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Moreover, there is evidence that the problem has worsened over the last few decades.</p>
<p>Experts say the reasons are relatively simple: Cheating has become easier and more widely tolerated, and both schools and parents have failed to give students strong, repetitive messages about what is allowed and what is prohibited.
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<p>I certainly always felt that my kids' high school administration didn't do enough to actively PREVENT cheating iwhich to me is a form of encouragement. I don't believe stricter punishment is the answer, but schools should tighten their surveillance and stop enabling. Trusting students, including college students, to do the right thing is no longer a fair option.</p>
<p>Parental attitudes may be even more directly responsible. The ending anecdote is a gem.</p>
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[quote]
Educators tell tales of students who grew up taking for granted not only that their highly involved parents would help with schoolwork but that the help would strain the definition of the word.</p>
<p>Ms. Gallant recalled giving integrity counseling to a student who would send research papers to her mother to review before turning them in and saw nothing wrong in that. One paper, it turned out, her mother had extensively rewritten and extensively plagiarized.</p>
<p>I said, So whats the lesson here? Ms. Gallant said. And she said, completely serious, Check the work my mom does?
<p>I believe one of the fundamental distinctions between high school and college is the student’s development of a sense of self-directed learning. The problem with trying to root out/prevent cheating through aggressive surveillance at the college level is that it discourages students from developing a sense of responsibility for their own learning.</p>
<p>There are colleges and universities with strong honor code cultures, where cheating is considered the last resort of losers.</p>
<p>I appreciate the concept of strong honor codes, my daughter is at a school with one of them (including no proctors in exams). Certainly self-directed learning and personal responsibility are good things, but there are not many situations in real life where people are just trusted to do the right thing. Businesses audit their cash registers and inventory, the government is constantly playing catch-up in devising new ways to detect fraud in taxes and other services, and security cameras are increasingly used to monitor all types of situations to prevent misdeeds. Nobody assumes that people will just be honest in these situations, because when some are not, it affects everybody else.</p>
<p>I also believe cheating is very contagious and if you let those that take shortcuts get away with it easily, others will be too tempted to partake out of frustration or fear of losing their edge–corrupting the ethics of previously honest people. Much better to nip it in the bud, which also sends a message that it is taken seriously. So even if there are some people who will never cheat, and I agree, who will learn more and better by not doing so, they will be hurt in an environment where you have a great probability of getting away with it if you want to.</p>
<p>I remember being accused of cheating my Freshman year in college. I finished my exam, handed it to the prof and he loudly exclaimed I cheated and would receive a zero. I protested and he said to come to his office after class. </p>
<p>It turns out that he thought I was copying from another student in the next row. I got him to grade both our tests in front of me. We both got two questions wrong. Two DIFFERENT questions! Needless to say he gave a half-hearted apology and I had not cheated. Of course he said nothing to the class after publicly accusing me of cheating but it was a small school so everyone knew what happened quickly. </p>
<p>I was looking in this girl’s direction several times during the test. She happened to be sitting just ahead of me. Why was I looking at her? I thought she was amazing looking and had a crush on her. We ended up dating for a few months. </p>
<p>I did learn my lesson about keeping my hormones under control during an exam though!</p>
<p>^But what about the rest? Is it okay for the mother to rewrite parts (with or without plagiarizing)? And the lesson learned–check Mom’s work before turning it in!</p>
<p>A better strategy is to encourage the student to go to the campus writing center, which will not “proofread” but will identify errors for the student to address and learn about.</p>
<p>In many, many cases, it’s counterproductive for parents to proofread a student’s work. The parents introduce errors. I have had students tell me they know their paper is good because their parents said it was. Poor dears.</p>
I thought it was the student’s turn to be in school. Who is getting graded - the student or the parent? As NJSue stated, the schools have facilities to help students learn how to write/research, etc.</p>
<p>People are surprised by this? With the parental pressure these days to have perfect children, how else are kids going to live up to those expectations??</p>
<p>As for proofreading papers, it is just good practice to have someone proofread your paper, parent, friend, teacher, etc. That is not cheating, that is writing a paper the right way. Even the professional writers have their work proofread.</p>
<p>^agreed. I have taught freshman comp for decades, and I always tell students that having fresh eyes look over to doublecheck proofreading is a good idea. As a writer, I’d be nuts not to do that myself. My H and I often read over and comment on each others’ work. My S is an excellent proofreader, too. </p>
<p>At no professional level would I expect that someone wouldn’t benefit from having another look-over of a piece of writing. If a college specifically labels that as against their rules, then it would be wrong, but in a vaccuum, it’s not cheating and it’s not plagiarism.</p>
<p>Freshman comp is significantly different from a research paper. The plagiarism mentioned above occurred when a helicopter mom decided to upgrade the student’s work and cobbled info from the internet. That is why the campus writing center should be the stop of choice.</p>
<p>It’s commonly known among our circle of friends that one mom does most of her DD’s homework for her because the DD doesn’t have time. It’s pretty sad. I am sure it will continue in college. The mom admits to this so it isn’t like we are just making assumptions.</p>
<p>I frequently proofed my son’s more important papers in high school, usually with an eye toward suggesting where more supporting detail was needed (he’s a superb writer, but overly concise). On the other hand, his command of grammar and punctuation is exceptional, and I frequently had him proof my business writing before submitting it – it can be very hard to catch your own written mistakes unless you set your work aside for a day or two.</p>
<p>I think that when cheating is found out the punishment needs to be severe. </p>
<p>However, going through this process is often bureaucratic and nasty for the professor/instructor, so they often look the other way and/or don’t try to get blatant cheaters suspended/expelled.</p>
<p>^That’s why I’d prefer to see less severity of punishment and more vigilance, especially in high school. I think for a first offense, a zero grade on the test or paper and a call to the parents should be sufficient. Repeat offenses could get harsher. Parents and kids are less likely to play the denial game if they can swallow the consequences more easily and it might make teachers less likely to turn a blind eye.</p>
<p>In college, I think first offense should be an F on the transcript, not suspension or expulsion as it is at some schools.</p>
<p>In any case, I feel strongly that the more kids that are caught, the less likely others will take the risk. Stronger controls also sends the message that authorities take protecting fairness seriously and are not clueless as to what’s going on.</p>
<p>That, of course, is not proofreading–that’s cheating my any standard, and it doesn’t matter if it’s a mom or anyone else, or what level course it’s for. But having someone proofread a research paper at any level is still, I maintain, not cheating. </p>
<p>(Incidentally, writing center help can be spotty, too.)</p>
<p>I stand strictly by the plagiarism reporting rules at the schools I work at. In the past year I have seen one student expelled (started the semester with a charge on the books, and apparently in rapid fire sustained six more, including two from me) and have failed one for the class for plagiarism. The two schools I work at have different scales of punishment–one has a default of just a failed paper and a warning for the first offense with a session with a librarian to reinforce the rules, while is similarly flexible for instances deemed “inadvertent” but rigid if it’s felt to be deliberate and egregious–as in the case of the student of mine who failed the class for essentially handing in a cobbled together pastiche of quotes from one of the many “homework helper” sites.</p>
<p>I favor colleges requiring a freshman writing course so the students who haven’t been exposed to citations can learn them early. My college had an honor code which was enforced more strictly for more senior students.</p>
<p>“In college, I think first offense should be an F on the transcript, not suspension or expulsion as it is at some schools.”</p>
<p>The sad truth is that this rarely happens, even with blatant cheaters. I was a TA for a class and the teacher would either just give the student a failing grade on the single problem(s) for which we could prove cheating occured (say 3 problems in a 15 problem exam) and/or make the student retake the test in his presence. </p>
<p>This sort of teacher attitude towards cheating was very prevalent at this school (well, in the department anyways and likely elsewhere). </p>
<p>I think it’s usually quite stressful for all involved. Often there are disciplinary hearings and at the end of the day, regardless from outcome, the teacher, student, parents, and school administrators are unhappy/stressed with the whole ordeal. </p>
<p>Simply put, there is not a strong incentive for teachers to try to catch & punish cheaters. Especially since cheaters often, but not always, have poor overall grades anyways. And even if they don’t, it’s easier to leave the work to someone else and/or figure that it’ll come back to bite them in the butt down the road. </p>
<p>For the most blatant of cheaters, I think expulsion would be a fitting punishment in COLLEGE. Or at the very least, a failing grade for the class and a note on the official transcript stating that the studet is guilty of academic dishonesty. </p>
<p>They’ve probably cheated multiple times before and either got sloppy or finally had a teacher who was on the look-out and willing to prosecute. So prosecute to the fullest I say.</p>