (about once a week?) are fun, and I feel that I can talk comfortably with nearly everyone in my house, which is quite a feat since I'm a bit shy. I really like how the house system helps freshmen develop strong relationships with upperclassmen, as they're really a useful resource; their presence is reassuring, since it reminds me that people have gotten through all the tough spots, and they give very good advice on which classes are fun, useful, or easy. Upperclassmen are also generally willing to help frosh out with homework if they're having minor trouble. When I visited my girlfriend at Hahvahd over spring break, I found that although they have a house system she did not know any freshmen, juniors, or seniors well at all. This was unfathomable to me. </p>
<p>On weekends, your social life is what you make of it. Last night I threw a party in the lobby of Millikan library. I did this by IMing a friend to get a couple 2-liters of soda, some cups, and some people, then I popped a bag of popcorn, gathered people, stopped by the C-Store and grabbed some cookies and 'Nilla Wafers, and headed to the library.<br>
And thus a party was born. It takes 10 minutes, seriously.</p>
<p>For cheating:
I guess what are the consequences if accused/guilty. Are you expelled permanently or given second chance? What are some of the harshest punishments the BoC would enforce?</p>
<p>For social relationships:
How easily can they be formed, how hard is it to juggle that with classes, and to be blunt since Caltech is extremely provincial in size, would many of your personal relationship issues be likely to be divulged? How easy would it be to walk into another house and hang out with other people? What about finding classmates to work on problem sets with. Are these easy to form/initiate/interrupt?</p>
<p>
So if a defendent is reported (either by a student, TA, or prof), there is a preliminary hearing by the BoC Chair and Secretary to make sure there's enough evidence to bring the case before a full board quorem (7 voting members + 2 non-voting members). If that's the case, and the board members vote to hear the case, then the board does a combination of a) looking through hard evidence, b) talking to the defendant, and c) talking to witnesses / TAs / profs to figure out what happened. If the board feels there is sufficient proof of cheating, the defendant is convicted, and will lose credit for whatever points were unfairly received. </p>
<p>The board then decides if the defendant will be a future risk to the Caltech community, which is an incredibly complicated decision (especially to explain in the abstract). Suffice to say that the board considers everything from the severity of the offense to the demeanor of the defendant to the circumstances under which the offense occured. Depending on this, the decisions can vary from mundane to practical expulsion.</p>
<p>
As mentioned in the [url=<a href="http://donut.caltech.edu/about/boc/ug_handbook.php%5DHonor">http://donut.caltech.edu/about/boc/ug_handbook.php]Honor</a> System handbook<a href="under" title="Nullifying the Unfair Advantage">/url</a>: The decisions of the Board of Control are never intended as punishment.</p>
<p>As cghen mentioned, the purpose is to reverse just any unfair advantage, and no more. Even under the Protection of the Community stage of the case, where the BoC can in rare severe cases suspend people, etc., the handbook emphasizes explicitly, This is not an attempt to punish.</p>
<p>For an exam in which the professor gives a take-home exam (closed-book) and a maximum time limit to complete the exam, how would you ever possibly prove that cheating occurred (i.e. the student referred to the book or took too long)? To me, this seems like giving a student WAY too much temptation to cheat. Cheating of this type must occur, and it punishes the honest students. How many violations of this type are ever punished by the Board of Control?</p>
<p>Almost all exams are open book and all of them give try to give you enough time to complete your exam. For example, in my two years here, there's only been one exam I couldn't finish within the time given and only 2 or 3 closed book exams. So there is no temptation to cheat, especially when you consider that you're upholding the moral values of the institute.</p>
<p>I hope the students are upholding their own moral values, too. Honesty is one of the best qualities a parent can instill in a child.</p>
<p>I want to point out a few things:
* competition is generally discouraged at Caltech, and there really isn't any pressure to do better than other people or something like that, so there is less reason for cheating
* if you don't finish an exam on time, you can always draw a line on the exam, continue working below that line (now without any time limit pressure), and indicate on the exam that the work below the line was done after time was up. In most classes profs will give at least partial, if not full, credit for that work
* some exams don't even have a time limit (in my opinion the point of exams anyhow is to test what you know or what you can figure out and not how well you can perform under time pressure)
* even if you do something stupid like look at the first problem, not know how to do it, and fall asleep, you can also indicate that on the exam; they will understand and at worst you won't receive credit for that problem
* if you can't find time to study for or take an exam because you are sick or having other problems, you can often get an extension
* as a last resort, if you do poorly on a midterm exam, you can always drop the class or (if it's not a required class) take it pass/fail, since Drop Day is two-thirds of the way into the term, and you are guaranteed to get your midterm results back before then
* remember that students want to uphold the Honor System because in exchange they get freedoms like the ability to take exams in any place or time of their choosing (people sometimes do exams on roofs, in the tunnels, while playing Starcraft, while eating, etc.), and more importantly, they get people to trust the honesty of their work</p>
<p>pafather,</p>
<p>You're right that it's almost impossible to tell when someone takes more time than allowed on an exam or uses disallowed resources. silveryms and spoon! are also right that most exams tend to be open book and have adequate time. In addition, most exams are long enough that after 4 hours, a person would rather throw in their hat than keep working past the time limit.</p>
<p>However, for every student there will be times where they will have a closed book exam or will want just 30 more mins on a test where they know the prof won't give credit for work after time. Then there is a temptation to cheat. This is where the beauty of the honor code really shows. If we were to eliminate all temptation to cheat, having a low occurence of cheating would not be so impressive. By instilling in students the pride and honor such that even when tempted, they still don't cheat, we accomplish something far more lasting and important.</p>
<p>How do we know that people don't cheat this way if it's so hard to catch? Because we've asked them. The survey that cghen mentioned was given (anonymously) a few years ago as well. According to this survey, 36% of students had cheated in some way during their time here at Caltech. This still sounds like a discouragingly high number of students. But only 6% of students had cheated more than twice. (I don't have this number at hand, but I think it was about 12% that had cheated more than once.) This supports cghen's claim (and the BoC's general belief) that people don't cheat repeatedly. Caltech is an incredibly stressful place and people make mistakes. You can compare our numbers with that found by the Center for Academic Integrity which reports that 75% of college students cheat during their career.</p>
<p>If you want, I can flood you with many more statistics on the number of cases the BoC sees, how many convictions we have, and how many people we put on leave. I was chair of the Board of Control for a year, charged with the duty of safeguarding the Honor Code, so I've had this conversation many times over.</p>
<p>Thanks to everyone who replied. It's very eye-opening to read details about general test taking processes. </p>
<p>At my current school, the exams are almost always timed and stressful. In the end, it tests more so your speed than your knowledge. From what I've read in this thread, it seems that Caltech really trusts its students to uphold certain virtues. This is extremely unique, I'd said. The honor system at my school is completely student run and has an harsh punishment (yea, there's only ONE punishment). If you are found guilty of cheating, lying or stealing, you are permanently expelled from the university (with very limited capacity for appeals). I found this disturbing because students are rarely given second chances for once-in-a-lifetime-type mistakes. Also, the fact that it is student run makes the processes seem hypocritical at times. </p>
<p>I believe that most students will cheat at least once in school, regardless of how smart or proud they are. Therefore, I think it's encouraging to see that while some students have cheated at caltech, most of the students have not cheated repeatedly.</p>