Our Cheating Hearts. US News and World Reports has an editorial on cheating in America here. In the article it says... In a major study of both college and high school students by Duke University's Center for Academic Integrity, more than 70 percent of the students surveyed admitted to having cheated at least once on exams in the previous year. Why? If students see others cheating or teachers fail to see it or report it, is it any wonder so many conclude that cheating is essential to remaining competitive? Technological advances have made cheating easier than ever. Photo messaging, for instance, lets students contact friends outside the classroom with copies of exams. I've been wondering about this for quite some time. It is obvious that students are cheating. The author of the editorial has some ideas why. I tend to couch it in terms of art making. The arguement of process vs product. A vigorous process requires learning and exploration. It's so easy now to lift material off the Internet and our students believe if the result is correct why does it matter how it was achieved? I can almost agree with them! I recently gave a mid-term to one of my classes (it has 30 students). I had prepared them the week before by suggesting areas that I might be pulling questions from. I also believe that a test is also a learning tool -- going over that material one more time and writing it down. Encouraging them to "show off" if they knew more about a section than I asked is something I try as well. I made them spread out in the theater and sit on the floor (it's okay, they are dancers and do this all the time) to take their mid-term. I had students come to me for hints! I had students wanted me to prompt them for an answer. I tried very hard to keep the room as quiet as possible and I walked around and through the room to try and keep cheating from happening. My question is: Is this the best way to prevent cheating? Is it possible that students might gain one more drop of knowledge by cheating and getting the right answer instead of leaving an answer blank? Can test-giving be another step to learning beyond parroting back information and facts? Dare we hold our students accountable for cheating if indeed 70% of the students nation-wide admit to cheating? Are we coddling our students by giving tests instead of finding other means of measurement for learning? Should the classic mid-term and final be replaced by another mode of proving knowledge? In another article last month US News and World Reports stated that 37% of the students who attend college will not stay through and get a diploma. There followed statements about how our education system is failing. I say "bull shit!" It makes me mad. College is supposed to be hard and a diploma should mean something. Paying for tuition does not mean you've paid for the diploma (as everyone seems to think), it pays for the opportunity to try and earn a diploma. And it's hard. It is supposed to be hard.