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Caught Cheating in School (and Who's Really to Blame)

rd.com — Cheating is becoming a problem in schools across the country ... and teachers are the culprits.

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  • Lixnig, on 01/16/2008, -3/+73...and somehow this is an unexpected consequence of a law that, by design, awards schools who perform very well on the standardized tests? Why the hell wouldn't the teachers do this when they aren't paid enough in the first place, and their kids scoring well could lead to them getting a raise?
    • desistere, on 01/16/2008, -3/+37As a high school teacher, I wanted to include mention of the fact that 50% of teachers quit in the first five years. I can't think of another career where that happens. They consistently cite two things: poor working conditions and low wages. I am a math teacher and we are very in demand. Still, looking at the job and what I could be making in a mathematics-based field, I'll be getting out of this soon. I love teaching, but it's just not worth it. Not only in terms of pay, but especially the working conditions. Why is the U.S. doing poorly in science and math? It's not teachers. It's a cultural problem. We have to start looking at education differently in this country and it starts with paying teachers better and making working conditions better. 50% of teachers drop out in five years and we expect students to stick around in the same system.
      • dood, on 01/16/2008, -0/+5I understand the pay argument, but what working conditions would you like changed? What do you, as a person in the trenches, see in the culture of our youth and their parents that is preventing them from succeeding?
        I think we have all been absolutely inundated with complaints about pay and big picture "NCLB is failing because of X" from school big-wigs. I'd like to see some more anecdotes and constructive thoughts from the teachers themselves.
        • Pritchard, on 01/16/2008, -10/+4I'd like to see the Federal Government the hell out of my school system. That would be a nice change. Give teachers the freedom they need, and stop penalizing students for wanting to learn - My experience with school was that I either got there late or didn't get there at all. I was penalized just for going. Even worse that they have the right for force any human being to live their life a certain way like that...
          • dood, on 01/16/2008, -2/+8The freedom to do what, though? What would you do differently with that freedom? How are students being penalized for wanting to learn? This is all still just big-picture ivory-tower stuff.
          • aukxsona, on 01/16/2008, -1/+9Well, a student that teach them self is usually told to "stay with the class" and penalized by low grades for it. I also know teachers in particular have a lot of pressure to focus on a subject in a specific manner, with specific information even if it is out dated so the student will be able to pass the test. Another example is that when a student is very enthusiastic about a specific thing and doesn't want to STOP learning to go onto the next subject they can get in serious trouble. I know I have been in the principals office more than once because of this one reason.

            Schools are set up like an old Monty Python skit, 20 minutes of math and suddenly the teacher says, "And Now for something completely different" for the sake of a broad education. The problem is that some curious students want an in depth knowledge and actually don't comprehend things well until such knowledge is very in depth. This is why students fail miserably in my own opinion.
          • mightydavefish, on 01/16/2008, -2/+4Give us a break.
            So you couldn't be bothered to show up, but that's the SCHOOL'S fault?
            Grow up, kid.
            You were penalized for being a dumbass.
            Geez, some people can rationalize away their responsibility on ANYTHING.
        • brufleth, on 01/16/2008, -1/+3Faculty and parents can be really annoying but you just have to get thick skin to be a teacher. Otherwise the pay is usually pretty competitive for the amount of work. My sister and brother-in-law really like having summers and vacations off. If they decide to work summers they can pretty easily make more than I can in a year as an engineer. If you can find a school that you can stand working at it really isn't such a bad gig.

          Oh and my sister is a math teacher. She's quite happy sticking with teaching.
      • Urusai, on 01/16/2008, -3/+7I don't really buy the pay argument. Even in the po-dunk town of maybe a thousand people I'm currently at, starting pay is $31k (average is $40k), which isn't a heck of a lot, but when you consider that median household income is supposedly $40k, benefits, and that teachers don't work a full year, it beats plenty of jobs. My father has a doctorate and teaches at college for scarcely more, so don't complain about being underpaid for your fancy degree.
        • PinkalPeaches, on 01/16/2008, -2/+4Considering the fact that teachers often work ridiculously long, stressful hours I tend to sympathize with them. Good benefits and a pretty much guaranteed job doesn't mean crap when they have to work their ass off because we don't care about our education system. You'd have to be crazy to become a teacher.
        • PAStheLoD, on 01/16/2008, -2/+4Well, they can't organize themselves, they are anything but effective, and why on earth do they work when they're don't get paid for that? (I mean, why do they correct tests and such in their "free time"? And even I can check a test in less than 2 minutes given the right answers..)
          • imikedaman, on 01/16/2008, -1/+2Then multiply that by 30-50 students per class, 2-4 classes taking your test that day, and add a few essay questions that take a long time to properly critique. There goes your entire weekend unpaid.
          • mahdaeng, on 01/16/2008, -0/+1@imikedaman:

            Yeah, I'm sure that teachers have to grade 200 tests per day. If so, come up with a more efficient testing/grading system. And by the way, teachers aren't the only people in the world who actually have to work for a living.
        • ThatsPopetastic, on 01/16/2008, -4/+4Umm, my mom is a school teacher and she's making about $20,000...
          • brufleth, on 01/16/2008, -0/+3Please frame that reference. What degrees does she have and where and what does she teach?
        • brufleth, on 01/16/2008, -0/+3Seeing a lot of weird information here but you're right. My sister and brother-in-law are both teachers. You have to deal with annoying parents and bratty kids but that's what teaching is. They make good money AND get vacations and the summer off. They can easily work a leisurely summer job (if they feel like it) and make more than I do as an engineer. Teaching really isn't as bad as many people try to make it out to be.

          Like I said, you deal with the annoying kids and their parents and you deal with faculty that might be a little sucky. You don't have to work crazy hours. The teacher union protects teachers from being exploited and they have quite a lot of perks ranging from free lawyers to help close housing purchases to nice long maternity leave.
      • mahdaeng, on 01/16/2008, -0/+1[[Why is the U.S. doing poorly in science and math? It's not teachers. It's a cultural problem.]]

        Sounds like teachers are part of the problem, too - especially if your comments are in any way representative of the caliber of people going into the teaching profession these days. I'm sure that there are organizational problems, cultural problems, etc., but if you love teaching as much as you say you do, you'll stick it out and elevate these kids - not jump ship just because it's not a walk in the park. Every profession has its challenges. Quit whining and help fix the problems.

        Oh, and three months of vacation every year is a real pain, I bet.
        • Lixnig, on 02/06/2008, -0/+1Most teachers I know have summer jobs as well.
    • l0k0, on 01/16/2008, -1/+5To some teachers, the integrity of the system is far more important. Let's face it, teachers probably don't pursue their profession to make the maximum amount of money. The purpose of school is to essentially prepare students for the real world, not standardized tests, and succeeding in doing so should be a teacher's ultimate goal. Most teachers aren't fools (I said most), and realize a lot of the curriculum is not relevant in the real world and will therefore will try not be controlled by the curriculum. If they were to cheat themselves, it would completely defeat the purpose of their work.
      • laxidasical, on 01/16/2008, -2/+9I'm just waiting for someone, somewhere, to perhaps bring in society as a whole and parents in specific into the fray. I'm tired of hearing how education is all about teachers. We see kids for about 6.5 hours of instructional time per day, times 182 days a year (if the kid has perfect attendance), minus two weeks for state high stakes assessments. In that relatively short amount of time (1100 hours) we are supposed to counter-balance the 7,600+ hours the kid is out on the streets or with his/her peers. What if the home isn't the best place? What then?

        When politicians and newspaper reporters get the balls to call out parents, take away their tax credits when their kids are ***** up, then maybe we can start having a real conversation. Until then, STFU and GBTW.
        • aukxsona, on 01/16/2008, -0/+4Well, I would probably have the balls to call out parents and totally eliminate schools. But that's MY idea of eliminating the problem...just get rid of it. Teachers see children MORE than most parents do. It is a PROVEN fact. You are right, how can you possibly teach 30 children that see you more than there own parents. I don't think any human should ever be in that position. If this is the way the government wants to raise children the substitute parent to child ratio needs to be a lot lower, like 12 to 1 max.
        • mahdaeng, on 01/16/2008, -1/+1[[I'm tired of hearing how education is all about teachers]]

          You're right: the entire problem consists of more than just teachers. This article, on the other hand, deals with the unethical behavior of some teachers.

          And GBTW? Really? Don't you have some kids to teach? And I hope you're not teaching them the bitterness and negativity that you've shown us here.
    • wdr1, on 01/16/2008, -0/+3Uh, integrity?
      Or is that not taught anymore either?
    • bluezinc, on 01/16/2008, -1/+5Frankly, ***** teachers. Now, I say that from a very personal place. The education system, both public and private, has failed me in every which way in my life. Teachers in the private schools told me I was stupid because my public school didn't teach me cursive. I didn't learn cursive because the teachers in the public schools told me I was stupid and put me in remedial handwriting classes because my handwriting was sloppy. I excelled in math and history, but was still put in remedial classes because of handwriting. One time in middle school my humanities teacher told me the cookies in the beginning of Edward Scissorhands were meant to represent the phrase, "cookie cutter houses". I told her I thought it was a symbol for innocence. She sent me to the first detention that school had given in a decade for disagreeing.

      Sorry, I have no sympathy for them, but that's just me.
      • mahdaeng, on 01/16/2008, -0/+2Sounds oddly familiar. I was always being told (explicitly or implicitly) to conform. Whenever I raised questions, I was ridiculed or sent to the principal's office. Nice system, huh? Whatever happened to the Socratic method?
    • DocHoliday22, on 01/16/2008, -0/+3It's undeniable that certain jobs come with a lot of responsibility. I say this from experience where my school in the UK was going to be taken over by the Government as it was extremely poor at academia. We didn't cheat, but the teachers didn't bother to help us work hard at it either. In the end most of the students flunked, and you would think that school maths would have no impact on later life - 10 years later it still does. With nearly every company asking for higher grades in maths, proficient aptitude test results, proficiency in maths etc, I really wish I had paid more attention in school, but how could I when the teachers who regularly told us that they weren’t getting paid enough to stay after school to help. I really wanted to do well and I use to think I was just a dumb ***** but know that we weren’t given the correct resources to make the most of it. Man those bastards.

      From this I can say; PLEASE DO NOT GO INTO TEACHING IF YOUR HEART ISN'T IN IT. You will not only disappoint yourself but mess up the lives of the students.
      • bluezinc, on 01/16/2008, -0/+2I said something similar in this reply column. It's not only that my teachers didn't care. In my school if you regurgitated everything they said they gave you A's, if you asked questions during lectures, you got C's for bothering them, if you smoked pot in the middle of class, you got D's because, hey, at least you showed up.
    • roxycat, on 01/16/2008, -1/+1personally, i do not believe it is a matter of bad teachers. i remember in high school almost all of my teachers were willing to stay after school to help. they were available to go above and beyond- for those who asked for it. i believe many teachers were passionate and did have their heart in it. but eventually i think they felt defeated when they could not control the kids in the classroom. the lack of control stems from a fear, fear that they were forced to walk on eggshells to remain politically correct and fear for their own personal safety from students. this isn't to say all teachers are this way, but this is what i sensed from many of my teachers in high school.

      edit: oops, this was supposed to be in response to DocHoliday22.
    • jeremyduffy, on 01/16/2008, -1/+2That is so true. When this law was crafted, they didn't take into account behavioral psychology at all. When you put a reward system in place where cheating is the best way to get to the reward (and perhaps the ONLY way in some cases), obviously, the human animal will choose cheating.
      • mahdaeng, on 01/16/2008, -0/+1[[Why the hell wouldn't the teachers do this when they aren't paid enough in the first place, and their kids scoring well could lead to them getting a raise?]]

        The human animal, yes - the moral human being, no.
        • jeremyduffy, on 01/17/2008, -0/+1Granted, but even reasonable humans will become frustrated by a broken system that doesn't reward them at all except for things that don't matter at all.
    • mahdaeng, on 01/16/2008, -0/+1[[Why the hell wouldn't the teachers do this when they aren't paid enough in the first place, and their kids scoring well could lead to them getting a raise?]]

      Why wouldn't they? Well, if they were honest, had moral values and integrity, and were professionals, they wouldn't do it. If they would just teach the kids properly in the first place, they would see better scores.
  • bamafun, on 01/16/2008, -2/+62we had one teacher at our school that would put the test answers on the board so no one would get below an A
    • metateck, on 01/16/2008, -1/+24If anybody even got below a 100, then either the teacher or the student should be removed from the institution for stupidity.
      • stoanhart, on 01/16/2008, -3/+8Replace that "or" with an "and"
        • metateck, on 01/16/2008, -0/+5Well I was assuming either the teacher or the student mis-transcribed something, but I suppose it could be both.
    • floridiot2, on 01/16/2008, -1/+15No child left behind!
    • Vegiemaster, on 01/16/2008, -0/+17If I were this teacher, I'd put all wrong answers on the board and smack the kids that didn't even look at the questions.
      • squegie, on 01/16/2008, -0/+1I would at least randomize them.

        Then it would be like one of those vocab match the word to the definition type deals.

        Of course, that wouldn't be too helpful for a math test.
        • JohnFlux, on 01/16/2008, -0/+3Lol.

          "Kids here's the answers to the test, in a random order:"
          A
          B
          D
          B
          A
          B
        • paidhima, on 01/16/2008, -0/+1Putting them in random order would rock, especially if it were just letter answers like JohnFlux posts. I wouldn't even grade the test. I would just ask how they figured out which letters went where and grade them on their procedure.
  • DeskFlyer, on 01/16/2008, -0/+44Anyone ever read the first chapter of the book Freakonomics?
    • ajchavar, on 01/16/2008, -0/+11exactly what i was thinking when i saw this.

      ahh, the power of algorithms.
    • dlinkwit27, on 01/21/2008, -0/+1I thought the same thing as well. Thumbs up
  • Error601, on 01/16/2008, -16/+6No, cheating has always been a problem. Lazy asses grasping to get by while retaining their ignorance is nothing new.
    • Lixnig, on 01/16/2008, -0/+15Yes, cheating has always been a problem. However, the teachers did not condone it in the past.
      • itisfritz, on 01/16/2008, -0/+1wow; way to speak on behalf on every teacher who ever taught. Maybe if what teachers taught was worthwhile for the students to learn the students would want to learn it. Test-taking is not a life skill.
    • jsmu, on 01/16/2008, -0/+0Are you really sufficiently stupid not to know that Every Child Left Behind, and its asinine glorification of standardized tests, practically REQUIRES cheating?
    • hshadow914, on 01/17/2008, -0/+1I admit that i cheated on many tests for meaningless ***** that won't matter in my life and rather than memorize something i'd forget the next week. sure, lazy, but I don't give a ***** about Jupiter's moons and i refuse to memorize all of them.
  • YepeY, on 01/16/2008, -5/+20To add to that here is a quote from the article "Teachers are PAID to be role models. It sends a really destructive message to kids." I don’t know where you live but teachers here are paid next to nothing for what they have to put up with. As a consequence to the mistreatment of teachers the destruction of our FUTURE CARE TAKERS is at stake and will come back to haunt us later. Teachers are now under so much pressure to have students pass the standardized tests that the education and grooming of Americas kids set aside for the good of a ranking system that’s goal is to make the USA look good in the eyes of other countries that are kicking our ass in the educational system. One day if the system keeps going like this the satire movie idiocracy will become a reality and Americans will be, if not already the laughing stock of the world and we can only blame ourselves for the downfall of our nation.
    Pay the teachers, higher more of them so that our kids can have the personalized training they require to become educated and think of better ways to survive. But then again the system is designed to keep the rich well rich, and the poor dumb enough to let the rich get away with it.
    • Strongo, on 01/16/2008, -1/+2well said. I couldn't say it better myself.
      • mahdaeng, on 01/16/2008, -1/+1Sure you could've. All you'd have to do is spell "hire" correctly.
    • ZeroSki11, on 01/16/2008, -1/+10Throwing more money at a problem does not always fix it. Bad teachers need to be fired or retrained also. In addition parents need to get involved with their children's education. In too many places education is not valued and is even looked down upon.
      • laxidasical, on 01/16/2008, -0/+4parental involvement has more of an impact on a student's achievement than anything else. Take a kid and put them in the best school with no involvement, or negative parental influence, and see how that student performs. Guarantee it won't increase that much...unless you have one that is truly special and self motivated.
      • Rioracer916, on 01/17/2008, -0/+1I have to agree. In some communities in America education is viewed as something to be ashamed of.

        In most of the countries that have very good educational systems and high performing students; low and behold, the community and more specifically the parents, drive these students to achieve these feats.

    • Langford, on 01/16/2008, -1/+1Paying better would attract talented teachers out of the more lucrative jobs they already have, but politicians don't get reelected for spending money on perpetual services. "No Child Left Behind" essentially brutalizes untalented teachers in an attempt to make them perform like talented ones. The problem is that you can't get blood from a turnip, and many of these untalented teachers are only teaching because it looked like guaranteed employment. I find it odd that this program comes from the same group that claims to support free enterprise, all the while forgetting that work and skill is a product that ultimately must be paid for.
    • brufleth, on 01/16/2008, -3/+2I'm curious, where are YOU living that teachers are paid "next to nothing?" Does their income really stack up so poorly against incomes in your area? In Boston teachers make very good money but some of the schools can be tough. In the surrounding suburbs they don't pay as much but they still make a very reasonable amount and there are a good deal of benefits. Considering the relatively short work year the teachers do all right here.
      • zantos420, on 01/16/2008, -2/+1do you even know what you are talking about?
        anything less than $25k in my opinion is next to nothing.

        http://www.calnews.com/Archives/1YB_II_sal.htm
        • brufleth, on 01/16/2008, -1/+2Umm...looking at that article it seems teachers do start at low salaries relative to wages in some areas but then climb relatively quickly. In my area teachers start at 40+ and inner city is more like 45-50+ starting. Most of the stats in that article are also a decade old. Maybe still valid but old.

          My sister and brother in law are both teachers. They do quite well. Their benefits package is comparable to mine (better in some areas) and I am an engineer. They also get summers and vacations off.
      • itisfritz, on 01/16/2008, -0/+1Do you understand the argument of raising a teachers pay? Overall greater pay means that people who are educated and have the ability to teach will choose that option quicker and be more willing to stick with it. Right now more educated people in this country choose to quit teaching because they can find less degrading jobs that pay more and require less of them.
    • mahdaeng, on 01/16/2008, -0/+1"higher" more of them? Really?
  • JLecker, on 01/16/2008, -1/+64Where were these teachers when I was taking Calculus?
    ...Well, actually teaching me the material, but that's hardly as funny.
  • QueenDoc, on 01/16/2008, -11/+5So far America has proved they're as bad as the character in "Idiocracy"..
  • lacolonel, on 01/16/2008, -3/+19......Courtesy of No Child Left Behind.....
    The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.”
    • Pake, on 01/16/2008, -1/+8"......Courtesy of No Child Left Behind....."
      I firmly believe you can't blame NCLB for what's happening these days. There has always been corruption in the education system by both administration and teachers. No teacher wants their students to fail, because it reflects poorly on them and if enough people fail, they'll lose their job. So many teachers would pass the students regardless of how crappy their grades were. Administration has done the same long before NCLB, even though NCLB gave them a bit more initiative to cheat the system.

      In other words, even if NCLB didn't exist, students still wouldn't be learning and the system would still be corrupt.
      • lacolonel, on 01/16/2008, -4/+5are u a teacher? if not, please listen to teachers in your community. NCLB has made an already bad system .. so much worse. For everyone. Especially children. Teachers are not able to teach anymore, which means children are not learning to their full potential. NCLB is to blame for the recent decline in educational quality. Just ask any educator.
        "if we don't stand for children, we don't stand for much"
        • tremor_tj, on 01/16/2008, -3/+4What's to blame for your horrendous writing style? "u"? For *****'s sake, grow up.
          • lacolonel, on 01/16/2008, -2/+1are U serious? i didn't realize i was expected to adhere to APA on digg. I am a grown up. But thanks for the advice. I am assuming you are both teachers, since you are so passionate and well versed about the ramifications of NCLB. Either that, or you're lil' george himself.

            the union, although it does provide protection, also adds to the problem. Google the New York system of rubber rooms for some eye opening union activity.
        • Pake, on 01/16/2008, -1/+3Listen to the teachers? You mean listen to the teacher's union. The teachers who aren't in the union are typically your best teachers as they have more confidence in their teaching ability and don't need a union to guarantee their job security. Also, as a person who was a student before NCLB, I can tell you I found almost no teachers teaching anyways. Most care about nothing more than making sure they don't have the same students the next year. Children weren't learning to their full potential before NCLB and it's a ***** excuse to say they aren't learning now because of it. You might hate the NCLB, but look at it this way, at the very least it's shown just how corrupt many teachers and administrators are willing to be for extra pay and as long as the media exposes them, the students will benefit by getting teachers who will start to care more about the students learning.
        • mahdaeng, on 01/16/2008, -0/+1[[NCLB is to blame for the recent decline in educational quality. Just ask any educator.]]

          Wrong. Everyone always wants a scapegoat. Look, I went through the public school system in the 1980s, long before NCLB was even a glimmer in a politician's eye. The system was horrendous then, and the system is horrendous now. If NCLB is the scapegoat today, whom may we blame for failures in the past?
      • vibrokatana, on 01/16/2008, -3/+4I graduated from high school 2 years ago. You could of renamed almost every history class "prepare for the standardized tests". Ever wonder why kids cant read a map? Its because they are forced to learn how to fill in bubbles so the school doesn't go under.
        • Pake, on 01/16/2008, -0/+3That was the same before though. I've been out of HS for 4 years now and history has always been just memorization class. It doesn't matter if you have standardized test or not for it, because you're being taught to memorize the same stuff.
        • ShugNinx21, on 01/16/2008, -0/+3You were never taught how to read a map or had a geography class in 12 years of schooling? I love this idea where the schools spend 12 years showing you how to fill in bubble sheets and the answers to the test that you take like, what 3 times in your 12 years.
  • Ceeman, on 01/16/2008, -1/+55I think I only had two teachers my whole life. They taught me how to think and work out a solution. Their classes were never about the right answer it was all about the process.
    • metateck, on 01/16/2008, -16/+14You only got to second grade?
      • Ceeman, on 01/16/2008, -1/+302 teachers, the rest just had me read out of a book. I didnt need them for that.
    • ShugNinx21, on 01/16/2008, -4/+2There are certain subjects that you need to know answers. History for one, is not a subject where you can work out a solution to find an answer to the question. Even in math where knowing how to figure out the solution is the greater issue, the basic math involved that requires answers is also important.

      I understand what you mean but for better education you need not only know the solutions but also answers. I find this whole idea of "I should only learn what I feel is important" is what holds back students the most.
      • paidhima, on 01/16/2008, -0/+2I *loved* school. History was one of my best subjects. I really enjoyed researching events, dates, and people. I liked chemistry, and memorizing elements, oxidation states, constants and formulas. I did pretty well in school. But the really funny thing is, in almost 12 years out of school I find myself utilizing very few of those memorized facts. I, too, can say I only had a precious few real teachers. Like my senior year (high school) English teacher, that challenged us not only to deconstruct literary characters, but how to apply that process to people we meet. That English class was closer to a combination psychology/philosophy/anthropology class than anything else - and very little of it came from traditional teaching techniques.

        I agree that teaching students that the answer isn't the most important thing hurts them in the long run. In the real world, most people don't care how you came to your conclusion (except, maybe, in highly creative or technical fields), they just want the answer. Most of the time, nobody cares if you "show your work." But that doesn't negate the importance of the process - only that it doesn't need to be displayed at every juncture.
    • TheUngod, on 01/16/2008, -0/+2I had a marketing professor like that, but it was in college. Due to the type of material we didn't have a single test the whole semester, but I learned more in that class than any I had ever taken.
  • scootscr15, on 01/16/2008, -4/+11Yay for grade inflation, twice the GPA-half the knowledge!
  • tmlee, on 01/16/2008, -12/+5Their right about cheating. I'm not sure I could get into Yale without ever doing it.
    • romistrub, on 01/16/2008, -3/+29Your not kidding.
    • jmpeagle, on 01/16/2008, -0/+23Please tell me that was on purpose.
    • SemiSarcastic, on 01/16/2008, -0/+14Thats how my cousin got his medical degree.
    • ledguitar, on 01/16/2008, -13/+6It's "they're" and "you're".
    • Gzero, on 01/16/2008, -1/+5Whats with you're attitude?
    • tmlee, on 01/16/2008, -0/+2Oops, I made a mistake. It is "I'm not sure I could have gotten into Yale" I always forget to use past perfect properly.
      • shitdrummer, on 01/16/2008, -0/+2Oh Jesus ***** Christ! Please tell me you didn't go to Yale and you're just making this ***** up. Please?!? And even after proof reading what you wrote! I can forgive the uneducated (or undereducated) but *****! :( I suppose it did pass the spell checker, so what's the problem, right?
      • plax3, on 01/16/2008, -0/+1I had to digg you up for sheer hilarity.
    • nycmac247, on 01/16/2008, -0/+2"They're" contraction of they and are --- YALE?
      Or is this a joke about Bush
    • itisfritz, on 01/16/2008, -0/+1Smart people goto school. Smarter people go to school work hard to earn a degree. The smartest people recognize that you goto school for a degree, and connections and thats what they get.

  • clearwaterlab, on 01/16/2008, -11/+4What do you mean "becoming" a problem? Just ask your parents if they ever cheated on a test.
    • Lixnig, on 01/16/2008, -0/+4Read the article, please...it is about teachers facilitating cheating in order to bring the school's assessments up to par.
    • ledguitar, on 01/16/2008, -0/+3You didn't read the article. It's not about the normal type of cheating in which the teacher is unaware of it. it's about teachers allowing or even encouraging cheating in order to get high test scores.
      • diggmeyoubitch, on 01/16/2008, -0/+3It's more like they're doing the cheating for the kids. The kids don't even have to bother cheating anymore. Their teachers will do it for them.
        • aukxsona, on 01/16/2008, -0/+2It has always been this way. I'm 27 MOST of my teachers did this.
    • jsmu, on 01/16/2008, -1/+0They didn't. Sorry yours had no ethics whatever. Have any effect on you? LOL
  • alexf, on 01/16/2008, -1/+11Hey, I wonder if the author ever read Freakonomics?
    • lacolonel, on 01/16/2008, -0/+4probably.. by the way, Freakonomics is one of the best books ever.. especially for data junkies.
      The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.”
  • anselm83, on 01/16/2008, -5/+12Buried because it's a link to Reader's ***** Digest and not Freakonomics.
  • tyler71, on 01/16/2008, -1/+36I think this is the first time I've ever seen Readers Digest have a link in Digg...
  • Upon66, on 01/16/2008, -2/+23Reader's Digest on Digg?
  • kanimara, on 01/16/2008, -10/+3I'm all for cheating in public schools, the faster the kids get passing grades the faster the kids can get real world experience and change things to work better. When you purchase a $200 textbook in University/College, how much of that are you actually going to take away? I've been in alot of courses which required the text, but we didn't even open them.

    Why? It was all summarized for us. In the real world, if you ever have to know anything, you can either A) Ask someone with experience, B) Look it up online, C) Look it up in the textbook. And you really only need to do that a couple times before you remember, so it's not even a time saver to learn it all in school. I think school is important, it is a great social tool and useful for kids to learn what they're interested in. But aside from that, I'd really like to see some studies done on how often what is learned in school from textbooks (ANY school past highschool) is actually used in the student's work. Experience > School
    • aigulf, on 01/16/2008, -0/+9I'm not knocking experience, but I use what I learned for my Bachelors daily. Calculus, physics, electromagnetics...yeah, I could've learned them all on the job, maybe, but it would've taken a long time and I wouldn't understand them as well as I do now. Experience and education complement each other, they are not in competition.
    • Unremarkable, on 01/16/2008, -3/+2School is about breadth education. The point is to give you some basic understanding of a large number of topics, to help give you a more well-rounded view of life, and to help you find something that you are interested in. I think that anyone who excels in their field can tell you that what they took away from their pre-post-secondary education - and probably even their post-secondary education - has very little to do with what they actually do, and likely only served to guide them away from topics that they had no interest in.

      I think people have lost sight of this. Expecting students to excel on standardized tests is destructive to the entire purpose of school. Instead of touching on many topics, students have to memorize as much about specific subjects as possible, most of which are arbitrarily chosen to begin with.

      With the exception of, in my opinion, English (or proficiency in some other language), I feel that very little should be expected of students until they begin to specialize (ie, College level).
      • ShugNinx21, on 01/16/2008, -0/+2The standardized tests test students on the very basics of each subject that had (or should have been) taught (or learned) to that student over the course of their student career thus far.

        There should be no memorization because this is information you have learned over a long period of time. When they get into the position of cramming all this info down the students throat at once means that either the Teachers have done a piss poor job teaching, the students have done a piss poor job learning, or both.
    • Gzero, on 01/16/2008, -0/+2Lots of the teaching in grade school isn't that great, but saying kids should just cheat their way through? There's going to be people speaking like lolcats trying to understand calculus.
  • induren, on 01/16/2008, -3/+6The article's author admits his prologue is blatantly false. He admits the pressure is caused by NCLB. NCLB is the problem here.
  • masterm1nd, on 01/16/2008, -2/+7I learned a lot more from cheating than I did from the curriculum I cheated on. And I learned the curriculum in the process... Am I the only person who feels grades are a bad thing? Grades are the goal, not learning. Many times have I over looked learning in the process of making the grade... I guess if you took away grades there would still be no incentive to learn (otehr than learning itself). Ehh, who cares.
    • tremor_tj, on 01/16/2008, -1/+5And everyone deserves a trophy for participation, right? I see where you're coming from, and agree with you, but damn, people need to get a clue. I guess as long as we have a welfare economy, there really is not incentive to learn anything if you don't want to.
    • shitdrummer, on 01/16/2008, -1/+2You keep telling yourself that mate. The ends justify the means eh? You obviously didn't learn to even press the check spelling button? *****! Near enough is good enough, right?
      • masterm1nd, on 01/16/2008, -1/+1Laziness != misspelling. That kind of destroys your whole premise... Anyways, if you would have read my entire comment, you would have seen I said this: "I guess if you took away grades there would still be no incentive to learn".

        Not being graded would have been better for me personally, but probably not for the majority of students.
  • xsquirrel378x, on 01/16/2008, -0/+58i never cheated in school. i earned my F's the honest way
    • tyywebb, on 01/16/2008, -0/+5I got an F once because two kids cheated off me.
  • shreveyboy, on 01/16/2008, -1/+4This isn't recent activity from teachers under pressure. The same thing exposed in Freakanomics. Really, we need to stop putting so much important on assessments. No child left behind...screw that.
    • mahdaeng, on 01/16/2008, -1/+1Yeah, because leaving children behind is so much better.
  • l2OI3, on 01/16/2008, -1/+4I've cheated on a test, but never something blatantly planned like writing it on my hand/shoe/cheatsheat. Cheating is a fuzzy line. Plagiarism, now that's a serious problem in today's schools.
    • shitdrummer, on 01/16/2008, -0/+3Dude, if you need to cheat you didn't learn the material and you deserve to fail. Period!
  • nastronomical, on 01/16/2008, -1/+9Watch this and see the face of the American education system.
    **20/20 STUPID IN AMERICA**
    http://youtube.com/watch?v=Bx4pN-aiofw

    • SideShowMel0329, on 01/16/2008, -0/+3I remember when I watched this 20/20 it made me realize that it's not only the school system in America that's broken, but the general, American high schooler culture. I don't think there's a really big focus on learning material in high school. The kids are too occupied with dating, or getting drunk on weekends, or sports. The parents say they want the kids to learn, but really they just want them to get into a good college. The kids don't learn, so they cheat to meet the parent's expectations.
      Good thing it all evens out in college. I mean, lower tier American universities are a joke, but the high tier one are very impressive. I currently attend University of Virginia, and most people here are serious about their education. But I still think even the universities could use some reform.
      • laxidasical, on 01/16/2008, -0/+5This show was so one sided. Al the total goof-ball kids acting like asses. The parents blaming the schools when their 16 year old couldn't read. Why did it take 16 years? My oldest daughter was reading at 3 and my youngest will be reading by the time she is 4 (she's working on it...). Parents are the answer. Not more money. Not millions thrown into BS professional development classes. And not some wack voucher system where the wealthy can fleece the public for more money and the poor kids will still wallow in their own misery. Their parents will play lip service to how their children are being victimized and do nothing, or wait until it is way too late to effectively deal with the issue. And that is why there is such discrepancy in achievement between those of affluence and those without. That is why there is such a discrepancy between cultures: the ones that value education and hard work and bettering oneself through individual self-improvement and those that feel that it should just happen by their mere presence.
      • jsmu, on 01/16/2008, -1/+0You really don't get it, do you? the only more impressive thing about MORE EXPENSIVE (oops, sorry, 'higher tier') universities is the PRETENSION. No, UVA students don't 'care about their education'. they care about their ***** GPA and class rank and SALARY in a few years. Please do not foist your denial on those of us who WORKED in academia.
  • EnderMB, on 01/16/2008, -0/+5The education system is gamed in many different schools. In the UK if you're not above a C you're left to fend for yourself whilst good students get answers and extra help when needed. I remember taking an important exam once when a teacher came over to one of the gifted students who was having a problem with a question and he sat there and explained it all to her, along with what could have been at least a whole page of answers.

    Cheating is an extremely serious problem in many schools and the education system is being taken advantage of by teachers so that schools get extra funding all of the time. It's one of those things you know is going on, but can't prove without careful analysis in a classroom.

    Where does this lead education? I believe that students will soon be able to get all the answers they need for any examining bodies exam on the Internet, and kids will find a way of learning through their computers rather than through their teachers once the quality control is upped on these resources.
    • JohnFlux, on 01/16/2008, -1/+1Heh, everyone feels they are left out. I was one of the 'gifted' children in a UK school, and as I remember it I didn't get much time with the teachers at all.
      • mahdaeng, on 01/16/2008, -1/+1Same here (but U.S.A.) - but then again, I didn't want any time with the teachers, I just wanted to go home.
  • shadowmoose, on 01/16/2008, -1/+18I've taken these state assessment tests before, and honestly if you can't pass them then you fail at life.
  • SideShowMel0329, on 01/16/2008, -1/+1Cheating is definitely a huge problem, but I think it expands even further than just the teachers. At my school, the teachers never helped the kids cheat, but the kids who were top performers felt EXTREME pressure from their parents. It's the stressful pressure parents put on their kids that usually drive them to do better than they really can (aka cheating).

    I'm all for the government coming in to stop cheating (oh wait, the government already failed with No Child Left Behind)
    • Blankb108, on 01/16/2008, -3/+0are u sure yr teacher might be cheating
      • Karmavs, on 01/16/2008, -0/+3Clearly your English teacher has been cheating.
  • PhilThePhenom, on 01/16/2008, -1/+6As an educator, I agree the system is flawed almost beyond repair due to the consequence-less approach to teaching that has been adopted in this country. I'm still burying this story for having a sensational byline.

    Teachers are to blame? Please....
  • boran, on 01/16/2008, -1/+4Seriously guys, I red the articla and theres only one party to blame, and it's not the teachers. A law that rewards good grades is corrupt, plain and simple. Here in belgium it is almost the opposite. Schools with lots of troubles (children from poor parents who had lesser education, children that are not native dutch speakers) get some extra money on top so they have the budget to support and help these children.

    You might say that this promotes mediocracy, but what would you rather have, a nation of educated people, or a nation with a few very educated people and a whole lot of children left behind (pun intended).

    The way I see it the law creates a divide in intelligence, schools with smart kids get funding and can make the kids smarter, schools with somewhat less smart kids get less funding, cant provide extra support for those kids and hence the kids become less smart.
    • aukxsona, on 01/16/2008, -0/+2Interesting point. That is where we were BEFORE NCLB, parents weren't happy with this over "race issues". Any way I thought I should tell you red and read sound the same, but the last is correct. Then I think you accidentally hit an A instead of an E on article.
  • rxbudian, on 01/16/2008, -6/+1ah... No Child Left Behind at work... see... there are no child that failed. I wonder when the Paulites are going to start commenting that RP will help fix this problem....
  • cronian, on 01/16/2008, -5/+0We need to eliminate federal and state mandates. When schools are under local control, good decisions increase local property values and property tax revenue for the local school board. Local school boards, and the residents have market incentives to improve the schools.

    When the state or worse yet the federal government funds schools, government bureaucrats get to decide what is a good school. Market forces are distorted, so, instead of focusing on improving schools, everyone tries to game the system.
    • laxidasical, on 01/16/2008, -0/+1Unless you are disenfranchised minorities, say in the south, with no protections from the tyranny of the local majority. Or even the tyranny of those with political and financial power over you (in a limited, local sense). Remember, civil right and educational laws were initially passed for a reason. The protection of the individual/minority is paramount in our society and in our constitution. That's were straight "constitutionalists" tend to go wrong. Although you MUST respect the founding fathers, they were not infallible, nor were those that followed total tools. You have to step aside from revisionist tendencies and look at WHY the federal government had to step in and "take over" education. To insure that underserved/not-served populations were getting FREE AND APPROPRIATE EDUCATION (initially "separate but equal"), which is mandated by nearly 55 years of case law.
      • cronian, on 01/16/2008, -0/+0I understand the federal government has a role in enforcing Roe v. Wade, and other protections, I don't think most of the federal mandates accomplish that. I think federal and state financial support can be provided without mandates, that still leaves broad authority on how it is spent up to the local school. I believe there should greater democracy at the individual schools, which can include having student representatives on high school school boards, and electing local principles.

        The issue that remains is protecting the rights of minorities in the schools. I believe this could be addressed by mandating processes that give these people greater say in school governance. The other issue is dealing with religious fundamentalists, who want to run schools. How many district does that affect? I don't how to address that issue.
  • dood, on 01/16/2008, -0/+2I could understand how a badly written test could make it hard to pass the English or science standardized tests, but it seems a lot harder to screw up a math test. Are the students being tested on things that they're not being taught? Are they being taught only how to answer certain test questions only to be stumped when they're worded a different way? Would the vast majority of students 10 years ago have failed these same tests?
    • ShugNinx21, on 01/16/2008, -0/+2They are tested on the basics of each subject of which they only need answer 65% of the questions correctly to pass.
  • Blankb108, on 01/16/2008, -7/+0yo know the kids arent cheating but the teachers are dam america is going down
  • mattrmcg, on 01/16/2008, -2/+2Guess the curriculum includes 'Cheating' now
  • Rich711, on 01/16/2008, -3/+9When my private school educated kids grow up they are going to be able to put your kids to work for next to nothing. Hahahahaha!!

    The teachers and their union put themselves before your kids and you all stupidly defend them.
    • ChromaticDragon, on 01/16/2008, -0/+2This is absolutely correct. Parents need to wake up and realize the teachers' interests and their interests are very often not aligned. It would be nice to believe that both parents and teachers want what is best for the children (oh my... think of the children). But this would be incredibly naive.

      Tenure may have significant value in the university, where we rather want people free to pursue research which may be unpopular. However, I can see no value whatsoever for tenure for teachers in the schools.

      We, the parents, are consumers. The teachers are the workers. We should not want to protect the jobs of poor teachers.

      Trouble is parents need to take far, far more responsibility of the entire process. Are you equipped to judge the pedagogy your school employs? If not, why not? Most teachers aren't going to help you here. Why would they? Again, their interests are not yours. They want to protect themselves, their jobs, etc. They do not tend to make it easy to judge them, their practices, etc. This is all further compounded by the fact that very few of us have real choices beyond the public schools. And that most parents seem all too willing to let the schools handle all of this. Nonetheless, these teachers are working for us... period.

      Next, we need a MASSIVE shift away from grades to mastery. Grades are inflated. Everyone knows it. Standardized testing is one attempt to get past this. And it appears we really do need a way to judge teachers/schools, etc. Should we "teach to the test"? I get a tad perturbed by this complaint. We shouldn't teach to the test, we (parents and teachers both) should simply TEACH. Trouble is, we're sooooo poor at doing that (again teachers AND parents), that we are struggling to figure out how to make it look like we're doing ok.

      Trust me... if we can figure out how to teach so that kids actually master these things rather than just reaching the abysmally low standards required to get good grades, I imagine test scores will not be so much of an issue.
  • RoboDigger, on 01/16/2008, -2/+7at least cheating in this case aint about teachers having sex with students for once.
  • Disinterested, on 01/16/2008, -4/+0dugg for the description alone ^_^
  • bingobongony, on 01/16/2008, -2/+2This article is so true. No one ever cheated in the past.
  • mikebeezey, on 01/16/2008, -3/+3Our education system is becoming a joke. No child left behind has to be one of the worst things that Bush's administration has done to America, I realize how ridiculous that must sound given the current administration's record but if you even read up a little bit on what no child left behind does you will see how badly it is cheating our kids out of a proper education. My mom has been a teacher for 25 years and is so fed up and stressed out by her job that she is retiring after this year. People don't realize how much work teachers have to do. Teachers have to work a very stressful nine to five, then get to go home and spend more time working on school things. It takes a lot of time to grade papers, make lesson plans, and many other things that need to be done in order to make sure the students are learning. Plus we pay them ***** for working their asses off, then pressure them to prepare their kids to contently improve on irrelevant standardized tests or else their schools lose important funding. They end up not teaching the students not what first graders should be learning but rather how to take stupid tests. No wonder ***** like this happens, what do you expect when we demand so much from such a poorly compensated group of people.
    /rant
    • mahdaeng, on 01/16/2008, -0/+1Boo-hoo. These poor, mistreated teachers should go back to school and get into another career, then, if life is so horrible for them.
      • mikebeezey, on 01/17/2008, -1/+0They are, thats the point, there is already a teacher shortage and its only going to get worse. Then there will be real problems
  • ZenMojo, on 01/16/2008, -1/+2I've never cheated on anything, but 66% of the students in my high school said they regularly did in a poll. I won't pretend to know how much of an increase this is over previous years, but...yeah, that's the world we live in (by the way, George W. Bush was my governor at the time, but I won't say he had anything to do with it).
    The problem, though, is that NCLB is retarded. A certain group of students NEEDS extra help. Instead of giving them the help they need, they give the resources to schools that DON'T need help. This has to be the most retarded motivation to education I have ever conceived of.
  • BaderG, on 01/16/2008, -0/+2I think it's funny to see Digg with a story on cheating in school when I can recall more than a few top stories I've seen with cheating method videos.
  • jaydedragon, on 01/16/2008, -2/+5while i wholeheartedly agree that teachers should be paid more, and actually teach... you also have to hold the kids accountable for not ***** paying attention too. teachers can do all the work they want and be paid well.. but if kids in your class are ***** off, never pick up a book and don't do their homework... don't expect them to pass the test... you think we have so many idiots in our country because of all the teachers?? place the blame on ALL the shoulders responsible
  • lostmongoose, on 01/16/2008, -1/+6I lol'd at the fact that the Dallas Morning News gets all upset about cheating yet names an illegal immigrant Texan of the Year...
  • nastronomical, on 01/16/2008, -1/+6The American education system started going down hill in the 1960's...why?
  • kirstpo, on 01/16/2008, -1/+1Too many dumb standardized tests and predetermined federal curriculum really limit teachers. Good teachers aren't rewarded and sometimes discouraged. Poor teachers, retain their positions without any oversight. Then you also have students who don't care, don't try, or genuinely don't understand and are slower to learn. You also have a lot of different students at different levels in one classroom with one teacher. Teaching is a difficult job, and the blame of students cheating shouldn't really be primarily the teacher's responsibility.

    Also, sometimes students cheat because some of the tests are so stupid and pointless.
    • kinship, on 01/16/2008, -0/+2i wouldn't agree with you, the curriculum and standardised tests do great down here in New South Wales, Australia, that is for the optional year 11 and 12 (of which lead to your University placement score).
  • ps1locyd3, on 01/16/2008, -1/+1There is a definite problem with the education system today. Teachers really don't get paid anything to do what they do....and hence... I think alot of teachers are full of sh!t. I can't count the number of teachers i've had over the years that couldn't teach anything to save their lives. But... I'll still take their side because they DO play a major role in getting kids ready to take on the world after school.....But.....
  • psykiv, on 01/16/2008, -3/+1Guys, cheating is so 1990's. In 2008 we simply go into our school computers and change our grades to all A's.

    On a more serious note, teachers are quite possibly the profession I feel the worst for. They are quite possibly the only profession that works from 7am to 4pm, and then goes home to work (unpaid) from like 5pm to 2am, 5 days a week. Grading papers, making lesson plans, etc. To make things worse, they make a measly $30something thousand a year, and if they need anything at all for their classrooms or their students, it comes out of their pockets, and they don't get reimbursed. Not to mention the teacher association dues are something ridiculous like $200/mo. Just to deal with way too many kids with widely different learning styles, more than half of which don't give a ***** regardless of how well of a teacher you may be. Then there are other teachers and faculty (some of which will invariably hate you for no reason at all, but thats at pretty much any job). Teaching is something you *really* have to love in order to do. My best friend is a teacher and I feel extremely bad for them :(
    • mahdaeng, on 01/16/2008, -0/+1[[In 2008 we simply go into our school computers and change our grades to all A's.]]

      Um, no. That's what they did in the '80s.
  • christophelyon, on 01/16/2008, -0/+4The opposite problem also exists... In France, for a very long time, the worst schools have been awarded superior budgets than the others, so that they can improve their results. Problem : if they really improved their results (at national exams), they could simply have their budgets reduced to the "normal" per-student budget.

    So, they simply did nothing to improve... The worse the situation, the more money they get...

    In private schools, there is also another dirty consequence of the competition. They are ranked each year according to the results in national exams. So, when they spot some students who seem to have a high risk at failing, many of them simply forbid them to take the exam, so that these students have to register for the exam as-if they were home-schooled : their performance won't affect the school ranking, but at the same time they have even fewer chances to pass the exam since when you take it as what is called in France a "free candidate" ("candidat libre" in French), it is much more difficult to pass the exam, since you don't benefit from the additional points for your results during the year, and in the oral examinations you're instantly considered as a low-grade student... Plus of course, the parents are fooled in putting their children in expansive private schools who can advertise very high levels of achievements at national exams, not knowing that in fact there are less students from these schools who pass their exams than the average in public schools...
  • Sevdaligeceler, on 01/16/2008, -5/+0Great comment guidelines. I think you’re on the right track here. Some of those comments should go somewhere else.

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  • Shakermaker, on 01/16/2008, -4/+4Wow. Students cheat and it's the teacher's fault. That about as logical as saying that it's the cigarette companies fault you smoke.
    Gotta love America.....personal responsibility out the window.
    • JohnFlux, on 01/16/2008, -0/+4Did you even read the article? The teachers are changing the results.
  • LegendX, on 01/16/2008, -0/+1i had a teacher that sneaked in a project that allowed us to cheat. She found out that all of her classes did less cheating then when she told others to cheat.
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