The New York Times reported yesterday on the rampant cheating among college students and the Big Brother policies that some schools have instituted to combat it:
No gum is allowed during an exam: chewing could disguise a student’s speaking into a hands-free cellphone to an accomplice outside.
The 228 computers that students use are recessed into desk tops so that anyone trying to photograph the screen—using, say, a pen with a hidden camera, in order to help a friend who will take the test later—is easy to spot.
Scratch paper is allowed—but it is stamped with the date and must be turned in later.
When a proctor sees something suspicious, he records the student’s real-time work at the computer and directs an overhead camera to zoom in, and both sets of images are burned onto a CD for evidence.
This seemed a little draconian to me until I read further down in the piece that “in surveys of 14,000 undergraduates over the last four years, an average of 61 percent admitted to cheating on assignments and exams.” And that’s only the students who admit to cheating! This picture is quite the opposite of my own college experience—which was just a few years ago. At Thomas Aquinas College, we took our exams entirely unmonitored and were allowed to leave the classroom for a breath of fresh air or a smoke break. Perhaps I was oblivious to it, but I don’t think that many students took advantage of this honor system to cheat—unless you consider a nicotine boost an unfair advantage. Small, young schools like TAC do have an advantage here though; they have no brand name recognition so the students they attract are, by and large, there for the sake of the education, not just the diploma.
July 6th, 2010 | 7:54 pm
Not W+L!
July 6th, 2010 | 8:32 pm
There is a speech by a Mr. Reed of the Foundation for Economic Education, (Irvington, NY) (www.fee.org) given a short time ago at the Acton Institute, Grand Rapids, Michigan on “Is character necessary?” .
It is worth while listening to it. It’s on the Acton website (www.acton.org) Of course, the answer is a resounding YES!” But many aren’t taught the importance of personal integrity, community responsibility, and was and its importance in the Public square.
July 7th, 2010 | 10:44 am
In my experience, surveillance actually exacerbates bad behavior.
As the manager of a luxury store 35 years ago, I enjoyed a yearly loss of only about $50 per year from an inventory worth more than $100K. This includes public theft and what is called in the trade, ‘employee shrinkage’. The even swankier store next door to me went out of business within 24 months because of the rate of employee theft. The reason? The manager next door used to submit each employee to a monthly lie detector test. I, otoh, trusted my employees.
There is definitely some truth in the idea that if you expect the worst from people, you are going to get it.
July 9th, 2010 | 8:20 pm
After TAC, I couldn’t go back to the “keep your eyes on your own paper” stresses I experienced from elementary through high school. I chose my graduate school accordingly.
July 12th, 2010 | 2:43 pm
Young, small schools attract trustworthy students for the reasons you suggest, Miss Duke, but I think there’s also another reason a college or university adopts a formal or informal honor code rather than strictly policing assignments and exams like other universities. I’ve attended 3 leading examples of honor code schools – TAC, W&L, and the University of Virginia. All were communities that created a cycle of trustworthiness. Students are attracted to them because of the communities of trust and learning they embody. Students generally remain trustworthy while in attendance because they value the communities of which they have become a part.
In addition, TAC’s Catholic Faith heavily influences its attitude towards cheating. I seem to recall then-dean RGC saying that students who cheat really do only cheat themselves. Having failed to take advantage of the education offered during the semester, they only deceive themselves when they cheat on an exam to get credit for learning they don’t have. Moreover, virtue comes by Grace – the internal workings of the Holy Spirit, the conscience, and the will; it does not come about by policing.
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