<p>He’s a junior. The other child is a senior, and I’m not sure of his college situation.</p>
<p>If the course is being taken for HS credit, then the grade would be recorded on the HS transcript. If you decide to withdraw, then I think you should negotiate with the principal beforehand what grade will be on your son’s transcript. Or, if the principal can arrange for your son to transfer to another course so he doesn’t lose the work he’s done this semester, that would be the ideal solution. </p>
<p>It troubles me that the prof said this situation occurs frequently. Sounds like there may be a problem with the prof or the way the course is administered.</p>
<p>If he’s a junior, then I think it’s worth it at least to negotiate for a W rather than a WF–some college applications will ask questions that will make it difficult to truthfully say nothing about this.</p>
<p>What does the proctor say? Where were the kids sitting near each other?</p>
<p>Whatever you choose to do – and I don’t envy your decision – I hope that the principal of your school has a strong conversation with the dean of the college in terms of the way this has been handled. I also hope that your school strongly discourages other students from using this college’s programs.</p>
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<p>I completely agree. I simply cannot believe that you would knuckle under to this if you REALLY BELIEVE that your son is not guilty of cheating. It is simply gross injustice. The evidence presented so far would seem to indicate that the other kid may possibly be copying your kid’s answers. It in no way, shape, or form indicates that YOUR kid is cheating.</p>
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<p>bigtrees evidently assumes your son has been helping this other kid to cheat. If you don’t trust your son, and think that he gave the answers to the other kid somehow under the proctor’s nose, that’s another matter.</p>
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<p>No, that was taken out of context. What you quoted was in response to another post discussing whether or not he would have to tell future colleges that he was punished for academic dishonesty. If he takes the WF, he will not. If he goes to the dean of students and they find him guilty, then he would.</p>
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<p>It doesn’t appear that the S cheated from somebody else, but somebody cheated off of the S’s exam. It’s easy for that to happen, especially if the student is oblivous to what is going on in the room during the test. I was, and I have no idea if students cheated off of me because I was focused on the exam.</p>
<p>Sorry, bigtrees, I was coming back to edit my post when my computer chose to freeze! I saw another post of yours where you hypothesized that the other kid was copying, unbeknownst to the OP’s son.</p>
<p>As someone who graduated with a high GPA, the last thing in the world that I wanted was to give the correct answers to those who didn’t study. I studied long and hard for my grades. Many of my friends who got good grades felt the same way as well.</p>
<p>I strongly suggest that your son should call the professor’s bluff. There is no reason for your son to accept a “Withdrawn Failing” grade in the course, based on what you’ve posted. It does not sound to me as though your son was cheating. In most universities, a professor has to prove a charge of academic dishonesty at a higher level in the university–can’t just allege it. Your son should find out what the procedure is for a hearing at the university. This is emotionally difficult to go through, but it is not a good idea to quietly accept a “Withdrawn Failing.” If this is a dual enrollment course, that grade will remain on the university transcript, even if it is not recorded on the high school transcript. </p>
<p>I don’t think that a correlation in multiple choice selections on 3 out of 10 tests proves anything. The statistical analysis is probably based on a model of random selection of answers–but the students aren’t answering randomly! I agree that it is very likely that two students of similar ability could be misled by the same “distractors,” causing apparent correlation in the answers. Other distractors would probably strike the students as obviously false, reducing the available choices and increasing the likelihood of giving the same answers. The testimony of the proctor should be relevant as well. </p>
<p>The fact that the professor seems suspicious of the similar log-on times looks ridiculous on its face–hasn’t he been in a high school corridor and heard bells ringing? High school classes start at rigidly specified times, and usually have shorter intervals between classes than colleges.</p>
<p>P.S. I write this as a professor. I have colleagues of all sorts. (I am assuming that your son really wasn’t cheating, smom123, and that if another student had found some way to copy his answers, he was never aware of it.)</p>
<p>And another thought: If your son accepts the WF, the professor will take as confirmation that he was cheating.</p>
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I don’t have any advice, but just wanted to warn you that if your child will ever apply to law schools, he will have to submit transcripts from every college/university where he took classes, even if it was during HS. (I don’t know if this applies if the only class he took was dropped, but if he took any other classes at the same U, WF will be on that transcript, and I think will be calculated into his GPA.)</p>
<p>speaking as a professor, I strongly feel that this incident needs to be contested. This is misconduct on the part of the professor: specifically the failure to prove cheating.</p>
<p>I also speak from experience that administrations do respond to pressure and aggressive persistence from individuals. You need to bring this to the chair and the dean of the profs university and lodge a formal complaint.</p>
<p>has the other student just resolved to the WF?</p>
<p>The advantage of the prof in this case is he has more time to play the game. The OP and her son have very limited time to act. The prof may drag the situation to next fall, when the kid applies to colleges. The prof, even the university may use the HS administration as a shield to ignore the complaint of the OP or her son. It’s a tough situation.</p>
<p>Coolweather, thank you for understanding. We received this e-mail out of nowhere last Thursday. I have included some excerpts, which hopefully will help others understand my position better. This was the first communication we ever received from him. He states HE believes this information to be “irrefutably strong and compelling”. I have included these reasons in my posts.To me, regardless of if the other child cheated off of my child or not, my child’s grades never changed. It was the other child’s. I think the whole thing is unfair, but please try to understand it from my point of view. This man refuses to budge. He has been at this university since 1986, so in my mind he must not be doing anything out of the ordinary and more than likely the “neutral observer” who would be in the meeting with the professor at the time of questioning probably sees things the same way he does. It’s just too much of a chance to take. </p>
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<li><p>I am writing to inform you that on Tuesday, May 4, if you are still enrolled in iSchool PSY 121, I will begin the process of formally charging you with a violation of the Academic Integrity Policy for having participated in cheating on one or more of the tests/quizzes in the course. A link to the entire Academic Integrity Policy (including the procedures involved when a formal charge has been made) is listed below. Please note that you do not have to have benefited personally from the cheating to have violated the integrity policy. The sanction that will be imposed is a grade of F in the course and removal from the course. If you withdraw, the grade that will appear on your transcript is WF, indicating that you withdrew after the normal withdrawal deadline. </p></li>
<li><p>As noted above, if you choose to remain in the course, the formal process of charging you with a violation of the Academic Integrity Policy will begin on Tuesday, May 4. If you are found guilty, you will be removed from the class, will receive an F in the course, and your permanent student record will include the information that you were found guilty of a violation of the Academic Integrity Policy. Accordingly, it is in your personal best interest to withdraw and receive a WF rather than having an Academic Integrity Policy violation become a part of your permanent university student record. </p></li>
<li><p>It is important that you be aware that I would not be planning to charge you with a violation of the policy unless I considered the evidence of cheating to be irrefutably strong and compelling.</p></li>
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<p>Ask son, who if agrees, then ask Prof to let both kids take an exam or two again in separate rooms. If they get very similar results I think the Prof will back off. Of course son might change story, but then at least truth is out.</p>
<p>The other student is going to take the WF. He is a senior and has already been accepted to college.</p>
<p>I’ve already asked him if my child could retake the tests in question or even take an “F” on the tests in question. He stated, “whenever a situation like this one arises, my primary focus is (and must be) on what is most fair to all the students in the course and what is most consistent with university policy and explicitly stated course policies.” He then advised me to talk to the school principal. I took that as a no.</p>
<p>“Please note that you do not have to have benefited personally from the cheating to have violated the integrity policy.”</p>
<p>Yes, he will move forward to punish your son, regardless whether your son is guilty or not.</p>
<p>I hate to admit it, but I think I would be telling my kid to take the WF. The quote you put up coolweather, is exactly what concerns me. At each of my kids’ colleges, the academic integrity code explicitly says that having someone cheat off of you is the same as doing the cheating. That could really work against the OP’s son if he didn’t realize someone else was copying.</p>
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<p>I’m going to be blunt. Stop working with “in my mind”, “more than likely”, “probably” and guessing what the professor meant. Get the facts. If you are not good at dealing with authority figures and getting the “yes” or “no” answers your child is entitled too, then have someone else do it.</p>
<p>Have you spoken with the Dean? With a lawyer? Stop making assumptions and work with the facts. Do not take indirect answers when you need direct answers. You’re working out of fear and that’s a surefire way to make bad decisions. Your child needs you to either get tough or hand it off to someone who is tough. </p>
<p>At a minimum, you should be able to negotitate this down to a “W.” The professor has all the power only if you give it to him, which as far as I can tell, is what you’re doing. If you believe your kid, then stand up for him and that starts with getting the facts. Not thinking or guessing, the facts of the case. That includes finding out what consitutes cheating and the like.</p>