So I’m taking Chem1 and Stats this semester and it’s a challenge. The biggest is training myself to study on a schedule and not in spurts. I just had my midterm for both classes this week and it went “ok”. “B” in both. Not happy but it’s helped me to see where I’m lacking to get that “A”.
Where do the cheaters come in?
Well in the Chem class the professor had something to do while we were taking the test and was in and out of the classroom. Now, you’ll have to forgive my rational here but I have no problem if someone cheats as long as they aren’t blatant about it. It doesn’t bother me all that much. I don’t cheat. When I did I felt dirty and stupid. I prefer to feel stupid on my own. However these 3 young ladies had the flippin nerve to actually turnaround in their seats and work on problems TOGETHER!!!
I still didn’t have a problem with it because I admired their gall or arrogance. The problem came in the lab. Our professor cancelled lab to allow us to go home and decompress but before we left he would answer any questions about the exam. I asked about an enthalpy change that had me confused and one of these cheating ladies had the nerve to say “What?! I’m surprised anyone would have problems with the test, it was soooo easy!”
I lost it. Years of quick wit, sharp tongue, and oodles of sarcasm came bubbling to the surface and out it came from me “I’m sure it was for you, you spent the whole test cheating but for the rest of us…”. If looks could kill I’d be dead many times over. The weirdest part was many of the dirty looks came from students who hadn’t cheated or at least I don’t think they were. . 
I was shocked that I was being treated as the leper. It’s as if I broke some unspoken code of it’s students vs “the system”.
I don’t feel like a “snitch”. I’m just shocked that back a hundred years ago when I was in class if someone cheated they were the outcast. They would wear the scarlet letter but it seems as though times have changed. The lazy and stupid get the benefit of the doubt. The hardworking seemed to reap the disdain of the lazy. The lazy, while in the majority, are viewed as the underdog and therefore supported and lifted up.
I’m not looking for a perfect world or anything. I just want for cheaters to keep their mouths shut. We, who are working hard at just getting into the habit of studying and doing a bazillion exercise problems don’t have to hear how easy the damn test was from a group that did a tag team open notes on the test!!! 
Rant over. If I was wrong feel free to post why or why not. 
Crooz,
I admire your willingness to say something directly to them!!
Tara
Good for you for speaking out! I should have done the same thing when I was at Hopkins that is, say something directly to the cheaters since telling the professors didn’t do ANYTHING!!!
Irroncially, I was talking to one of my classmates recently and she told me that this type of thing is quite common especially at highly ranked US schools. She attended Oxford and told me that schools in England don’t administer exams without a proctor at ALL TIMES and that students aren’t allowed to leave the room once the exam starts. It’s funny becaause while I was at Hopkins, I regularly saw my classmates sit through almost 2 hours of lecture, but during an exam at the 1 hour mark, many other them suddenly had to use the bathromm!
When I was working on my undergrad studies at Purdue, the school was pretty concerned about academic integrity. The student handbook made it clear that academic dishonesty would be dealt with harshly. Every year, many of the professors teaching the huge freshman lecture classes expounded upon ethical academic deportment, and dutifully explained the University’s position on exam cheaters (as well as other forms of academic dishonesty). Still, there were always a number of students expelled for such behavior, and likely, there were many more who were not caught. I never noticed any blatant cheating. If nothing else, Purdue can credit itself for producing some very talented & skilled cheaters.
I’m not sure why, but cheating seems to be rampant at the University I attend now. It could be that the cheating is just as prevalent here, but that the cheaters here really suck at cheating. Either way, the dishonesty is very annoying. I have to work really hard to do well & I feel like my personal level of achievement takes an inflationary hit when students actually get ahead (at least in terms of GPA) by being dishonest. I don’t care if they want to screw themselves by not actually knowing the material as well as I do. I do care when I (sitting in the front row of class) can tell that some of my neighbors are quietly discussing details on the exam. I can’t prove that they are cheating (nor do I want to, really), I just want to concentrate on the papers in front of me without distraction. Every test, quiz, and many assignments in most of the classes here have a signature line for acknowledging the University’s academic integrity statement. I sign mine proudly, but with the concern that such a thing shouldn’t even be necessary (and that it isn’t doing a damn thing to stop those who are determined to cheat anyway). I salute you, Croooz, for getting calling out the cheaters in your class. I just fear that the tide of social decency is well on the way out at the moment.
Tim
Croooz,
In the long run, cheating debases the entire medical profession (or whatever field they’re going into) whether it be premed, med school, or post-grad.
Perhaps you should consider going to the professor to file a complaint. It’s not fair that some people took advantage of his absence to get a higher grade, and you are not going to want this to happen on the next exam.
I’m glad you said something to them directly. But, I think my age disallows me from being patient with cheaters anymore. If I’m going to fail a test, I’m going to do it fair and square - and, that goes for everybody else. I probably would have told on them. I took a chem test last week and instead of the students cheating on the test, some just didn’t show up (I am being presumptuous and slightly paranoid…). Hang in there crooz!
- croooz Said:
Where do the cheaters come in?
Well in the Chem class the professor had something to do while we were taking the test and was in and out of the classroom. Now, you'll have to forgive my rational here but I have no problem if someone cheats as long as they aren't blatant about it. It doesn't bother me all that much. I don't cheat. When I did I felt dirty and stupid. I prefer to feel stupid on my own. However these 3 young ladies had the flippin nerve to actually turnaround in their seats and work on problems TOGETHER!!!
I still didn't have a problem with it because I admired their gall or arrogance. The problem came in the lab. Our professor cancelled lab to allow us to go home and decompress but before we left he would answer any questions about the exam. I asked about an enthalpy change that had me confused and one of these cheating ladies had the nerve to say "What?! I'm surprised anyone would have problems with the test, it was soooo easy!"
I lost it. Years of quick wit, sharp tongue, and oodles of sarcasm came bubbling to the surface and out it came from me "I'm sure it was for you, you spent the whole test cheating but for the rest of us....". If looks could kill I'd be dead many times over. The weirdest part was many of the dirty looks came from students who hadn't cheated or at least I don't think they were. .
I was shocked that I was being treated as the leper. It's as if I broke some unspoken code of it's students vs "the system".I don't feel like a "snitch". I'm just shocked that back a hundred years ago when I was in class if someone cheated they were the outcast. They would wear the scarlet letter but it seems as though times have changed. The lazy and stupid get the benefit of the doubt. The hardworking seemed to reap the disdain of the lazy. The lazy, while in the majority, are viewed as the underdog and therefore supported and lifted up.
I'm not looking for a perfect world or anything. I just want for cheaters to keep their mouths shut. We, who are working hard at just getting into the habit of studying and doing a bazillion exercise problems don't have to hear how easy the damn test was from a group that did a tag team open notes on the test!!!
Rant over. If I was wrong feel free to post why or why not.
I would have done the exact same thing. I don't blame you...if someone had the nerve to try to make me look stupid when I asked a legitimate question, I would have verbally tore them apart too. It's bad enough we have to deal with so many people cheating in the college system, especially since most people who take advantage of the system end up taking advantage of others their whole lives, but being insulted by that kind of people is intolerable. I hope your professor does something about those three people. You did the right thing.
I saw many cheaters in my life…b/c in Poland, honor codes are a foreign concept. It absolutelly doesn’t mean that cheating is encouraged, but since there is no extra enforcement of honesty, like for example signing an ‘honor code’, lots of people think that it’s ‘more legal’ to cheat than here… and they do! And often enough professors pretended that they didn’t see anything. Unless of course someone was stupid enough to not even try to be discrete…they would fail the test, but without ever being expelled from school. The only cases of expulsion I heard of, were when someone plagiarized their graduation thesis (that in Poland everyone is required to write for both undergrad and grad schools).
In here story is quite different. In my school before most of the tests we’re supposed to sing an oath not to cheat. It seems absurd to me that the school has to take measures like this to ensure students’ loyalty and honesty. I guess it works to some degree b/c I’ve never seen people cheat like Croooz did, but I heard many times some of them talkin after the test how lucky they were, b/c they had the problem sloved in their ‘academic aid’ and they got exactly the same one on the test. I told them what I think few times. But I usually say what I think and I don’t care what the people will say.
By the way…do you think that these who sign the oath and cheat are bigger liars than those who cheat without violating an honor code (b/c such thing does not exist in their institutions?).
Kasia
Good for you Croooz!!! I would have done the same thing under those circumstances. As someone who was raised with old-timey, blue-collar values - there is nothing more central to my identity than my honesty & integrity. Under no circumstances am I willing to sell or even rent them. My naivity is that I expect others to conduct themselves in a similar manner.
Yes, I saw some cheating in Ugrad, but my school was pretty rigorous on the honor code & pledges of conduct - I initially felt them to be superfluous. If there was a lot of it going on, it was well concealed. The only flagrant issues were in labs, where the occasional “sabotage” occured trying to ensure that the perpetrator inched up the food chain by defiliing another team’s work.
In med school, I can assure you, if you are caught cheating - the door knob won’t even hit you in the ass as they will toss you out at a hig-velocity! Most med schools will bend over backwards to give help to those who are struggling, trying hard & ask for assistance. They have little patience for those who struggle & for many reasons, do not ask for help. There is even less compassion for those who do not work hard & subsequently get into academic trouble. But, if you cheat - you will be booted. Not only will you be booted, the reason for your removal will be surreptitiously disseminated to ensure you do not get a 2nd chance to cheat.
Little update:
Well it seems as though these young ladies have bigger problems because 2 dropped after the test. Seems as though they failed they test anyway. Professor won’t say if they failed because of cheating and I don’t presume to ask.
Now I have another dilemma. Well not really a big deal but there was another member of the cheating quartet who wasn’t there. She came up with some excuse not to take the test. However she has yet to take the test 2 weeks after it was given. I over heard her complain in lab that she’s not ready because of family issues and the professor should be more compassionate. 
Seems as though the plan was to get a copy of the exam from one of her friends but unbeknownst to her the professor doesn’t return graded exams until everyone has taken it. So I’m in limbo as to what areas I did poorly on. I got a 88.5, so not bad but not great.
The most interesting thing is these ladies are…wait for it…PREMED!! I assumed they were nursing because they were talking about the nursing program but it turns out they are premeds. There are, last count, 8 premeds in this Chem1 class. Of the 8, only 2 seem to be taking their studies serious, another nontrad and myself. The others talk “medicine” all the time but ask them to figure out the purpose of today’s experiment and all you get is a deer in headlights stare in return.
I really dislike the “premed” label. I meet too many who claim to be premed because of the perception of being “really smart”. Heck there’s a guy in my class who has to take 5 advanced math classes…5 classes higher than the calc level. I was impressed with how he talks about math and truly enjoys it. I’m less than disillusioned when I continue to hear from premeds how much they love medicine but hate science. I’ve asked “what about medicine do you love?” but quit after the answers sounded more like social work.
I’m off to study some Chem and maybe Stats…
Crooz,
It seems as though, this issue falls into the NYP section. Not Your Problem. Concentrate on your own studies and I will guarentee you that these cheaters will self implode.
Keep up the good work.