SF Gate: It's time to deal with students who cheat

<p>I also don't usually cheat, so when people were wondering how I got such high subject test scores without studying, I was like "uhh, i do my homework." And they were like, "No way! How does that increase your test scores?" So iono. Just do what you can handle so you don't have to cheat.</p>

<p>they wonder how u get high scores without cheating? wow...that's some rampant cheating going on at ur school.</p>

<p>I love it when people try to rationalize their decision not to cheat with empty declarations of bad Karma for the guilty parties. "It will only hurt them in the long run" is a moral cop out--cheating isn't wrong because cheaters can get caught or because they may fail in other ventures in life later on--cheating is wrong because it is by its very definition dishonest. If you choose not to cheat because you are afraid of getting caught or you fear karmic retribution, you are as morally feeble as the person who cheated (just more prudent). Sometimes doing the right thing i.e. not cheating, will be disadvantageous to you. Sometimes it will hurt you severly in the long run. Sometimes it won't. The outcome is immaterial in the implicit morality of the act itself; one should be moral because, for lack of a better description, it is the right thing to do. In life, the most moral decisions are often the simplest, but rarely the easiest. Remember that when you decide whether or not to cheat; there is no substitute for your integrity. All the riches in the world cannot purchase it and all of the success in life cannot mask it.</p>

<p>what I'm getting from this thread is cheat if necessary.</p>

<p>I remember in Spanish class freshmen year I had with a bunch of juniors, and seniors. Lets just say the whole class got above a C.</p>

<p>Karma is marvelous. (Only non-cheater--and only one would will be at a certain Ivy.) Whoo.</p>

<p>
[quote]
I love it when people try to rationalize their decision not to cheat with empty declarations of bad Karma for the guilty parties. "It will only hurt them in the long run" is a moral cop out--cheating isn't wrong because cheaters can get caught or because they may fail in other ventures in life later on--cheating is wrong because it is by its very definition dishonest. If you choose not to cheat because you are afraid of getting caught or you fear karmic retribution, you are as morally feeble as the person who cheated (just more prudent). Sometimes doing the right thing i.e. not cheating, will be disadvantageous to you. Sometimes it will hurt you severly in the long run. Sometimes it won't. The outcome is immaterial in the implicit morality of the act itself; one should be moral because, for lack of a better description, it is the right thing to do. In life, the most moral decisions are often the simplest, but rarely the easiest. Remember that when you decide whether or not to cheat; there is no substitute for your integrity. All the riches in the world cannot purchase it and all of the success in life cannot mask it.

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<p>Great post until you started to go top-heavy on morals.</p>

<p>you know what i hate more? when people skip school to study for a test/work on an essay ... the bio ap at our school gives back the tests the next day so there's this girl i know and she takes all the different tests and basically memorizes the exams. </p>

<p>oh and she's missed like 15 days in this semester?
i saw her and her dad go into the office all worried though.
and if she's reading this ... im so intimidated OMG i think im going to die now. </p>

<p>she has straight as. but do colleges know she's a cheater? no they dont. they think she's a genius, whereas those of us who DO work ON TIME AND FAIRLY, dont get the ticket.</p>

<p>If the original poster is so vehemently opposed to cheating, why did she choose not to report it when she claims she witnessed it firsthand? Certainly it would not have been difficult for her to speak with the proctor.</p>

<p>The reason why cheating is so "rampant" among high school students is not because their teachers condone it, but rather because their fellow students do.</p>

<p>I agree with deeptin. Knew a girl like this a few years back; was val and go into HYP. teachers all hated her i was talking about her in math class one day and the teacher was like don't mention her name it makes me sick. that's how bad it was</p>

<p>Eh, think about the actual ramifications of cheating on busywork before you let your emotions speak for you.</p>

<p>there is nothing wrong with cheating at all. it creates fundamental divides between students. first of all, the 'real world' is full of cheating.
there is nothing wrong with copying busy-work, or homework because that take no brain at all. who cares if someone memorized formulas in their heads, or put a sheet of paper of formula's up their sleeves? ITS THE SAME THING!
we intellectually cheat all the time, especially in mathematics and science. not by looking over someone's shoulder or sending a text message. it's because we cheat ourselves and the subject by pretending we understand everything. having a formula in my head is just as easy as putting it up my sleeve. trust me, its easy for anyone. it takes no effort to stick a formula in your head. to know what it truly means is a different story.
suppose the people who actually knew what was going on in their classes used their minds and don't let others copy, then this notion that we seem to hate would not exist. its not the cheaters that don't think smart, its the people who get cheated off of that are stupid. the cheaters have found their way in this world.
secondly, cheating is self-empowerment. a rather quicker method of self empowerment.
ergh got to go. i shall rant later. it was probably incoherent.</p>

<p>"The 'real world' is full of cheating"? THAT is your reasoning?
The "real world" is also full of rape, poverty, drug addiction, terrorism, etc.... so we'd better just get used to it--or better yet, join in.</p>

<p>That gagging sound is me choking on your moral fiber.</p>

<p>Yes, because cheating is definitely comparable to rape. </p>

<p>Please.</p>

<p>It isn't.
But it's the same in that it doesn't justify itself through existing.</p>

<p>
[quote]
Not to mention how kicked to curb you will be when it comes to class rank. Those who cheat will end up moving high up the rank thus causing it a tip harder to be admitted to top schools.

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<p>true dat.</p>

<p>our top 20 rankings were just posted.</p>

<p>seeing some of those people up there made me want to vomit...</p>

<p>especially because i had watched them cheat numerous times, and they had told me about cheating in other classes in great detail...presumably to flaunt their incredible skill of deception....my anger was doubled when i found out that they had somehow gotten ahold of my groups lab work from the year before and were copying my work that i had put hours into...</p>

<p>it just really sucks when they get into a school you wanted to go to ... and then think they are too good for it...</p>

<p>it hurts.</p>

<p>my blood boils.</p>

<p>the end</p>

<p>Maybe teachers aren't that involved in catching cheaters because they did there fair amount of cheating back in school.</p>

<p>Are you kidding? A kid at my sister's high school school just got expelled for giving out test answers.</p>

<p>there are two types of cheaters:</p>

<p>1) cheaters who depend on cheating to get the grade. these cheaters have no knowledge of the material they are studying and absolutely need to cheat in order to succeed.</p>

<p>2) cheaters who simply enhance their grades by cheating. these cheaters know the material in and out, but will end up losing points anyways due to stupid mistakes and random stupid moments, so they cheat a little to make up for that.</p>

<p>type 1 cheaters will fail later on. type 2 cheaters won't (actually they will be more successful than those who don't cheat, and will not be lacking any knowledge).</p>

<p>basically all of the cheating bashers in this thread are either 1) angry because a cheater is ahead of them (too bad for you) or 2) bitter because they have no friends to actually help them lawl</p>

<p>
[quote]
have no friends to actually help them lawl

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The use of the "word" "lawl" causes you to lose any and all credibility just so you know....</p>

<p>Everyone who has posted on this forum has pretty much covered my views (not every one of them). I'm someone who didn't even look in the back of the math books to check answerers for years (I still rarely do...unless I feel like I have no clue what I'm doing and want to make sure I'm on the right track). However, as for cheating on homework, I don't blame some people. Depending on the class, there is homework that is so repeative, so pointless, or where it would save you time and beniefet you more simply to know all the answerers and study from that. Our AP history class was an example of this. We had these big long worksheets where, you basicly just had to go through the whole book over and over again to find the answerers. Towards the second half, I started getting the answerers to these worksheets online and I feel that helped me considerably more than skimming through the book. Some people I really respect also did this, and they are all very intelligent people.</p>

<p>Still though, cheating has always bugged me, even on homework, and is something I really haven't done with the exception of ap history (which is a subject I hate....but by some miraculous miracle I managed a 3 on the ap history test). </p>

<p>If cheating on homework is an issue though, teachers should start doing what some teachers in our science department are doing. We are assigned homework, but it is not graded and if you cheat or don't do them, it won't hurt you or help you in any way shape or form. The next day you then have a "homework quiz" related to the homework problems. You are allowed to use your homework as notes for the quiz. The problema re differnt, so even if you cheated on the non-required homework, you would still have to understand it to make use of it. If all you need is the work, the homework quiz is forcing you to understand the stuff on your paper in order to do the quiz, so you are ultimately learning the material no matter what (unless you are cheating on the homework quizes themselves.... :S so, I guess it isn't the one-solution-fits-all sort of thing).</p>

<p>I really do think it stinks that people are getting away with cheating on projects and tests....lets say they do succeeded in the in. Now we have these cheaters who get everything they wanted while the people who legitmately worked hard and didn't cheat get the short end of the stick (I need to stop using these cliches :S). I don't know what we can do about it other than give each person their own carefully monitored box to work in, locked off from the outside world quite frankly. What's funny though, is the people are are really creative with the cheating could probally use that creativity to do something more productive.</p>