<p>From the article:
"Peter Thompson calls it his "baptism by fire" at Severna Park High School: In ninth grade, a classmate snatched a test paper from his desk and passed it around the classroom. Teachers and administrators didn't punish anyone after he and his family complained, Thompson said.</p>
<p>The junior, ranked first in the school of 1,700 students, said he has seen plenty of other incidents of cheating since then, but nothing like one earlier this month: At least one student allegedly stole away to a bathroom with a sealed booklet of essay questions for the Advanced Placement American history exam and, with two friends, scoured a review manual for answers.</p>
<p>Now, the College Board, which developed the test, is investigating, and all 45 students in that testing group have to retake the exam Thursday.</p>
<p>But that wasn't enough for Thompson and a group of other top-ranked students. They're so outraged at what they view as rampant cheating at the school that they surveyed their peers last week and plan to press the principal today to discipline the cheaters and adopt stricter test proctoring rules....</p>
<p>In results to be shared with Principal James Hamilton today, 69 percent of the students who responded to the survey Friday said they felt that a culture of cheating exists at the school. About 50 percent of the roughly 300 who responded estimated that up to half the student body cheats and felt that teachers didn't hold enough power to stop cheaters...."</p>
<p>Doesn't suprise me.</p>
<p>D was in a classroom where the teacher was on her computer and another student walked across the romm to try and get an answer to the test from D. She did everything but eat her test paper to stop him from seeing anything. The teacher was oblivious. This was the same teacher who, when a kids sprayed perfume on a piece of paper, and lit it, then stomped it out on the carpet, burning a hole into it, said, "Aroma therapy!" She doesn't approve of cheating and would have written up the kid if she had known, but she is so trusting, that she is totally oblicvious. Our school started an Academic Integrity Code a couple years ago, and cheaters, when caught, are severely punished. No NHS, or other honor society, either.</p>
<p>cheating happens...it's life</p>
<p>It would be hypocritical of at least 50%-70%, if not, more of CC members to judge upon the students in the article or the school considering cheating is so widespread, it has become relatively easy to do it.</p>
<p>In a Spanish class at my school:
The students are taking a test, and a kid dressed from head to toe in a ninja costume runs in, steals a copy of the test off of the teacher's desk, and runs out again. The teacher didn't even notice.</p>
<p>Sad.</p>
<p>Sad, but funny. ^^</p>
<p>Just because it's common doesn't mean it's acceptable, nor is it "just life."</p>
<p>It's a real character flaw. And, it's not a victimless crime, as many think, if you go to a hard school where they grade purely on a Gaussian.</p>
<p>Cheating is a disgusting problem and its becoming an epidemic, as competition heats up. At my D's school, a highly competitive public school that is nationally ranked, and whose graduates regularly get into Ivy League schools and elite colleges, the most rampant cheaters are kids in the top of the class. People not satisfied with being number 15 in a class of 400, trying to become number 1 or 2. (this is an example, not an actual person).</p>
<p>In one AP class (US History) the teacher caught onto a scheme and actually stapled three tests together from three separate kids, and marked them all F, and they got the message. They werent from the bottom of the class, but the top.</p>
<p>Sadly, many parents not only condone it but tell kids how to do it. Saying "its just life" may be accurate, but its not acceptable. We cannot roll over and accept what is unacceptable.</p>
<p>It starts in the home. I am not being sanctimonious (and I would be DEVASTATED if I learned that ANY of my children had EVER cheated on anything), but we taught our kids its better to get a C and "own it" than to get an "A" that belongs to someone else. Its that simple. </p>
<p>We also teach our children that character trumps credentials. And employers ought to emphasize that as well. Principals, teachers, ministers, everyone ought to be shouting from the mountaintops that character is more important than all the riches in the world, all the credentials you can acquire.</p>
<p>I know people who live in Severna Park. I know their kids went to that High School (a few years ago). I trust they were not part of that culture of cheating.</p>
<p>Cheaters never prosper. They always get caught in the end. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow......but perhaps the next day. And when they do, their reputation will be tarnished forever. And maybe it will be in business where "cheating" can land you in the unemployment line or in jail.</p>
<p>My D knows a boy, a High School ace baseball pitcher, and NHS member, who openly bragged in the hallways a few years ago about cheating on an exam. Everytime I see that boy, I scowl at him. He doesnt know why I do that. But I know his little game. And some day, he will get caught, probably as an adult and pay a very heavy price. </p>
<p>Cheating is not usually a one time event. Its like gambling or drug abuse. Once you start, you cant stop until you hit rock bottom or its too late.</p>
<p>I dont understand why the kids who cheated in Severna Park are even allowed to retake the AP exam. If they cheated on it, they should be given a ZERO for their score and a note affixed to their college board records.</p>
<p>Cheating is FILTH. Its SCUM. And we should NEVER tolerate it.</p>
<p>Haha that ninja thing cracks me up</p>
<p>Wow this kid seems like an ******* someone should beat this kid up or something.</p>
<p>I don't even understand how these two students "know" the girls were cheating. They said they saw a bag that may have had the AP tests in them? What did you want the teacher to do, run over and search them and if they didnt have it, probably get sued by one of these ridiculous parents. Hell no I wouldn't have checked either.</p>
<p>And someone saying they passed the test around the class....did they cut him out or something is that why he's mad? School should be a personal thing, if you are doing well alone and are at the top you have nothing to worry about, and if you aren't at the top and your angry because cheaters are higher than you, then you should be out there studying if its that important, not trying to knock other people down so you can climb up (even if they did cheat, get over it your almost 18, LIFE IS NOT FAIR. If everything was fair life would just suck, everything would be the same boring blob).</p>
<p>"Wow this kid seems like an ******* someone should beat this kid up or something."</p>
<p>That's a great attitude to have. </p>
<p>This kid is trying to make his school a fair place, where the people at the top of their class actually worked hard to get there- those who didn't need to cheat to do well.</p>
<p>Many people on this forum would be extremely upset if someone that got straight A's and to the top of their class by cheating beat them out in Harvard's (or wherever) admissions because they themselves didn't cheat.</p>
<p>I think it's an awful attitude to have, hyakku- putting down the person trying to make things right.</p>
<p>P.S. Life will never be any closer to being fair if people continue to let things like this happen because it's just "they way things work".</p>
<p>to say' that's just the way things work' is such a cop out. i hate to be glib but we can say that about a lot of things that are wrong. corrupt politicians.well that's just the way things work! racism? well that's just the way things work ... and on and on fill in your own blanks. cheating is wrong. it hurts people. cheaters aren't doing the work but hey are getting the grade (promotion..etc).they are climbing on the backs of the hard workers. and yes i have seen them crash and burn...however it took many years for that pre-med cheater in college to lose his medical license cheating the government out of money (medicare fraud). but he did!</p>
<p>haha a guy dressed in a ninja costume...</p>
<p>The easy acceptance of cheating does not portend well for our society.</p>
<p>Yes, I know that sometimes people cheat, just a little, even though they are generally honest people, but that's different from a "culture of cheating." It's especially distressing that this behavior occurs within the top of the class. In my time, the cheaters were generally the C students and below. Occasionally, the B students succumbed, although they were opportunists -- that is, people who hadn't studied quite enough and therefore snuck a peek at a couple of A student answers during an exam. Mostly, though, the cheaters were people who probably weren't going to make it through a four year college. Now, with the top 10% saying "everyone does it" and "if I don't do it too, I'll get screwed out of Harvard", we don't have much integrity left for the future.</p>
<p>
[quote]
"The pressure to cheat is derivative from a pressure to achieve," Dodd said. "In prestigious schools, the challenge to out-achieve can be really extraordinary
[/quote]
</p>
<p>A bunch of 16 year olds being pressured to excel...is it any wonder that they cheat? When the emphasis is on GPA, rank, test scores, and other superficial measures of achievement, of course students will cheat. Only when our schools convey the true value of education (love of learning, etc.) will the culture of cheating go away.</p>
<p>Humans are animals, not entirely rational, and need physical punishment occasionally to instill a visceral guide of right and wrong. I have noticed many activities in our society and especially in the schools where people seem to have no fear of consequences, because the only consequence is more talk. If there is a revulsion to paddling, how about hard physical work, rather than just Saturday school?</p>
<p>Though I believe cheating to be completely unacceptable, and that it is indeed the parenting of a child that may affect his or her propensity to cheat, I think we also need to consider just how...stressful and overly ridiculous the college selection process is today. Honestly, maybe 50 years ago, schools that are extremely premier like Tufts, Harvard, Vassar, etc would be accepting students of a lower caliber than the students they accept today. Colleges that most kids dream of attending (the extremely selective LACs, Ivies, and so-called Public Ivies) are always wanting more from students.</p>
<p>Granted, those schools are the type of institutions where highly accomplished individuals thrive, but the factors that determine "high accomplishment" change every year, and kids become so stressed over college admissions that things, such as cheating, happen. In today's American society, going to college is seen as admirable, regardless of where you go. But if a kid wants to be "successful" at life, then they believe they should go to a stellar college, get top scores, blah blah blah. </p>
<p>Cheating does not lead to success, but scores can lead to success to a certain extent. It sometimes feels like the college admissions process is becoming almost too material based on scores and performance in high school, and perhaps a little less on individuality. So, honestly, what do you expect? Cheating happens, and it's a shame, but is our society and psyche that has created the environment in which a student is able to entertain the idea of cheating.</p>
<p>The thing is, in the majority of cases, cheating doesn't catch up with cheaters, unless someone does something about it. The student in the article is definitly doings the right thing in an effort to bring justice. </p>
<p>If anything, the biggest problem is attitudes like this:
"Wow this kid seems like an ******* someone should beat this kid up or something."</p>
<p>If the prevailing attitude is that non-cheaters are *******s, what hope do we have for the future? How many people want to live in a world, 30 years from now, where everyone is dishonest?</p>