Researcher Launches Experiment to Stop High School Cheating

Reader Comments
Back to blog

As a high school student, here are my thoughts:
A teacher's job is to enhance the education and knowledge of their students.
A student's job is to succeed in that class, and since success is measured with grades, a student's job is to get good grades.
As far as I'm concerned, if a student is cheating and the teacher doesn't realize it, the student is just doing their job.
It's great to have the morals and values to know that cheating is wrong, but when a student gets home late due to activities, or works to save money for college or a car, sometimes a pile of homework and study guides is overwhelming. At this point many students cheat, because they need sleep.
Students help each other out because they realize they are a team. Faculty works together... and so do the kids.
That's the way it is, at least for now.

JM of OH 7:51PM September 18, 2008

True, strict teachers are not as popular, but I find that strict teachers tend to be good in a way as well. I think strict teachers are good in a way as well because if you think about it, a strict teacher will most likely be the one to work the kids hardest. Yes, kids do get annoyed at all the work, but it will be good for them in the future when they really learn the definition of work. Besides that, I think kids do well with rewards. Usually schools have the punishments all set up, such as detention or suspension, but do they really have any particular awards? No, not really...I remember that one year, back when I was in middle school I had a very relaxed teacher. At first I felt happy that she didn't really give homework and that we were allowed to play games...but by the end of the year, I realized that I learned nothing at all. So then during the next grade I ended up with a lot of catching up to do... It's ok to be strict, but you just need to add the fun part in as well. If you were still teaching, you could just teach as you usually do, but be sure to teach with a happy attitude and after you finish what you needed to get done, allow them to play a game or two reviewing what you just taught...

Izabelle Zerena of NY 6:48PM September 18, 2008

Cheating is a social institution among high school students. It's considered cool, a gesture that you care more about the approval of your peer group than about academics and the rules of the institution you are attending. The students who are cheating for self-advancement in a highly competitive atmosphere usually do it on their own because to share the benefits with anyone else would take away the competitive benefits. The everyday kind of cheating (purchasing term papers, etc.) is done just because it's easier than doing the work.
And refusing to participate in cheating schemes is so uncool it can earn a student social ostracism, and suspicion of being the snitch if the cheating is ever uncovered. Unfortunately there is no way for adults to change what is considered "cool" and "uncool," and it doesn't look like cheating is going out of style among students any time soon. It may take generations and a painful Darwinian process before cheating is viewed as the path to loserdom rather than a path to ease and success.

Mike of CT 7:49PM September 16, 2008

When I was a Freshman in highschool, I discovered that cheaters actually did prosper, so I stopped caring about my grades. I always did enough just to pass. I was no longer a straight A student, and my reputation as a future scholar slowly entered oblivion. I guess I realized that some people don't particularly care how you achieve your GPA, as long as it looks good, and they can't prove that it was won through deception. It was no use comparing two GPAs if one wasn't earned. If their's were slightly higher, it was higher, period... I'm not sure why people cheat, but lets face it, as long as the criteria to pass is achieved, and you have the grades to get into your school of choice, what does it matter right?

FOX of ND 3:02PM September 15, 2008

I'm a high school teacher in a university town, but my classes include students from diverse backgrounds. Many do not seem to be cheating. There are always some who do cheat. I know because I catch them...sometimes. I don't know if I'm only aware of a much larger problem or not, but I think a lot can be done if teachers take some basic steps: DO watch carefully during tests. DO take tests away from students who cheat: some students count on teachers being afraid of parents' protests if they punish students--it takes some moral courage to face that, but its worth it. BUT ALSO--DO make cheating less effective/easy: give multiple copies of your first few tests or quizzes. After that, you can give the same test on different colors of paper, or with some marked 'version A' and others marked 'version B'. A bit ridiculous to have to do this, but it can stop students from 'casual' cheating: looking at their neighbor's answers.
BUT--student culture views cheating, of a certain sort, in a positive light. If there's cleverness to it, or if it connects students to each other socially. The article's examples of a scheme to distract a teacher would be the 'clever' way and the stolen master key passed down from year to year would be the 'social connection' pattern--though both examples touch on both patterns.
I wish Professor Stephens luck with his approach because trying anything to solve this problem is good, and de-emphisizing test scores is also worth-while, but I hope he'll also consider the 'social economy' of cheating. Within certain circles, it gives students a status, similar to hosting a big 'beer bash' or scoring a winning touch-down. It's unfortunately a twisted kind of rebellious achievement. It may be the 'gateway' act to a larger, life-long way of dealing with obstacles and inconveniences, and connecting with peers.

S. Hathaway of MI 11:08AM September 13, 2008

I'm surprised it's so hard to keep students from cheating during a test (for class sizes under 30 students). I give out different versions of the test. I watch everyone's eyes the whole time. The eyes will tell you if they are cheating. Plus, make sure any written answers are done on the exam you hand out. And some things should be obvious: nothing open or on the desk; no electronic devices of any kind; no reaching into pockets or anything like that. It sounds to me like some teachers are simply not paying attention.
As for colleges emphasizing student reviews, you'd think professional educator/administrators would know immediately that students will give poor grades to any teacher who is strict or has high standards. It's just their nature to want leniency. Any college that fires a teacher for unpopularity is not an education institution--it is a business trying to attract customers through glowing reviews. (The decaying of our society continues...)

dan of KY 8:53AM September 13, 2008

Character, Integrity, Honor, and Loyalty are no longer an important part of our education. I am heart broken to see the brightest students cheating. This starts at home, parents are responsible for teaching the ethics and morality to children. Which should also be reinforced at schools as well. It has to start from the heart!

Soo of CA 4:08AM September 12, 2008

As a student, cheating is impossible to avoid. Scholarships, Admissions, Sport privileges and approval from parents all depend on grades ergo causing just way to much pressure. When you get stuck on a test question everyones first instinct is to look around and try and get the answer from someone else. With many college courses' only grades for a semester being a few tests, sometimes as little as two, each question really impacts your grade in the class and ultimately your GPA. It's unfortunately impossible to keep up with your peers and keep everyone happy without cheating.

Alex of NH 8:20PM September 11, 2008

As a freelance editor of PhD candidate dissertations, primariily in education, I can, with authority, state that reform is needed at the highest levels. Plagiarism and anemic academic work, coupled with flawed logic and obvious "group think" are endemic...this herd needs to be culled!

Mary Lea McTurnan of IN 7:02PM September 11, 2008

You are not the first professor I've heard of that had to change their teaching "habits" to become a bit more popular with the students because their evaluations at the end of the year could perhaps determine whether or not the teacher would have a job the next fall. It's a shame that administrators of various universities are basing their decisions on whether a professor is good, bad, or productive by what a student has to say. Grant it, there is some validity in students opionions but many of the negative comments that are made on those evaluation cards are from students who want to be handed a grade without having to work for it.
If students don't like the professor because he or she won't let them cheat that's pretty sad and we are in a far worse place in the US than I'd imagined.

Mr. Hutchison of FL 5:55PM September 11, 2008