This was a post from last year about this time and it did not receive much discussion. I re-posted it to see if I could generate some this time and to see if we could find some answers to this problem.
As a teacher, I see and hear about all forms of cheating, from copying vocabulary work, to copying and pasting a report, to looking at another's answers on a test, to making up book reports about non-existent books or writing a book report based on not actually reading the book, but on what you have read about the book. Nothing really surprises me anymore.
Read the news report of what happened in Hanover High School in Hanover, NH.
What is this telling us about the current generation?
Are they over-booked with too many academic, activity, job-related and personal commitments that they have no time to do their work, complete assignments, or study for tests?
Are parents or the students themselves putting too much pressure on the students to achieve a good grade that learning takes second place?
Are schools and teachers emphasizing the wrong thing- grades instead of actual learning?
No learning can actually be graded- learning is learning- it changes the brain. How can that be graded?
So what do we and teachers, students and administrators do about cheating?
What is the parental role in this issue?
5 comments:
I will willingly admit that cheating is a steadily growing problem in today's youth. Usually though, in the case of our school anyway, we don't cheat predominally on tests, but rather on the daily work that is assigned. Due to the fact that in today's society we youth have so many more social obligations, it comes to the point that even when we do have time to complete assignments, we are often times so sleep deprived that we fall asleep in the process of doing it. Between work, extra-curriculars, family obligations, and homework, one's devotion is bound to waiver in one area or another, and sadly, that area tends to be in schoolwork. Not to sound as if I'm justifying the cheating trend, sometimes one simply doesn't find time. I think that a big reason that teens cheat is because they get lazy and forget that you can have someone help you with the assignment rather than full-out cheating on it.
Our generation is definitly known for its lazieness. You can go into our high school hallway in the morning and will witness our lazieness. Kids cheating off kids who actually do their homework, or you will see students freaking out because they don't have there homework done. I do believe kids these days are overbooked, but that is not an excuse to not do your homework. I would know what it feels like to feel like you have no time at all, but you can always find time to get your work done. Parents need to help their kids realize that their child doesn't need to be in every extra curricular activity and make them realize that homework, and school is more important and will help them in their future.
Cheating, to be completely honest, is a ever-growing process. It has gotten so bad that some students don't even realize that the are cheating. They think that it is just helping someone. Whether its the vocab that one person does and everyone else just copies or the paper "Joe Shmoe" needs to get done, magically looks like "Frank's" over there. They feel that it is simply getting help from their peers. Students need to learn that, yes, cheating may be easier, but they would get so much more if they would just do it themselves. They wouldn't need to cram the last twenty minutes before the test. They can be more prepared and study less. Which after all would benefit everyone greatly, wouldn't it?
I think that many people view our generation is a very late. However, I believe that this is kind of an unfair judgment upon the rest of us. As in any generation, there are always the people who are going to be slackers, the people who don't care, and the people who cheat to get ahead. High schoolers have plenty of time to get their work done. It just depends how wisely they choose to use the time. And in the case that they are actually involved in too many activities, then it should be obvious to them and their parents that they are obviously involved in too many things. Learning is learning. Sure there are some types of learning which are impossible to grade simply because of the intangibility of what is learned. However, grades serve the purpose of judging effort. If you are truly learning what you're supposed to learn, why would not be able to prove that something such as tests and quizzes? I also agree be able to find out who is really learning he was not? People have been no matter what action administrators and other students take upon themselves. However, in the long run, those who did not actually learned the material will find themselves suffering in the end. This is where standardized tests come into play. Because it is nearly impossible, if not wholly impossible, to cheat on standardized tests. These tests are the people who actually learned in school what they were supposed to, and then those who cheated their way or gave no effort. In the end, cheating will only help you the short run. However, in the long run, it will be a true obstacle when you actually need to know the material.
I absolutely think that people have rediculously high expectations for kids of my generation. But I don't think cheating is the answer. I am as stressed and loaded with work as the next person, but I do not feel the need to cheat of somebody, because I will ultimately learn nothing and I have a lot riding on my grades. Which is why I'm doing these blogs: to get my grades up. I'd much rather do it and do poorly than run the risk of getting caught because the consequences can range from a detention all the way up to Saturday School. And in college? The consequence for cheating is expulsion. In college, cheating is definitely not worth it.
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