External/Internal Pressure Cause for Cheating?
If you’ve read my last post, I hope you may have formulated some sort of opinion on free schools and the amount of pressure that enrolled students encounter. Now, I found an article that focuses on the pressure students feel in a regular high school setting (Northville and Novi High School) and the occurrence of cheating within these schools due to this pressure. This article had some great information, so I hope I don’t bore you to death with block quotes but here goes:
In 2004, an ABCNEWS Primetime nation-wide poll of 504 12 to 17 year olds revealed seven out of 10 youth said kids cheat on tests; six out of 10 have friends who have cheated; and one in three admit they have cheated.
O.K., I’ll admit that when I was in high school, I cheated on certain tests and assignments. I know the decisions I made were immature, but back then, I did not see my decisions as immoral. I justified my actions by saying that the pressure to receive good grades exceeded the risk of actually taking a test and learning something. I understand how diluted this justification is, but I don’t think I am the only student that has ever felt this way. In the article, several students were interviewed for their opinions. One student said, “‘. . .cheating – it’s not right – but it helps kids to get into colleges they want and to succeed in whatever they want to go into. I wouldn’t say it’s totally wrong, but it is wrong.’” A different student states that, “‘I know it’s the easy way out. But, I think personally the stuff that we learn in school you don’t ever use in the work place.’” Clearly, there is a problem here. This even seems to incorporate the discussion in class about students being trained in only certain areas in order to prepare them for work rather than teaching a wide variety of subjects that may be uninteresting in their perspective. Like I said in class, although we as future teachers will strive to motivate students into reading/English, some students would rather cheat to save a grade than actually learn (NOT stereotypical, but realistic). Students feel so much pressure today to get into good colleges in order to have a successful future that it seems like it doesn’t matter what they have to do in order to get there. This idea is not surprising though, when looking at the dishonesty in the workplace, or specifically in business world, among adults.
One professor from Novi High School, Jim Didio, discusses the use of an online program that deters cheating:
The program, called LON-CAPA (learning on line, computer-assisted personalized approach) allows students to take tests and collaborate on homework assignments online, but each student has an individual set of questions.
This program sounds very beneficial because it encourages students to communicate and learn without being able to directly copy responses of their peers. Didio claims to be able to teach more in class rather than focus on the actual homework assignment collection. This does seem like a good program, but I have a couple concerns. Not every student is able to access a computer or the internet from home so this may create issues for some. Another problem that could occur is the teacher setting the pace of the class too fast. Teachers might forget to ask if students had problems with the homework or may not give students the chance to voice difficulties they are having because the teacher is too focused on moving the class forward. Students that aren’t able to catch up will lose interest. If a teacher does review the problems for students, since students will have different answers,the teacher will have to generalize the online questions in order to answer the entire classroom at once. For example, in math, teachers would have to focus on basic questions than more complex questions in order to save time in class.
Overall, cheating is a major problem because many students will continue doing it even if they believe it is wrong. The article concludes by discussing that cheating will probably continue into college if students are not caught because there is still a great deal of pressure. So between this post and my last post, what do you believe a solution could be? It seems that everything a teacher may try does have a downside, so is there a correct answer? Can a change even be made?
Pressured to Succeed: Students Think Cheating is a Way to Make the Grade
by Renee Gates
February 22, 2007
No Grades/Pressure Better Motivation for Learning?
Alright, I still have not found a great article on Google reader that discusses the benefits and faults of the grading system, but I am still looking so don’t give up on me yet! I don’t know how many of you are familiar with free schools, but the article I found describes the Brooklyn Free School where, “kids don’t get grades, don’t have homework, don’t take tests. They don’t even have to be in class.” Within the article, there is a debate whether children need structure versus children needing freedom to learn.
I believe that I would consider sending my children to a free school due to the experiences I have had in the past. I have always done my best work when the subject really interests me and I am able to learn even more about the specific subject, for instance, this blogging assignment (although you may believe it is not my best work) really sparks my interest which is why I engage in it with more enthusiasm rather than learning scientific theories or mathematical equations. The school also promotes students to take responsibility for their own education and, in turn, their futures. In many cases, I think that students are forced into learning information that is retained for a test but never really used later in life due to the student not understanding the subject’s importance. I do believe math, science, etc. are important subjects for children to learn for general knowledge later in life, but students are learning very important life lessons and are given choices and must try to decide things for themselves rather than be forced into situations:
At the Brooklyn Free School, much of that decision-making occurs in a mandatory weekly gathering — yes, the school does require some things — where students air grievances, pose challenges, propose rules and set policy. Even the youngest kids have an equal vote.
Students are given the opportunity to actively participate in big decisions and I feel that giving children a voice at an early age is important. There is a great responsibility of the parents to explain to their children that receiving an education is important and responsibility is a main aspect to success and not allow their children to take advantage of the system. Since I do not have kids, my opinion may change as I age and understand the responsibility of having children, but I think allowing young people have some control of his/her life will help in the long run. I’d actually like to know if these students tend to rebel against their parents less (due to their ongoing freedoms) and if they have successful college experiences or success in a career (due to responsibility vs. freedom).
One person in the article argues that some children do not take the school very seriously, and that the children may not be very well prepared later in life for college or work. Although I do believe work is very structured, college does allow freedom that some students are not able to handle when entering from a structured school. For instance, the freedom to be absent is taken advantage of because students were forced into classrooms their entire lives, and others cannot grasp the responsibility of being an individual within the real world. I’ve never really thought about these free schools in much depth until now, but they really seem like they would be beneficial for children in order to escape the forceful nature of regular schools and give them the ability to make decisions and understand responsibility. What do you think of free schools? Good idea or bad?
Associated Press
February 12, 2007
The Censorship Craze
Although this is not my response to any article or even my topic, after today’s class I kept thinking about this movie I saw yesterday about censorship in movies and the MPAA. The movie is “This Film is Not Yet Rated.” This is the trailer…
So, along with the discussions about censorship in literature, this movie has many interesting perspectives about what is deemed appropriate for certain viewers to watch, especially for teenagers. I really don’t want to give away too much from the movie because I feel if you are actually interested in this overall topic, it would be worth it to see the movie rather than read my perception of it. The movie does a great job of discussing violence in movies versus sex and how sex is restricted more than violent scenes. When I think about the violence used in film, I wonder if the tables were reversed (sex being less restricted and violence being more — like the film says is the case in Europe) how are culture would be different today. Not to really go on a rant about the problems in our society but no one can really ignore the fact that the average age for young people to begin sexual activity has lowered dramatically. Maybe all the restrictiveness that sex is treated with in American culture has become more harmful in our society by causing more curiosity and/or fascination? I’m not saying that sex should be shown rampantly to young children, but treating sex like something that should be secretive and dangerous may lead children to participate in it more often due to rebellion. The film also discusses the language in films, which I thought was funny when reading the article in class with “26 G.D.’s” and S.O.B.’s. The violence issues brought up in the movie are interesting also in which characters can use guns and shoot tons of people (James Bond, etc.) but since there is no blood, only a PG-13 rating gets slapped on it, rather than having young people actually see the horrible outcomes of gun shot wounds like in Saving Private Ryan. Once again, I am not saying children should be able to watch gruesome death scenes but I do think that what children are allowed to watch and read really do shape their lives, and in turn, our society, but whose to say what exactly children should or should not be exposed to? And who knows if our culture will ever escape from this dilemma and if we don’t, are things going to continue spiraling downward? If you have time after reading this (haha if you’re still actually reading it) let me know what you think.
TurnItIn Debate
If you read my last response, you understand that even some of the faculty at GVSU does not view TurnItIn.com as the best solution to the plagiarism problem. While searching around for a strong defending argument of the program, I came across an actual response to the article I responded to that focuses on the helpfulness of TurnItIn:
Turnitin is not designed to replace instruction. As any educator knows,
teaching students how to read thoughtfully, write fluently, and cite
properly is an inherently complex and difficult task. There is no software,
book, or automated process that can ever replace a dedicated teacher.
However, today’s increased student access to media of all kinds poses
special challenges to even the most determined of educators. While the
internet has made productive and valuable research easier than ever, it has
also undoubtedly made bad research, poor citation, and outright plagiarism
into more significant issues than they have been in the past. Turnitin is
valuable because it helps relieve hard-working educators of the added burden
of validating the originality of student work. Like any system, it is not
foolproof– the sheer magnitude and dynamic nature of available sources make
any “perfect system” an impossibility. But while it may not be perfect,
Turnitin has proven to be an enormously effective antidote to plagiarism
when used responsibly, especially in conjunction with time-honored, good
teaching practices.
OK, so I understand that really is a lot of quoted information, but I feel that it addresses many of the issues raised by the faculty members from GVSU. Michael Bruton, who wrote this response, has been working with schools and the implementation of the program for three years. It is obviously important for him to take the concerns of professors and students and attempt to help them understand that this program is a tool to be used rather than a substitution for teaching. My main concern was that certain teachers were ignoring the fact that students need to be taught the correct and incorrect ways to cite published information they find, and Bruton does a good job defending his position that teachers still need to teach.
Bruton does not claim that the program is perfect. He understands that with all the technology available to students, some will still get away with plagiarism, but he explains that TurnItIn is helpful to the teachers that have a large number of papers to check in order to save some time. I do believe that TurnItIn is a helpful program for teachers to check for cheating and I think that, combined with educating students about the writing process, TurnItIn can be beneficial, but Bruton does not address all the problems that the GVSU faculty discussed and some of the problems I had. In fact, if you are extremely interested in this topic, I suggest you click the link below because the response turns into a long debate.
I still feel that the trust of students has decreased for many professors as the usage of the internet increases. Bruton doesn’t address this issue and I find myself still asking questions. Although the program may be a helpful tool if the teacher still educates the students fully, there may be tension in the classroom. Is that a risk that teachers will have to take in the future in order to insure that students will not cheat on assignments? Is there a way to make students feel comfortable having their papers analyzed to prevent them from being dishonest? Should teachers not trust students? I am torn because as much as I would like to believe that if a teacher fully educates a student about citing published work and using the internet as a collaborative tool, I understand that students will still cheat for various reasons. Let me know what you think.
TurnItIn’s Response to Recent Posts Discussing Proper Pedagogy
by Michael Bruton
September 15, 2006
