<p>I read an article about places that were installing devices to jam cellphones yesterday. Churches, resturants, theaters, colleges. Why colleges? Well it seems that some kids are using their camera cellphones to IM answers to each other or take a picture of the test to send other students.</p>
<p>The things I would never have thought of.</p>
<p>Who cheats in a restaurant anyway? What, are you texting the “correct” answer to “Would you like your martini A. Shaken or B. Stirred?”</p>
<p>I don’t think the restaurants are doing it to avoid cheating. They just don’t want cellphones ringing in their establishments.</p>
<p>That would be a problem, though, for someone like my H, who is an OB-GYN and obviously needs to be reached via cellphone at all times. Unless the restaurants want to go back in time to what H’s father, also an OB-GYN, did prior to beepers and cellphones … every time he went to a restaurant, he had to use their phone, call the hospital, give them the restaurant’s number, and explain to the restaurant manager that there was always a chance that the hospital would need to get a hold of him and this is who he was.</p>
<p>What’s scary, Pizzagirl, is that your husband might not know that the restaurant is blocking cell phones. This makes things even worse than in the old days.</p>
<p>It would make a compelling episode of Boston Legal though, if some medical complication goes unnoticed because the restaurant secretly jammed all cellphones. And the fact that this thread was apparently from 6 years in the past would make a great installment of Doctor Who.</p>
<p>That would make a good episode!<br>
The worst (before cell phones) was when the hospital called my FIL, said “get here immediately” and he jumped in the car and sped (this was along a major highway). He got pulled over. Instead of waiting in the car, he got out of the car intending to explain to the officer that he was on his way to an emergency and the officer (understandably) pulled a gun on him. He begged the officer to call the hospital – the officer did and the nurses screamed at the officer, “Let Dr. XXX get here! We need him NOW!” So he got a police escort to the hospital. And after the baby was delivered, the officer gave him a ticket in the parking lot. LOL.</p>
<p>Gee Pizzagirl… That’s some risky karma for a police officer to do to a doctor enroute to an emergency. </p>
<p>I know that some schools make it so that students with cell phones have to either turn them off or leave them on a table in the front of the room (or both) during exams. Certainly seems like a reasonable request and it’s not accusatory to one person over the other. Proctor monitors the phones so there is no risk of theft (of knowledge or phones for that matter). What makes me curious however is why someone would take a picture of a test to pass onto others when he.she would not benefit from the act of cheating. (not that anyone benefits in the long run, but…). Seems to me that if those to follow do much much better due to cheating, that only makes the picture taking cheater do worse.</p>
<p>My mother- a college prof- asks all students to turn off phones and leave them on a table in front of the room. Cheating is rampant.</p>
<p>As prevalent as old cell phones are, I wouldn’t put it past someone who wants to cheat to have an old, non-working cell phone (or a family member’s discarded cell phone) and put that one on the group table.</p>
<p>I agree with you, Modadunn, I’ve never understood why kids would pass answers or test questions on to kids in later sections of a class because they’re only hurting themselves. I guess it’s peer pressure, not being strong enough to tell the kids they need to study for themselves.</p>
<p>At DD’s university, they’re not allowed to bring anything other than a pen or pencil with them to their seat for the test. Backpacks, computers, books, cellphones all stay in the front of the classroom because of cheating.</p>
<p>DD made a comment to me about how she sent lecture notes to a friend in one of her classes after the friend had been ill. She said she walked into the next class and about an entire row of people had copies of her notes even though she gave them to only one person. Said she won’t do that again.</p>
<p>Sometimes students who find a subject very easy are happy to pass on tests and answers. They don’t see it as hurting them and they don’t view it as cheating because they took the test without anyone’s help. One young person told me that at his college the prof requires the students to place their phones on the desk with the battery removed.</p>
<p>Did anyone notice that the OP posted this question in 2004? (Not that it isn’t necessarily relevant today.)</p>
<p>^^ We are so observant. I would venture to say that cheating is worse today. In 2004, not everyone had cell phones, but today, it is rare for someone not to have one.</p>
<p>Yep, as fast as the schools make the rules, people figure out a way to break them. It’s gotten so bad, no one can leave the room once the test has started for any reason. Seems easier to just study.</p>
<p>I’m surprised that no one thought of this earlier. When S1 took the SATs back in 2005-6, students were asked to turn off cellphones. But that was before text messaging became widely available. Now with texting and camera phones, I’m surprised that it isn’t more of an issue.</p>
<p>When I took S2 to the county courthouse last year for his driver’s license ceremony, we were required to leave all cellphones with security at the entrance before we could even proceed to the courtroom. Proctors should implement a similar policy with tests. Taking out the battery is a visual way to ensure this. Smart professor!</p>
<p>I have noticed a number of colleges have an “Honor Code”. I was happy to see that because my own kids get really annoyed when they witness kids being dishonest. But recently I saw a post from someone on College Confidential who asked a question that was totally dishonest, like “is it okay for me to use my cousin’s essay?”. I asked if that kid actually thought he/she was a “good fit”. Clearly even the colleges that emphasize their Honor Code get kids who want to cheat.</p>
<p>12rmh18-at my school’s SATs, ACTs or AP tests we have to give our phones to the proctor with the battery out. They go into a box for the duration of testing. If they even SEE your phone(it could be off) in your purse or anything they take it off you and dismiss you from testing</p>
<p>There was a thread recently about whether or not you would report cheating in the college life forum, and most students said absolutely not, and several said they facilitate the cheating of others. My personality is just such that I am extremely rigid when it comes to rules, which isn’t always a virtue, but in this case I am certainly not ashamed of myself despite what my peers think. I have in the past brought observations to a professor so that they could determine whether or not they suspected cheating, and would continue to do so. Last year a student plagiarized one of my papers and I was ****ED, if someone else had caught that and I hadn’t and they didn’t report it, I would have been really angry. There was not a single thought in that paper that was not mine, she even stole some of my sentences verbatim. I don’t understand why students would be so flippant with their work and their effort. Particularly given how absolutely threatened they feel by my disability accommodations, it’s really quite strange that they just give away their work to REAL idiots anyway.</p>
<p>On the “honor code” note, I noticed a sign posted in my res hall that says it is against the rules to be present when something against the rules takes place without reporting it, so if I am in my room while my underage roommate is drinking and I don’t report her I can get in trouble if she is caught just for having been present. Not sure how I feel about that. She didn’t like me much when I told her I would not put myself at risk for her and her friends if they chose to do that in our room.</p>
<p>I don’t report others cheating, mostly because I never see it (I focus too much on my own test). But even if I do, I always figure they’re only hurting themselves in the long run.</p>
<p>If I see someone cheating off of ME, I turn them in. It was drilled into us in high school, because the person cheating as well as the person they were cheating off of received a zero. Everyone who went to my alma mater is now obsessive about covering their answers on tests.</p>
<p>As for the honor code issue, I don’t like it because I feel there is no incentive/enforcement to encourage students to abide by it. The one AP class I took in high school followed an honor code, and cheating was more rampant in that class than any other.</p>
<p>As for the dorm issue, I think that’s a common rule so students will report incidents rather than just go along with it. That’s how it works in my dorm too; everyone present gets into trouble. However, our CSAs (RAs) cannot just come into our dorms; they have to be invited in, no matter what. There could be alcohol in plain sight, and they can’t come in unless we invite them (never happens) or campus police are present (rare).</p>
<p>I think the whole “texting others answers” thing is iffy…it’s hard unless you have the right kind of phone to text inconspicuously. I could do it when I had my LG chocolate, but nwo that I have a phone with a touch screen? Doubtful.</p>
<p>Professors don’t take our cell phones, but if they hear it or see it they will dismiss the person from the exam. They also tend to “borrow” TAs from other professors to have them walk around the room during the exam.</p>
<p>There is also “blue book shuffling”, where everyone brings their own blue book, the professor collects them and then hands them out again in random order. That way, no one can come in with the answers already written in their blue book.</p>