teacher's dilemma

[makuyi]

Today, I was supervising my students who were doing a test. Soon after they started I saw one of the students get something from his pocket. I assumed it was a cheat sheet, so I went to him and ordered him to hand it over to me.

Yep, it definitely was a cheat sheet, so I told the student to leave the classroom and also told him he failed the test.

The student got mad at me cause he had not used the note and I knew that (which was true), so all I should have done is take the cheat sheet and let him finish his test.

 

So the question is:

should you have let him finish the test and grade him. After all, I knew he had not used the cheat sheet.

or

would you have told him to leave the classroom, like I did.

or

would you have solved it differently.

 

 

My students are males between 16-21.This student is 17.Consequenses of failing the test can be severe.

[BTW]

You did the right thing, its not the fact of him not cheating yet its the principal that he was going to cheat! Well done!

[Robb]

Quite simply, you did the right thing. Just because you caught him before he actually started cheating, doesn't change the fact he was intending to cheat. He shouldn't get away with it just because you caught him early.

[Aislinn]

I would have done what you did.

1. He did pull it out to use it. Just because you were alert and caught him immediately, that does not negate his intent. If he had no intention to use it, he would not have risked pulling it out of his pocket, let alone bring it with him.

2. If he does not get a severe consequence now, he will keep doing it because he will see that the consequence is not very bad and it is worth the risk.

3. You have the physical cheat sheet. The proof is in the pudding, as they say.

 

Of course it goes without saying that

1. He is only hurting himself by cheating.

2. The stakes will only get higher as he goes through life continuing to cheat. Eventually he will take a nasty tumble when he's caught cheating at something BIG and he loses everything.

 

My 2 cents.

[Raytray]

At most schools they have a Students Rights and Responsibility or Honor Code that they agree to before attending.

 

In it, there should be a cheating policy, which they agreed to before attending.

 

Thus, he shouldn't have even begun to attempt to cheat in the first place.

[BTW]

Yeah that is true you are helping him in the long run because being 16 myself us youth are too short sighted we don't think about our actions until the consequences are there in our face! Such as the position I am in at the moment

[Vanyel]

Tell the idiot to leave the classroom.

 

I always warn my students that any attempts to:

 

• use any small pieces of paper,
  
• use a mobile,
  
• talk to another person,
  
• look around suspiciously,
  
• etc.,
  

 

will be considered as disallowed activity and will effect with a failing grade and... possibly, disallowing taking another term of a test/exam. Period.

[tork_unib]

Would have done exactly as you did.

 

Not doing so is only an encouragement to the student and his/her peers to cheat, since even if you don't get away with it, you could still theoretically pass the test, therefore by that logic, it's better to cheat.

 

Incidentally, in the school i went to, cheating or attempting to cheat in a major exam would pretty much have been automatic grounds for expulsion.

Edited January 10, 2011 by tork_unib

[korrode]

How i would solve it depends on if my car needed washing at the time.

 

Really though, attempted cheating is still an offence that warrants punishing, imo. It's not like they let you off if you attempt murder because you were caught before you could actually do it. What you did seems right to me.

[The_Piper]

You did the right thing.

 

If someone nowadays is not more creative than using a piece of paper in his pockets to cheat, he doesn't earn to pass any test.

 

Even Sarah Palin is able to write something at her palms and NOT use a simple sheet of paper...

 

Piper

[Raz]

Definitely correct.

 

As to whether the notes had actually been used - how do you know that the time you saw them was the first time they took them out of their pocket? They could have taken out used and returned to the pocket earlier.

[Sonic]

Maybe another view:

 

Firstly:

 

Before any test I make summaries, usually scraps of paper that give me a quick refresh of the materal before the test.

Before the test you pack away these things (obviously)...sometimes you put them in your bag, or throw them away, it's not even unthinkable that i will store them in my pockets.

 

I see you call it a cheatsheet, but perhaps it was just his learning notes, stored away in pockets before the test.

 

(personally)Another example of this is when we put our textbooks on the test closed and write a test. Simply having the answers in a closed book doesnt mean you will cheat and open it.

 

Here one needs to look at policy. What is allowed. Are there rules saying that he should have no notes on him what so ever. (raytray/vanny mentioned this)

(1) Yes there is a rule: Cheating

(2) No there isn't a rule: You know he hasn't looked at the notes + notes are not forbidden so its fine to have them on him stored away.

 

 

Secondly:(assuming option 2 above)

Soon after they started I saw one of the students get something from his pocket

Well I play with my hair, bite my pencils, hum, stick my hands in pockets, eat sweets...etc during tests, there is absolutely nothing wrong here, a hand does not have eyes on it, it cannot read what is in the pockets. Perhaps it is suspicious behaviour, or maybe its just nothing...

The student got mad at me cause he had not used the note and I knew that (which was true)

SO: if there is no policy, he hadn't looked at the notes, you know he hadnt looked at the notes, and if there is nothing really proving his intent to look at the notes, THEN: I would not have done anything.

 

For me there is no dilemma , its just a matter of looking what is allowed, and what isn't.

Edited January 11, 2011 by Frost

[Entris]

As i see it he failed the test as soon as he had to take out the cheat sheet, he can't have been prepared enough to do the test and knew that since he took the time to write the cheat sheet and brought it with him.

 

You caught him before he had the time to use it but that doesn't matter since he already showed that he had the intention to use it when he took it out so you did a great job and hopefully he will study harder next time he has a test.

[Nova]

lol frosty i'm pretty sure any test has a no cheating rule. if not, then why is it a test? he made a cheat sheet and took it out during the test, thats intent to use it

 

i think you did the right thing. at that age everyone should and does know what is and isn't ok to do in a school testing situation. if you let him off the hook then the only thing they would have learned is that its ok to cheat if you don't get caught. some of the consequence may be severe for him, but nothing compared to anything thats going to happen to him out in the real world if he gets caught doing something wrong.

 

i recently had to deal with some 20somethings who were never taught the consequences of their actions, so i had to teach them. they learned that coming home stupid drunk at 3:30am w/ no keys, waking all the units to get let into the hall, kicking down a door to their apartment, yelling at your landlord at 4am when they come up to see whats going on, and threatening to throw said landlord down the stairs will result in eviction, even if they did just move in 2 months ago, even if they don't remember in the morning.

[Vanyel]

For me there is no dilemma , its just a matter of looking what is allowed, and what isn't.

 

 

I don't see any dilemma in there. People have to take responsibility for their actions. If my student doesn't have time to check whether he has anything that might be considered as cheating, why I should waste my time to take his motivation into consideration?

 

I'm teaching adult people (19-24), so I treat them as such.

 

 

[revi]

Maybe another view:

 

Firstly:

 

Before any test I make summaries, usually scraps of paper that give me a quick refresh of the materal before the test.

Before the test you pack away these things (obviously)...sometimes you put them in your bag, or throw them away, it's not even unthinkable that i will store them in my pockets.

 

I see you call it a cheatsheet, but perhaps it was just his learning notes, stored away in pockets before the test.

 

(personally)Another example of this is when we put our textbooks on the test closed and write a test. Simply having the answers in a closed book doesnt mean you will cheat and open it.

 

Here one needs to look at policy. What is allowed. Are there rules saying that he should have no notes on him what so ever. (raytray/vanny mentioned this)

(1) Yes there is a rule: Cheating

(2) No there isn't a rule: You know he hasn't looked at the notes + notes are not forbidden so its fine to have them on him stored away.

 

 

(revi: snipped part)

 

Then it might be a good idea to be more careful where you store your summaries/notes/whatever..

 

My view:

You take out notes on the test material during the test => you are cheating => you fail that test.

As it was you that put those notes in your pocket, you have no excuse when taking them out during the test.

 

And, tbh, your playing on rules sounds a bit far fetched, as if this was the first test ever done by the student.

OP states 'males between 16-21', so it's a safe bet this was not his first test ever. Thus, he can be expected to know the rules, so he gambled and lost. End of story. And if his defense was 'I didn't use it', he admits he knew the rules...

(a bit like rule 5 in EL: don't try to be clever about it, you'll still get kicked)

 

(just as a side note, I've known schools/colleges where getting caught cheating could mean exclusion from the program or at least the running year, so exclusion from one test isn't too severe in that light)

 

Final note: digging a bit showed me I know the country we're talking about, the student knew he was cheating.

[Sithis]

The question is why u ask for "advice" after the incident.

no matter if u feel guilty or not ( imho u should not) , u have to continue the same method at least for this year, otherwise people will say u discriminate

[Vanyel]

The question is why u ask for "advice" after the incident.

no matter if u feel guilty or not ( imho u should not) , u have to continue the same method at least for this year, otherwise people will say u discriminate

 

It's a student-teacher relation - they will say he's unfair, discriminating, bastert... no matter what he does

[Raz]

Yes we all have cram sheets which we read up until the last minute - these however should and must be left with the bags outside the room.

From a students' perspective having the notes on you is dangerous as it may not be possible to prove that you had not used them. Leave them outside or drop in the bin at the entry to the exam room.

[revi]

The question is why u ask for "advice" after the incident.

no matter if u feel guilty or not ( imho u should not) , u have to continue the same method at least for this year, otherwise people will say u discriminate

 

- OP could very well have several classes

- (s)he might want more opinions from outside the school

- (s)he wanted to vent some steam

- (s)he wanted to start a discussion

- ...

(want any more potential motivations )

[makuyi]

Update.

 

At our school, unlike most schools in my country, a school year is divided into 2 semesters and you advance to a higher class twice a year. So today we had meetings to discuss who will advance to the next semester and who will do the same semester once more.

In general the rule is : no grades under 3 ( we grade from 1 to 10); if the results of 1 or 2 tests are graded below 3, you get a final chance to do those tests again next week and if you have 3 or more tests graded below 3 you failed the whole semester.

Each test is scheduled for 2 dates btw. and you can choose which day (or both days) you wish to take that test, but if you are caught cheating, you are not allowed to take a test again anyway.

 

The student had 3 tests graded below 3 (one of which was my test which I graded 1 for cheating), so he was not given the opportunity to better himself next week and failed the semester.

[Vanyel]

Happens. It wouldn't disturb my sleep even for a second.

 

You're a teacher. You are supposed to teach them a bit more than just academics, i.e. some ethic.

[revi]

Yep, your student gambled and lost. His problem, not yours...

 

This sounds harsh, but

a- he knew the rules, and decided to break them;

b- a student that cheats, can in certain situations lower the scores of all other students: some tests are graded to get a certain average.

(Strange how the cheaters don't think this is unfair, and their getting a fail grade when caught, is...)

[Nova]

The end outcome was a little harsh but like vanyel said, you taught him a valuable lesson at a key time in his life. better for him to learn now in school and stay back for half the year then to do something similarly stupid at a real job down the road and get fired and put out on the street and all the great stuff that happens when you have no job or money.