After watching the cheating song video above it bought back memories of cheating instances while I was in school. At this point, I do not remember ever cheating while I was in school but I will not say that I have never done it. Matter of fact, I think I did provide a few answers to my friends at times because I wanted them to pass. In middle school, I wasnt too concerned about classmates not putting in the proper time and effort in a class like I did, I just did not want my friends to be left back. Unfortunatley in middle school, one of my friends did not advance to the next grade. No matter how much “cheating” we did, we not could save her. Wait a second, I do remember in college that I did kind of cheat once. (I hope I don’t get in trouble for saying this!!!!!) I had an unofficial open book test once. Our teacher always gave exams but would fall asleep while protoctring it. To us it was an open invitation to explore. And we did. Every one of us. We never got caught.
Today as a professor I look at cheating totally different. Not because I am the professor but because I have more wisdom than I did when I was younger. A part of my adult journey has consisted of realizing that life is about preparation, hard work, meeting deadlines, responsibility, accountability, and integrity. I know that these are necessary for my students to succeed in life and therefore I view cheating and plagiarism as impediments to these traits. My penalties for cheating and plagiarism reflect this view.
I do not tell my students to have academic integrity because I always did, rather I encourage them to have integrity and to work hard because they deserve to put effort in their expensive academic journey and they should trust and be true to themselves. I now know that these things really matter in life; not getting by.
Viewing videos like the cheat song remind me of a time when we never even thought about these things. We just wanted to be easily rescued out of a test. If only it was this simple in real life.