This week I asked my students if I gave them a take home quiz what percent would take it honestly. I was truly shocked when a student stated 5% would do it honestly. I was more surprised when some of the best students said that they might look up an answer to a question that stumped them. WOW was my first thought where have we went wrong.
As usual perspective has a way of shining a different light on the situation. The next day, when I came down off my high horse, I realized that these temptations come to all of us. Do I not sometimes think when I am on a diet that I have been good so this one donut would not hurt.
Why do we waver at certain times? Rationalization is the reason. We think that nobody is getting hurt by this, or everyone copies homework if I do not, I will be at a disadvantage. One of the problems is that if we want something bad enough (like good grades) our reasoning is often biased.
Now I realize that many people think the best way to solve this problem is with the stick. Yes, punish the people who cheat harshly, and others will not cheat. However, how do we prevent people from cheating when they cannot be caught. How do I not eat that donut when nobody is looking?
The answer is you express gratitude. When you are grateful you not only treat the person, who was nice to you better but you would treat complete strangers better. In a research study people who thought about a time when they were grateful cheated less. The more grateful they felt the less they cheated.
Gratitude is an amazing thing. It makes you happier, nicer, keeps you healthier and now even makes you more honest.
So, the next time you feel that you the urge to cut corners and cheat, which we all do, just think about something that you are truly grateful about. This should give you the inner strength to do the right thing even when nobody is looking.
Gratitude is definitely something that should be thought about when someone thinks bout cheating. When I think about a time at which someone made me feel good about my self, it always pushes me to do the best I can even when I am struggling, if that struggle may be at home or in school. Cheating is never acceptable and gratitude can help some people realize that.
ReplyDeleteCamden Butler
ReplyDeleteYou are right—this is definitely a different way to think about cheating. In school, I feel there are few main reasons why people cheat.
ReplyDelete1. They forgot about a homework and cheat so they can get
the 3/3 in the gradebook.
2. They just don’t care about the class.
3. They consider it ‘busy work’ and they consider it ok
to cheat.
This ‘busy work often includes assignments like vocabulary definitions—since all the papers are same, some think that no one would know if they “ate the doughnut.”
I think for me, if a teacher said to complete a take-home quiz honestly, I would. I think in part, my integrity on larger assignments stems from my integrity on smaller assignments. For example, to me, it isn’t worth cheating on a three-point homework assignment. I just imagine not getting into college because of an ‘academic violation’ from a three-point assignment. Therefore, I get in the habit of not cheating, so it would seem odd to me to cheat on a small assignment.
I also feel like staying organized helps me remain honest. I must use my planner to get through the day because there is no way I would ever remember everything I needed to do that night. Since I have a good handle on all my assignments, I can usually plan out everything so I won’t feel the temptation to cheat.
However, I definitely want to keep your strategy in mind. It’s a unique approach that I think can help in other ways. I find that when I think about all that my parents have done and sacrificed for me, I tend to work and act in a manner that says “thank you” to them. Great post!
Chip
Gratitude is definitely something to think about when it comes to academic honesty. In AP BC 2 we have take-home tests alongside regular in class assessments. There is no harm in presenting the class with take home assessments because the kids who know the material are going to receive the highest grade and attention from the teacher to begin with. This not only discourages cheating but encourages students to learn and study the material with the resources Mr. Blake gives to us.
ReplyDelete- Andrew Wagner
DeleteGratitude is a great way to rid us of these temptations. It is hard to tell yourself that you shouldn't cheat. Whenever I think of the people that helped me along my journey, I feel gratitude towards them for always believing in me. I may fail at times but I need to realize that failure is okay and that I can learn from it. This is why I think the idea of redo quizzes is brilliant. Instead of students asking what is on the quiz because they are afraid to fail it, they will go in with their own knowledge. Even if they know they are underprepared, they have a second chance to learn the material. This is a very gracious option that you present us with and I think we would all be better students if we realized this and used it to shape us morally.
ReplyDeleteKyle Zimmerman
I believe that gratitude as a remedy to cheating stems back to the basic concept of accountability. By recognizing when someone has acted altruistically towards us, we are forced to recognize our own responsibility to maintain this cycle of acting kindly towards the next person. When we don’t look at cheating through this lens, it does in fact seem harmless. But when we are forced to confront the reality that we are undermining the efforts that someone else has made to build us up, there is no reasonable way to rationalize this. I think that external punishments for cheating will always pale in comparison to someone’s internal motivation for cheating. The challenge, though, is to alter these internal motivations so that we instead hold ideas of not cheating in the face of external pressures to do so.
ReplyDeleteI believe that punishing most things harshly is not the way to go about trying to stop most things from happening. When punishing people publicly on, lets say, cheating, it only encourages other cheaters to figure out more ways to not get caught. So, if anything harsh public punishments have the opposite effect on prevention. Therefore, gratitude and positive actions to none offenders can be the only way to help clean up peoples behaviors. Especially when trying to change one's own lifestyle and actions.
ReplyDeleteGavin F
I think you identified the cause of the problem in paragraph three. No one is dishonest in school because they do not care. We cheat because we care too much.
ReplyDeleteOften I think that our schools and our world is putting the wrong priorities in our heads. We think that the grade is more important than our integrity. It is a shame because, when it comes down to it, the grade is just a number that means essentially nothing. Who is the better student, the one who goes home and studies until he goes to sleep, or the one who goes home and has to work a job until 11:00, thus getting less done and being tired the next day?
Our schools teach us to be good workers, not good leaders or moral people. In our school, the student who studies all night is "better" than the one who spends time with his family. I find it interesting that on my senior retreat, no student ever claimed that he regretted not trying harder in school, but many explained how they regret not knowing a deceased family member or current sibling. We need to look at our schools and find out what kind of student we want to cultivate: a mindless worker or a good person.
Thomas Podles
your insights are pretty powerful tommy. I like your connection that people cheat in part because they have lost track of their priorities and the grade is the only thing they are gunning for, and that mentality is really reflected across our society: go for the numbers, the profit, the stats, the efficiency, the material, the easy way, and not for what truly matters.
DeleteCole
Tommy I agree with you that we have lost track of the purpose of schools which is to educate students to become good citizens. I write the blog as a way to discuss matters that to me are important but that we so not talk about in school. My challenge to you is comeback a teacher and fix some of these problems. Thanks for taking the time to voice your opinion and I truly appreciate your insight. Keep on challenging me and the system it is the only way to get better
Deleteyour insights are pretty powerful tommy. I like your connection that people cheat in part because they have lost track of their priorities and the grade is the only thing they are gunning for, and that mentality is really reflected across our society: go for the numbers, the profit, the stats, the efficiency, the material, the easy way, and not for what truly matters.
ReplyDeleteCole
I think honesty is only a reality if you are honest with yourself in everything. So let's start by being honest with why we're here, commenting on this post. I'll play the cynic here and say that most of the people that comment on these posts are doing it primarily for the grade, more so than to have a good discussion. I'm not criticizing, just expressing what I think is true, deep down. Maybe not everyone, maybe not every week, but you are probably motivated by extra credit when you comment on these. In a way, going for the extra credit is the same mindset as cheating: go for the grade only. Extra credit itself is like a teacher-approved cheating method to get more points.
ReplyDeleteLet me clarify: extra credit is not the bad thing, the bad thing is the shallow motivation of a grade that students have to complete extra credit assignments. I'll be honest, the first time I came to this site I was really only thinking about the grade, too, but I just couldn't find the time or the inspiration to write on here despite reading most posts and comments. I felt a little more inspired today so I decided to write this.
Why do I suspect that most of these comments are motivated by the grade? The first reason is that I know you guys, you're high achievers and a grade is a way to demonstrate achievement. What do high achievers do? Achieve highly. Another reason is that I see the same people comment every week and part of the extra credit qualification is consistent comments. That's not to say that continually supporting the blog is bad (it's good to support, this blog is awesome), but it would be more honest if we commented on the things that actually speak to us instead of doing this as a weekly homework assignment that we essentially answer the same way every week. But the biggest reason is that most of these comments aren't written in your voice. They're very formal, almost academic, with a lot of "therefore"s and prepositional phrases and qualifying statements and stuff. Like you're making sure that when you need the extra credit, the teacher reads all of this really carefully scripted writing and grades you higher. I wish people would comment and write in their own voice. Play it honest and put yourself out there. Do it because you want your thoughts to be heard. Do it because you want to hear other people's thoughts, real opinions. Let's talk.
Take it to another fundamental level, and really dishonesty is all about fear. For this extra credit space especially, we aren't directly getting the extra credit, but at the end of the semester we might ask for extra credit if we're on the brink of a B or a C or whatever. That means that when we're commenting for the grade and not for the intellectual development, we are really only acting out of fear, fear that we'll get to the end of the semester and desperately need help for our grade. Why are people taking extra time and energy to sculpt a more formal response? they fear that a casual response or a short response won't count for the grade, or they'll look silly for writing casually. I could be wrong, but I think people fear failure more than they appreciate discussion. Let's challenge ourselves to stop being afraid. If we stopped fearing the consequences of the truth, we would be more honest. It takes courage to tell the truth. Owning up to something is scary. Be courageous anyway.
I could be totally wrong about everything, and I hope I didn't offend anyone. I don't mean to judge from a high horse or just assume I can tell why you do something because I'm just speculating. I don't mean to sound arrogant. These are just my honest suspicions thrown into the light on a blog post about honesty.
CJ
CJ, I agree with you that many people write on this blog to get some points. I would ask you do you think I should stop that as an incentive? My purpose of writing the blog is to have some discussion on matters that I think are important but we do not discuss in the school house. I truly appreciate you taking the time to write your comments and as I said to Tommy please continue to challenge me it is the only way I am going to get better.
DeleteNot for the sake of irony, but for a grasp on reality, let's look at the economics of cheating:
Delete•Time. Cheating can save time, in extreme cases an hour or more, and many (esp. honors guys) constantly have more assignments, more projects, more more more. My planner, personally, is totally filled almost everyday.
•Grades. Our GPA is idolized. To uphold this number, we like to "collaborate" and verify answers, or, worse, simply copy from someone we perceive to be more intelligent. When given an opportunity like a take-home quiz, this screams "FREE POINTS." Such "free points" give a similar, if not identical incentive as that which CJ suspects motivates many to comment on these posts.
Why are these two points so motivating? For one, I believe it is as CJ said: fear. School and college are not portrayed as a part of life, but life itself. If we fail to jump this hurdle, we fall short into failure. We must do everything we can to improve our records for college! We HAVE to get into the best college we can, or we'll suffer our entire lives for it!
For a second point, there is little/no perceived opportunity costs. We are GAINING time, IMPROVING our GPA, and often with little/no risk. Many, many people have cheated many, many times and have never been caught. What you talked about gratitude may remedy this problem for some, but when school is ramped up to the magnitude that it is, it's hard to let those "opportunities" go, especially when we worry that we'll regret it later. I do believe that gratitude for the opportunities afforded to us from others is the key to understanding what is lost when we sacrifice our academic integrity, but the problem is that we don't even think about that integrity, let alone care, when faced with potential GPA that is portrayed as the progenitor of all success.
I personally have not commented on a post until now. I don't mind the offering of extra credit, but it does somewhat bother me when people must take on a guise of care or interest in order to achieve that credit. I get it, and I don't think those who comment here are bad people or anything, but I do share similar suspicions as CJ as to the integrity of some comments. At least these comments aren't sacrificing academic integrity, but some might say a better integrity is lost. Or maybe I'm just blowing some blog post out of proportion.
Maybe a little bit of both.
-MH
thanks for your honest reply I would ask you what I asked CJ should I stop the extra credit? My hope is to create some good discussion like we have had on this issue and maybe in trying to achieve that hope I have fell into the grade trap. I
DeleteI think you guys will do well no matter what college you get into. The best college (whatever that means) to me I very over rated. You are more important than the college.
After reading the blog comments maybe I was write in my first reaction. Where have we went wrong. Thanks for taking the time to post truly appreciate it.
I feel like the reason that people cheat is because everyone's concern is their grades, not what they're learning. School has become so competitive, and every point matters. Everybody is always trying to get an edge to maximize their grade, because grades are always being pushed as a priority by schools, parents, colleges, etc. I feel like it is hard to do anything about it for this very reason. Grades are prioritized, and the message usually pushed is that if you don't get good grades, you can't really go far in life.
ReplyDelete- George
Don't mind me, just passing through.
ReplyDeleteI'll be honest, *seinfeld theme plays*
no but seriously, I believe that the desire to cheat usually comes from dishonesty of self, in a way. You'd only cheat on a test in a class, or reasonably you'd only cheat, if you kinda didn't care about the information in the class that is being tested. A person would be making a stupid mistake if they tried to cheat off of others on a test that is stupidly hard, since, chances are, the person you are cheating off of also has no idea what they are doing.
Like you said though, honesty comes from gratitude. HOWEVER, there is another word for that. Integrity. Reasonably integrity to be more specific, as in, integrity when it isn't unnecessarily handicapping yourself. Somehow integrity can be a curse, as it has been for me. When I do my work, I always focus on honest work, and this can often slow me down. But integrity is the way that one can solve this issue. And you have integrity when around others because you and them respect each other. If you don't respect yourself, you can't truly hold integrity, since you won't be able to justify the need for this integrity.
Just my two cents, or 2.18 yen in japan,
Graham.
I agree that rationalization plays a big part in why we cheat. However, I also think that the way we motivate ourselves can prevent cheating. The modern system of schooling has students focused mainly on grades. It becomes easy to obsess over grades, and write off small instances of cheating as a way to make the number higher. You mentioned that gratitude is a great solution for cheating. I agree with this to an extent - I think that gratitude should be the end goal. If we hold ourselves accountable and act as people of integrity, gratitude will follow. Getting a good grade or fully understanding material is mush more fulfilling when you accomplish it without cheating. By having integrity and accountability, we can be grateful for our successes and further appreciate what we've learned or the accomplishments we've achieved. When we eliminate grades as a motivational factor, and instead use personal accomplishment as a motivator, accountability and gratitude follow.
ReplyDelete-Ciaran Cusick
I totally agree with your comment in that when you are successful based on your own accomplishments it is more rewarding than when you cheat and get a good grade
ReplyDeleteI think cheating can be stopped if we change the way people perceive school. I think that students often believe that school is about getting good grades as opposed to preparing them for the next stage of life. I know that I personally have had many classes where I learn nothing and still get a high grade but that shouldn't be the goal. I think that we should learn as much as we can and just accept the grade we get. Thanks, Finn Gaudreau
ReplyDelete