I am not a seventeen year old facing enormous pressure to get grades so that I can get into college. Nor do I face the pressure of facing my angry parents because I received a "B", nor am I trying to stay eligible so that I can play sports. All of these pressures are placed on my students each and everyday they attend school.
Now I have hoped that I provided an environment where cheating would not exist. Trying to treat all of my students like adults and trying in return to have some conversations about this topic. However, where I will take blame is that sometimes in my haste to cover content, I forget the more important part of my job which is to teach character. Here I have failed but I have also learned a lesson. Never again will i tell myself that I do not have time to talk about a character issue, the truth is that is the most important issue we face.
Now with all that is said above, there is no excuse for students to cheat. As I continue to read research from Angela Duckworth, Martin Seligman and Paul Tough the word character keeps coming up in what makes children successful. As educators we need to continue to help build this characters by encouraging GRIT, self control and self discipline in our students. The truth is that the cheating is not what is important it is how the student will react once they have been caught. Will they grow from it, learn from the mistake, develop better discipline in the future? That is what it is about.
As educators we can not buy into how students rationalize cheating. It is only homework? I just asked about some of the topics that were on the test? They did not give me any answers. We need to take a strong stance to demonstrate to all the students that cheating is not acceptable. The truth is that we are usually extremely soft on cheating with little to no punishments. On a personal level I hope to see the day when students stop each other from cheating. When they just tell another students we do not cheat in this school. When they have that much pride in both the school and the class that they are in.
The argument is often made to me from students that why should I care if others cheat? They are hurting themselves not me? That is why we need to build a team of students and educators trying to produce the best product we can. We really need to build a community in our classrooms that cares about each other.
There will be a cry from people to take some of the pressure off these teens. I would argue against that line of reasoning. We need them to deal with the pressure, to learn how to handle stress, to deal with setbacks and to demonstrate GRIT in the face of adversity. It is better for students to have these setbacks in school where they still have strong support systems.
Most of my students do have great character. While I was initially disappointed in that a student was caught cheating I am now inspired by the fact. It motivates me to work harder to inspire other students, faculty members and educators to make sure that we do not lose our morale compass. I will invite my students to read this blog and hopefully comment on it. I hope that we can have a good conversation about this very important topic.
By the time students get to their junior or senior year they don’t see character-building as a priority over college applications, SATs, PSATs, class rank, GPA, QPA, mid-terms, finals, the next test, the next game, scholarships, the homework due tomorrow. When they’re caught, they realize there’s no real punishment, and so of course they keep doing it.
ReplyDeleteThere are so many ways to break the cycle, and one of them I think is to have more teacher involvement and more strict punishment. How many teachers monitor lunchrooms, two? Even walking around, I know some of them see it happening and don’t say a word. Homerooms? Some teachers don’t even show up until 8:00. If a class sees a teacher get caught for cheating and that student was sent home, it would probably stop enough of them from ever copying in that class again.
That being said, breaking the cycle doesn’t mean fixing the problem. There’s always a way to get around everything. I think we NEED to understand the rationale behind why students cheat. I don’t think we can get through to students today by telling them that cheating isn’t right, it’s all about what’s practical for them. If we make it impractical to cheat, I bet kids would stop cheating. No one would risk copying a ten-point worksheet if it means they might get kicked out and be unable to take a test next period worth forty percent of their grade.
I just wanted to say, thank you Mr. Bressler, for having discussions like these with us. I think cheating is often overlooked because as you said, we rationalize it. I agree with Lanie that we really need to understand the rationale behind cheating; this problem can only be eradicated if everyone understands why cheating is so bad. I think we often trivialize cheating as "oh it's just copying a piece of paper", but it's really not the physical act of copying a homework that is the problem--it's the bigger moral issue behind the decision to take the credit of another student and to accept dishonesty. A lot of times, I feel like we may feel pressure not only by external forces like parents, but also peer pressure. Helping out a friend does not seem nearly as bad as labeling it as cheating. Cheating once and not getting caught just spurs the cycle, making it easier to rationalize that cheating is ok. Creating a culture where cheating is not okay, no matter if it’s a homework or a test, will definitely take stricter teachers, but the root of the problem is within ourselves, so I think that tightening the rules will only begin to fix part of the issue. It has to start with the individual—they have to actually believe that what they are doing is morally wrong, because once we all leave Dulaney, teachers can’t be our moral compass or punish us when we cheat, it’s up to the individual. When you have these serious conversations with us, cheating no longer seems trivial; I wish we could have more conversations like this, but I understand that time and deadlines don’t give us that luxury. It’s not enough for teachers just to say “cover your answers” or “don’t cheat” before a test. It’s really conversations like these that make us reflect on our decisions.
ReplyDeleteOf course it may seem impossible or impractical to even think about eradicating cheating, but I DON’T think we should be apathetic to it. Sure, when someone else cheats, it may not affect us, but that's most definitely not a reason not to care. A lot of times, ideas like these are just tossed to the side because of the tendency of us to be more cynical as we grow older, but I think if we can all have the hope that things can change when we try (how do we all lose that bit of childhood hope as we mature? Heck we all once dreamed we could be princesses or power rangers), we can work towards a more anti-cheating environment. Just like with We are One, people need to just TRY to give it a chance, instead of labeling it as "cheesy" or "pointless" from the onset. How can you expect an idea to work if you kill it from the beginning? I think the first step to preventing cheating is for everyone to get on the same page—to believe that we CAN make a change. Obviously it will take time for something like cheating to go away and maybe we won’t even notice the gradual changes, and maybe there will always be people who cheat, but that doesn’t mean we can’t take action against cheating. Maybe as a student, you can’t change the mindset of the person next to you right now, but you can start by changing your own.
10 years from now, who is going to care that I failed one test in high school? Of course it would be nice to get an A, but not at the expense of compromising my values. Grades don’t stick with us through life, character does. Thanks again for being the first teacher I’ve ever had who explicitly takes the time to help us all grow as people, one who truly cares about how we will turn out in the real world, not just what grade we will be getting on the next test.
Alright try to answer the questions and DO NOT COPY YOUR ANSWERS FROM SOMEONE ELSE.
ReplyDeleteI give every assignment with this request. Followed by, we need to know what you know and if you can not answer anything come with questions tomorrow, but donot copy someonelse's answer. Students are also told any assignment which can be copied from someone else should not carry much weight. But then why shouldn't the assignment carry weight?
Cheating/honesty/inteGRITy
Upperclassmen are given take home exams. Rather than spend class time watching students bubble in responses on multiple choice exams, they take the exam home and complete the test in the time required.
Shock! How can I be sure they do not cheat? Obviously I can not, but each exam is preceded with a request for inteGRITy. Have I had any student cheat? Yes a couple, but for the most part all are honest. The advantages of the system are numerous. Students feel trusted. They can set up a time to take the exam when they are cognitively at their best, which might not be 8 AM. They can check their responses after completing the exam, immediate feedback (just do not change your responses) and we have more in class time to go into more depth and clarify topics.
I am not naive, some students may cheat, but my goal is to teach the advantages of trust and self-control. I will still have exams in class, as well as different types of assessments (oral exams, quizzes, projects, etc), but in the second half of the year it is easier to have students take exams home and use the class time for discussion and research.
Personally I would rather start with the assumption that we are honest, than spend time trying to catch those who are dishonest. If we create opportunities for students and ourselves to learn to trust each other then hopefully we can help build a caring, thoughtful society.
My initial response to your blog on cheating was about how cheating is more common; parenting has changed over the past few decades; and that technology (the internet and smart phones) has made it easy to cheat. I do believe that cheating has become more of a problem than it ever was. It is easier to cheat, and I think in most high schools the consequences are not consistently enforced. Parents and teachers need to consistently punish cheating, and talk about it pro-actively with students. Students need to be taught that cheating is not acceptable, just like they need to be taught to say no to drugs. The challenge is holding hundreds of students to the same high standard - while trying to teach one’s curriculum and keep up with all other assignments. But, it has to be done. Parents need to parent accordingly at home, but I think today’s society is different in ways that make parenting towards respect for honor codes very challenging. While thinking about why students make stupid decisions, such as to cheat, I recalled an article I read many years ago about risk taking. The conclusion was something along the lines of how teenagers place excitement and peer approval above consequences. I think students are definitely hurting themselves by cheating and chipping away at their moral compass. It does matter.
ReplyDeleteI think part of the problem might be that it is in everyone's best interests that students cheat.
ReplyDeleteWhen students cheat their grades go up (at least in the short-term).
When students cheat, teachers can say that more of their students completed the homework, that more of their students are passing, that more work is getting turned in.
When students cheat, administrators can point out that grades are higher, that fewer students are failing, that more students are graduating.
When you have a system that rewards cheating at every level, people will cheat.
So, how do you create a system that rewards character and morality?
I think the discussion about trusting students, treating them like adults, and having honest discussions about cheating is a step in the right direction. Creating a community that will not stand for cheating, not just because it is "wrong," but because it is detrimental to the development of all students.
I cheated once. Eighth grade Latin. Another student, a friend, called me out on it. That really stuck with me, and I have not cheated since. I think that says something about the power of about peer influence.
By an angry old man? Actually, I`ve been educated by a group =CONCATENATE("";blog;"") of middle aged angry women and some old women and men. Nice education.
ReplyDelete