Is Cheating a Lucrative Business for College Students?

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A Florida college professor has confronted widespread cheating among business students, offering an ultimatum: confess, retake the exam, and attend an ethics class, or risk not graduating. This situation arose after a significant portion of the class was suspected of cheating, with some students justifying their actions by claiming that "everyone cheats." The professor's decision has sparked a debate about ethics in education, the responsibility of educators to prevent cheating, and the implications for honest students who must also retake the exam. Many participants in the discussion express sympathy for the professor and criticize the culture of cheating, while others argue that the professor's inability to secure the exam reflects poorly on his teaching methods. The conversation also touches on the challenges of detecting cheating statistically and the moral implications of students confessing to cheating they did not commit. Overall, the thread highlights the complexities of academic integrity and the varying perspectives on accountability in educational settings.
  • #101
DR13 said:
It is sickening to think that people are actually blaming the teacher for the fact that the students stole the test. If someone broke into your house is it your fault if they steal from you? Should insurance companies just be able to say, "Sorry, we are no going to give you any money because you should have been able to stop the thief." This is rediculous. At my school there are literally no professors or TAs in the room when the tests take place (they are usually in a room close by in case anyone has questions). And guess what: NO ONE CHEATS (which goes against all of the people who make the rediculous claim that everyone cheats). There is a very strict honor code that all students sign before the test. If anyone is found to have cheated there are serious repercussions. But I do not know of anyone that has cheated. It is horrible that some of you are excusing people from cheating. Also, they would be cheating the good kids in the class by ruining the curve. So we are penalizing the kids who didnt cheat!

Get over it. None is blaming the teacher for the fact someone stolen information from him.
I blame him for the balless attitude he has, the fact that he hits in all students, innocent or not, and the fact he is not acknowledging that when you are cheated by a huge percentage in a test, this only means one thing: you are incompetent to administer the test and the school procedures are a sorry joke.
 
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  • #102
lisab said:
And I really, truly believe most people are like me (doesn't everyone think that :rolleyes:). I think most people are honorable.

Lisa, don't get me wrong but this is a form of naivety. Most humans will cheat in their lifes, and many won't even think that what they done is cheating. Myabe due to a form of cognitive dissonance. Most humans will lie, in fact I don't know myself any human who didn't lied during their lifes. Id be glad to meet one .

Ppl cheat all the time. In schools, at jobs, in married life, in their civil life (taxes for example), in amateur and professional sports, just about anywhere. You have to be blind not to see it. Just watch carefully.

Ppl aren't good or bad. We are what we are.
 
  • #103
DanP said:
Most humans will lie, in fact I don't know myself any human who didn't lied during their lifes.
Of course you don't.

They've honestly answered questions such as "Do these jeans make my *** look fat?" with "No, your *** makes your *** look fat." Or answered "What are you thinking?" with "If I wanted you to know, I would have said it out loud."

Needless to say they're no longer with us.
 
  • #104
lisab said:
I have to be totally straight with you here...if someone gave me the answers to a test right before I sat for it, and the circumstances were such that no one could *ever* find out that I used them...I just couldn't use them. And I really, truly believe most people are like me (doesn't everyone think that :rolleyes:). I think most people are honorable. So this "enabling the cheating"...I don't buy it. Cheating is cheating; how easy it was is irrelevant.

according to the prof, the honesty rate here is about 2/3. but probably, not everyone had the opportunity to study the testbank, so theoretically, the number who would cheat is even higher than 1/3.
 
  • #105
You do realize that the only way to study from the test bank was to have obtained it illegally?
 
  • #106
DanP said:
Get over it. None is blaming the teacher for the fact someone stolen information from him.

<snip>

when you are cheated by a huge percentage in a test, this only means one thing: you are incompetent to administer the test and the school procedures are a sorry joke.

1. Yes, some people are blaming the teacher (eariler posts)
2. How can you say that the admin is incompetant when the only way the students were able to get the questions were by breaking the law? It is not like he copied the questions out of the back of the students book or accidently posted the test online. He got questions from a place that students should never be able to access. Students broke the law to get the test.

Just out of curiosity, what do you think he should do in this scenario?
 
  • #107
D H said:
You do realize that the only way to study from the test bank was to have obtained it illegally?

if you were a member of a national fraternity, how many academic terms would it take for members to reconstruct a test bank ?
 
  • #108
By the way, I accept that people cheat. I am not naieve to that. However, when cheaters get caught they must be prepared to face the consequences.
 
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  • #109
DanP said:
Ppl cheat all the time. In schools, at jobs, in married life, in their civil life (taxes for example), in amateur and professional sports, just about anywhere. You have to be blind not to see it. Just watch carefully.

Ppl aren't good or bad. We are what we are.

It is not a binary system. When you get into the jail (I'm sure your argument that everyone cheats will not affect jury decision) you may actually get some knowledge why some people have longer sentences.
 
  • #110
D H said:
You do realize that the only way to study from the test bank was to have obtained it illegally?

Is that true? Howe do we know?
 
  • #111
Upisoft said:
It is not a binary system. When you get into the jail (I'm sure your argument that everyone cheats will not affect jury decision) you may actually get some knowledge why some people have longer sentences.

This is not my argument, this is a simple observation. You should understand that it cannot constitute a defense of any kind, but nonetheless, most humans will gladly cheat given the opportunity.

Second, I don't discuss here the gravity of antisocial behavior and the lengths of appropriate punishments.
 
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  • #112
What if you didn't cheat and got a low score, but then say you cheated (poorly) so you can retake the test? Technically that would be cheating on your test, so you don't have to feel bad about saying you cheated because you did.
 
  • #113
Selling test keys could actually be a big business, I know Cornell has one class with 1,100 students - one could easily make a years salary selling a single test key.
 
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