CPE 8 - PART 2

4. Cheating on exams

Is cheating beginning to become a habit amongst our students? Recently several students
were caught during the act. The faculty is interested in what the pupils think.

What is the student's opinion? Have they ever cheated on a test

before?

The most common answer is, unsurprisingly, yes. The vast majority confess that they have
cheated at least once and mainly out of pure necessity. Nowadays a lot is expected from the
average student, especially the easy access to information and education, but this might just
be the reason young people lose interest in gaining knowledge. Are the high expectations
causing the students to cheat? Many of them think so. Why be bothered to absorb so much
information when it is just a few clicks away.
Another common answer brings up the topic of lousy teaching and lack of passion from the
teachers. How can the students be willing to learn when their teachers dread the classes
more than them?

Is there a fitting punishment for teaching?

Exams should be able to showcase one’s unfiltered knowledge and abilities. Obviously that's
not possible when you deliberately ignore the unfiltered part. If so, can we prevent it by
punishing the ones who do it? It is widely believed that students caught cheating should be
either kicked out of the exam or marked with the lowest grade possible. However we have to
think of the best solution, because I believe the old fashioned way is not going to guarantee
that they learnt the lesson. Instead we should focus on more productive solutions, perhaps
gently asking the students why they are doing it and offering the ones in need extra classes.
Ofcourse there will always be some who couldn't care less about their education. Everyone
is unique, we have to respect that and treat each student accordingly.

What could be done to discourage this behavior in the future?

In my opinion the only way to prevent cheating is to keep the mandatory subjects light and
find enthusiastic teachers who will pass down their knowledge with ease and will be
observant enough to be able to help each student individually. If everyone understands from
class, studying should be easier and cheating on exams will decrease.