Professor Spooner's Blog

I think that instead of weighing a few exams so heavily, SMG should concentrate on providing more frequent, smaller exams that cover less material. The fact that, as students, we are basically told we only have three main chances (two midterms and a final) to prove ourselves is absolutely absurd and intimidating. I know for a fact that there are several students who know the material of a course inside and out, but their grades do not reflect it. Whenever I hear of a case involved with cheating, I am never really surprised. If someone told a professor that he or she only had three chances a semester to prove that he or she was a completely adequate professor, I’m confident that BU (but not SMG) and most colleges in the nation would have frequent job openings.

The problem with cheating is that people assume (like this article said) that “everyone else is doing it, so why shouldn’t I.” It’s the pitfall of conformity. It’s frustrating to see people succeeding and doing better than you when you know they’re writing their answers on their hands or searching google during an exam. Cheating punishes those students who don’t cheat, because their integrity isn’t being reflected on the rankings list – which matters. It also doesn’t help that cheating isn’t truly frowned upon in society. It happens everywhere, in so many different forms and ultimately comes down to being dishonest.

I always find issues involving cheating scandals interesting because of my experience in high school. I went to a school where there was enormous pressure to do well and cheating was not something the majority of students thought about twice; sometimes, they considered it the only option. It was so widespread, in fact, that no one condemned anyone else for it. It was commonplace to see students copying each other’s homework for the next class, receiving test answers in advance, cheating on the actual test – you name it. When I came to BU, I realized that this was not normal. Cheating wasn’t something that should be overlooked because ultimately, it won’t get you anywhere. Yes, I know a large amount of kids that cheated their way to the top (one of the kids in my grade cheated on his SAT’s – he is now at Yale), but at the time, it was essentially survival of the fittest. Everyone did what they had to do to get by and maintain their high averages. When I heard about the cheating scandal that happened at my high school this previous year, I was honestly kind of relieved. Even though I am guilty of being part of the masses that cheated, it was getting out of control and the media attention really brought it to light. The degree to which the students cheated was never anything I would have done or did, but any kind of cheating is not okay. The cheating scandal at Harvard is a whole other story; their excuse to justify their actions is a copout, but I can’t blame them because I know the position they are in. Regardless, I agree with the other comments; the pressure to excel on exams is intense and overwhelming. In a semester of approximately fourteen weeks, three or four days basically decide our entire grade and that’s terrifying. For a lot of kids, they may lose their funding for school; for others, they may be pressured from their parents if they wish to remain at BU. Although testing is a surefire way to check if students know the material, it becomes more of a situation where memorizing the course material becomes the priority over actually learning it. If students are asked to immerse themselves into the material (such as the Day in Court Paper) rather than basing it all on a few scores, not only will cheating be reduced, we would take more away from the course itself.

It is impossible to get rid of cheating unless there is no competition. Some parts of students who want to get higher scores will cheat in exams, even if they can do a good job by themselves. I was graduated from an excellent high school with good academic performance. However, students will still cheat in exams. There are two reasons for this phenomenon. One is the high pressure from both parents and peers. The other one is that because everyone is doing this. I think it is impossible to avoid cheating in exams in SMG, the only thing we can do is to take some measures to reduce the possibility for cheating, like using different versions of test paper in one and separating students.

I agree with the idea that students today cheat as they are under more pressure to do better. Especially at a place like BU where grade deflation is prominent, students tend to feel like they are never attaining the best possible grade. As a result even those students who may get an A- which is a really good score, may resort to cheating for the extra points to get the A. To ease the pressure on students, SMG should have several different assessments to determine a student’s final grade. With a midterm being 25% of one’s grade, the pressure is overwhelming for most students and in times like these, students are desperate and turn to cheating. Therefore, if the curriculum included several exams worth smaller percentages or additional assignments, I believe students would feel less stressed and would be less inclined to cheat. I feel that it is impossible to get rid of cheating amongst all students, but with a less exam intensive curriculum, it may be possible to lower the number of students who do so.