Would you cheat?

[LordMorpheus]

These exams are pretty common where I went to school (Rice University). I'm sure some people cheated but I don't think it was very common.

 

[TruePaige]

Never.

 

[shortylickens]

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: shortylickens
The teacher is covering his ass.
Obviously its open note/book if its takehome. If they cared AT ALL about ethics & morals they would have it in class.

I'm not sure you really understand what ethics and morals are...

I do.
Very well.
In fact my thoughts on the matter are so advanced you failed to see what I was talking about.

Its not smart to merely hope that others will be moral and ethical just because you want it. I made a reasonably safe assumption that the teacher understands this as well. The fact that he sent the test home anyway means he really doesnt care about such things and he's just trying to get his class GPA up so he doesnt get laid off.

 

[TehMac]

The teacher isn't stupid, she knows kids are going to cheat.

This is her way of saying, "I don't give a shit, try and get a good grade."

 

[AstroManLuca]

That's weird. I don't understand how a take home test could be closed-book, closed-note. If they wanted to test your memorization skills, issue a test in class. You can try to take it the way your prof wants you to, but the moment you run into a snag and can't remember a small detail, you know you're going to look it up, right? And I don't see anything really wrong with that.

Anyway, I've always thought of take-home tests as being significantly harder than in-class tests because by definition they were open-book tests. I wasn't aware that anyone would treat them differently.

 

[Bill Brasky]

So did you cheat OP? What happened?

 

[zerogear]

Originally posted by: Terzo
So your professor is giving a final exam. She announces that it will be a take home, with the following restrictions:
1. It is closed book.
2. It is closed note.
3. You have four hours to spend on it.

As far as I'm concerned, this is asking for students to cheat. You'd have to be an idiot to get caught. In the end, I think this will only end up hurting the honest students.

Opinions?

Compare it against the rest of the grade throughout the semester, it'll be pretty easy to spot the cheaters.

 

[JDub02]

cheat? no ... but if the book and my notes happen to be there open and i accidentally happen to look at it and my clock accidentally turns it self off .. well, that's not really cheating.

 

[Krazy4Real]

I would cheat, but I would get a couple wrong on purpose.

 

[Miramonti]

Originally posted by: cKGunslinger

Originally posted by: Bibble
Even with an honor code, it's asking students to cheat.

A true measure of honesty is how you behave even if no one knows it but you.

If you cheat, you are a dishonest person. Throw out disclaimers, excuses, and "Goody two-shoes" insults - but you can't argue and rationalize with facts.

You're saying someone that doesn't obey the rules in as much as this one case, to any degree, is a cheater and a actual dishonest person.

He's only being dishonest if he lies and says he 100% obeys the instructions if he didn't. Students don't sign a contract in classes saying they will obey every command and follow every instruction exactly as laid out. Not in school, nor in life.

Since everyone exploits dishonesty and deceptiveness to some degree or another in life, you're judging everyone as a cheater. Your argument takes the fail train express route because it holds a definition of honestly and standard of performance up to people that no one can achieve, nor should always try to achieve.

If this final is graded on a curve he must 'cheat' here because most others will, and that puts his grade in jeopardy. He's not busting his @ss in the class (presumably ) to be put at a disadvantage due to unjust and unrealistic parameters that will affect how his results are judged.

If anyone thinks that getting an education is only about knowledge and not about performance rankings, they're riding the same fail train. This is not about honesty, this is about a lack of integrity on the professors part to apply such moronic parameters, and about jeopardizing the proper recognition of students' hard work in the meantime.

 

[darkxshade]

Maybe it's the Kobayashi Maru... you're gonna fail no matter how you answer those questions. The only actual cheat is to rewrite the the exam.

 

[Lamont Burns]

Never heard of a take-home that is closed book. Most are made very hard and require research and thus open book. Sounds like a lazy/stupid professor.

 

[fleshconsumed]

Stupid. You know someone is going to cheat, which will throw the curve off and honest people will get lower grades as a result. Essentially teacher leaves no choice but to cheat.

As far as proving someone cheated... Right. Other than putting hidden camera in every students apartment there is no way to prove someone cheated. Yes, you can suspect it based on the average grade of previous assignments and average grade for the exam, but there is absolutely no fool proof way to prove someone cheated in a situation like this.

Again, stupid.

 

[KeithTalent]

When I was younger I may have, but now there is no way. I fucking hate cheaters of any kind with a passion.

KT

 

[Terzo]

Originally posted by: Zaitsev
So did you cheat OP? What happened?

We haven't been given the test yet; it will be posted sometime tomorrow. I don't intend on cheating, but i've already run into people who said they are. I only know for sure about one person who won't cheat (my friend in the class); if it weren't for him i'd probably say "screw it" and just cheat.

Hell, I talked to my mom and even she said that the professor wants us to cheat.
Ugh.

 

[KeithTalent]

I'm getting a real Admiral Ackbar feeling about all of this. Definitely keep us posted on how this plays out.

KT

 

[hanoverphist]

Originally posted by: Evadman

Originally posted by: cKGunslinger
A true measure of honesty is how you behave even if no one knows it but you.

edit:

i should really add this too

Originally posted by: KeithTalent
When I was younger I may have, but now there is no way. I fucking hate cheaters of any kind with a passion.

KT

i cheated a LOT in my younger years, didnt learn the whole integrity thing until later in life.

 

[darkxshade]

Originally posted by: Terzo

Originally posted by: Zaitsev
So did you cheat OP? What happened?

We haven't been given the test yet; it will be posted sometime tomorrow. I don't intend on cheating, but i've already run into people who said they are. I only know for sure about one person who won't cheat (my friend in the class); if it weren't for him i'd probably say "screw it" and just cheat.

Hell, I talked to my mom and even she said that the professor wants us to cheat.
Ugh.

Maybe speak to the professor during office hours? Note your concern regarding how the curve is going to screw you and how you're willing to "screw" her to get an A.

 

[Ruptga]

I'd do everything short of discussing it with other students

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

I would not cheat. I do have to say however, that throughout H.S., Culinary School and, college, I've never had a take home test.

 

[Terzo]

Test results are back, update in OP for those who asked.

 

[WildHorse]

.

 

[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: MoPHo
If this were for an ethics class, maybe. If not, absolutely.

wow, loser.

We had one of these in a Database Design course.

50% of our class was administratively dismissed from the college.

 

[TwiceOver]

To me this says the teacher put questions in the test that can only be answered if you have the book available to you.

I've known teachers to do this before to test the ethics of their students.

 

[dguy6789]

This thread does a good job of showing just how shitty most people are. If you're not trustworthy with something as little as this, you're not trustworthy with anything nor will you ever be.