WWYD: Cheating Classmate?

[paintnolish]

During a college final exam, I think I saw someone cheating. As I got up to turn in my test, I saw a classmate typing on his cell phone. As I walked by, he quickly slid it under his baseball hat, which was sitting on his desk, right in front of his test. Our teacher was on the other side of the room, on the computer. It really bugged me. We're in college. Come on! I felt like saying something, especially on a suspicion, seemed a little busy bidy-ish. When I mentioned it to another classmate, she said this guy is always moving around during tests. He was not ordinarily in my line of sight during tests. I suppose he could have been texting, but what is so important that you would risk a cheating accusation by messing around with your phone during a test?

 

[DisneyBamaFan]

Unless someone's safety is at stake, never ******* JMO...

 

[Jennasis]

MYOB. Unless he's cheating off of you (where as you might be implicated).

 

[DrCavin]

Snitches get stitches...

 

[bettymae1121]

Does your school have an honor code? My friend had a situation in college where a friend of hers knew about cheating, and it turned into a thing because of their honor code, the code said if you knew someone was cheating and didn't turn them in, and the school found out about it, the person that knew could be expelled too, even if they didn't participate in the cheating itself. I don't think the friend got expelled but she got into some sort of trouble over it. Anyway, see what your schools guidelines are on it, you don't want to get yourself in trouble.

 

[paintnolish]

I won't "tell," but it bugs me.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I would do nothing. Not my job to catch a cheater in the class & you have no way of knowing if he was in fact cheating.

Now if he was cheating off of me or bragging about how he is a cheater, different story.

 

[princessmom29]

Does your school have an honor code? My friend had a situation in college where a friend of hers knew about cheating, and it turned into a thing because of their honor code, the code said if you knew someone was cheating and didn't turn them in, and the school found out about it, the person that knew could be expelled too, even if they didn't participate in the cheating itself. I don't think the friend got expelled but she got into some sort of trouble over it. Anyway, see what your schools guidelines are on it, you don't want to get yourself in trouble.

Exactly. At our school knowing about it and doing nothing was as bad as cheating and you got kicked out too.

 

[OceanAnnie]

I won't "tell," but it bugs me.

It's understandable to be bugged.

But if he is cheating, it will catch up to him, one way or another. Either he will get caught in the act or he'll get caught on the job. Neither is a picnic. Sounds like he might be casting a web that will fall back on him.

 

[DizBelle]

As far as I can tell, you didn't actually witness anything. You just saw some maybe suspicious behavior. You don't really know anything to tell.

 

[nuttylawprofessor]

It's understandable to be bugged.

But if he is cheating, it will catch up to him, one way or another. Either he will get caught in the act or he'll get caught on the job. Neither is a picnic. Sounds like he might be casting a web that will fall back on him.

Or more likely, nothing will happen to him. Cheaters DO prosper all the time.

OP - if your school has an honor code, you must report him. I would probably report him otherwise as well. If nothing else, perhaps the school or the professor will become a little more strict about exam protocols. For example, in my exams, students are not permitted to have anything other than their pens/pencils, a watch, the test materials, and a drink in a closed container. All other materials -- coats, phones, etc. must be left on the coat racks.

 

[OceanAnnie]

Or more likely, nothing will happen to him. Cheaters DO prosper all the time.

OP - if your school has an honor code, you must report him. I would probably report him otherwise as well. If nothing else, perhaps the school or the professor will become a little more strict about exam protocols. For example, in my exams, students are not permitted to have anything other than their pens/pencils, a watch, the test materials, and a drink in a closed container. All other materials -- coats, phones, etc. must be left on the coat racks.

We don't agree on much, do we? It's anyone's guess. I've seen it go both ways.

I don't think it would be a bad thing to report suspicious activity during a test.

 

[DisneyBamaFan]

...OP - if your school has an honor code, you must report him. I would probably report him otherwise as well. If nothing else, perhaps the school or the professor will become a little more strict about exam protocols. For example, in my exams, students are not permitted to have anything other than their pens/pencils, a watch, the test materials, and a drink in a closed container. All other materials -- coats, phones, etc. must be left on the coat racks.

Unless the OP has told someone, she is not at risk if she doesn't tell anyone. Her only real risk comes from reporting this, for two reasons:

* The person might not actually be cheating and have a reasonable explanation for his actions. This would make her look like a fool and she would lose the trust and respect of everyone in school.

* The person might be guilty, get expelled, and react in a violent way, blaming her for his circumstances.

Worth the risk? I don't think so...

 

[nuttylawprofessor]

We don't agree on much, do we? It's anyone's guess. I've seen it go both ways.

I don't think it would be a bad thing to report suspicious activity during a test.

I used to agree with you. Now that I'm on the other side of the desk and researching in the area, I've become more jaded. The more recent studies on academic integrity/cheating/plagiarism are really frightening. Anywhere from 80-98% of high school and college students have admitted to participating in some form of cheating. I hope that many of them will just grow out of it, but I don't know if my hopes are realistic. After all, I'm sure we could all come up with quite a list of very prosperous cheaters who experienced only minimal discomfort from being publicly outed for their integrity issues.

I know that I can't stop students from cheating. I know that I can only make it more difficult for them to cheat and will only ever catch the ones who are bad at it.

 

[ICF]

unless the test is graded on a curve, or they were cheating off of me, I dont think i would really care.

 

[aprilgail2]

I would just mind my own business and worry about myself rather than what others are doing.

 

[OceanAnnie]

I used to agree with you. Now that I'm on the other side of the desk and researching in the area, I've become more jaded. The more recent studies on academic integrity/cheating/plagiarism are really frightening. Anywhere from 80-98% of high school and college students have admitted to participating in some form of cheating. I hope that many of them will just grow out of it, but I don't know if my hopes are realistic. After all, I'm sure we could all come up with quite a list of very prosperous cheaters who experienced only minimal discomfort from being publicly outed for their integrity issues.

I know that I can't stop students from cheating. I know that I can only make it more difficult for them to cheat and will only ever catch the ones who are bad at it.

Those statistics would jade anyone. I wouldn't have guessed the percentage to be nearly that high.

Broadly speaking, I think the educational environment in general is lax. Not that cheating isn't a character flaw, but deterrents do help. When I was in grad school there was a young woman in one of my classes, recently admitted from another country. She could barely speak a word of English. I don't know how she was admitted. It was truly sad. She was taking an exam while trying to use the book. It was not an open book test. The instructor saw her. She was removed from the classroom and we never saw her again. Made me wonder, how did it even get to that point.

 

[Arielle22]

Cheaters will prosper if never caught and held accountable.

If cheating gets you what you want and there are no consequences then except for your conscience there is no reason to stop.

When I was in college everything had to be off your desk, not even a drink was allowed. Cell phones were not an issue back then

 

[phred52]

I'd go to the department head & ask for closer supervision during exams. Actually, been there, done that. They took a closer look at the exams just taken, figured out the "who" on their own.

 

[Handbag Lady]

unless the test is graded on a curve, or they were cheating off of me, I dont think i would really care.

I was just going to say this. If the cheating causes me harm by a lower percentage, I WOULD tell my suspicions to the instructor. I would also say that I had no proof, but this is what I saw and then explain exactly what I witnessed.

And Law Professor, it just isn't in the school system. People in the business sector also cheat daily and get away with it. I see it all the time. It is disgusting. This is usually the person who gets promoted just to remove them from a particular division after they've been unsuccessfully reprimanded.