The new way to cheat
Everyone seems to be fully aware that throughout the years Uni has been classified as a “nerd school”; chess is our best sport and we all happen to rock at DDR. However, we would like to be able to say we’re just as much of a badass school as the next. So are we?
Aside from the new problems that come and go within a couple of years (e.g. blogging, cliques, etc.) there have been a few recurring problems, cheating being one of them (it’s an age-old thing).
You’re looking at your test and you know how to do the problem, but you’re just a little stuck, so you peer over at your neighbor’s paper to get you started; it’ s nothing new. But we’re Uni students, and this primitive form of cheating is just so outdated! Now, students are using their calculators and cell phones to help them along.
Despite some misconceptions, our brains are not actually as large as watermelons and we can’t store every single bit of information we’re told. It is inevitable that we will be given excessive amounts of chemistry equations, too many geometry postulates, and who really remembers all of their history dates?
So why not just program some equations into your calculator? You can’t get caught right? How is your math teacher going to tell you not to use a calculator? Even though this seems like an easy way out, it’s still cheating, and you shouldn’t be too surprised when I say that some students have gotten caught using their calculators for cheating.
Admittedly, though, using calculators to cheat seems to be an easier way around getting caught; so long as it’s been programmed into the calculator properly, you should get a correct answer, and if you need to show work you can just copy down what’s in your calculator. It’s just one less physics problem to worry about.
Obviously, this seems to be a difficult situation for teachers — I mean, you can’t just go around checking every kid’s calculator.
Some students also have discovered yet another use for their cell phones (aside from functioning as cameras, computers, gaming devices, etc.): Why not send a text message of questions to other students so that they can study before the test? Or better yet, why not just take a picture (no flash!) of the questions, so that there’s a word-for-word copy? Surprisingly some students have actually tried this. (No wonder it’s such a big deal to turn off our cell phones!)
So are we really that bad? I mean, obviously if we’re just one gigantic cheating community (sharing is caring), that would come off as a bad thing. According to Assistant Director Sue Kovacs, though, this year has been one of the better years for Uni. There have been few cheating incidents, and students seem to be behaving better. So the question is, is this just because we’re honestly getting more trustworthy, or is it because we’ve just gotten better at not getting caught?
“Uni students are smart,” says Kovacs. “They can find a way around anything if they want to.”
— Lizzy Warner