We need more people like this professor

Some students on various college newspapers are claiming the professor is responsible for failure to properly secure the test.

I don't give a damn if the test is wide open on the prof's desk and he goes to the bathroom, leaving his office door open. If you're worthwhile as a person that shouldn't even be all that tempting to read.

I'm guessing the same thought process was used when a friend of mine's son stole $300 from his buddy after opening the dresser and seeing the cash there, "Well it's his fault because he had it just sitting there" WTF?

Golf clap...

I agree.  Absolutely inexcusable.  My students would have all failed and gone before the student judicial council.  No excuse for dishonesty and cheating. 

My daddy alway said, "Don't temp an honest man".

I saw that article last week sometime...the audacity of some of the students completely amazes me.  The attitude of "everyone cheats, get over it" just makes my blood boil.

I'm a college student right now.  I can tell you that no, everyone does not cheat.  Some of us work our backsides off to get the grades we get, and if we don't like it, we work harder.

I see that the 4 hr ethics class he made them take had no impact.  Sad.

Someone was not smacked around enough as a child. I would think it would be the students owing the professor and the college an apology.

This user's post has been ignored.

These kids aren't learning a lesson.  They are learning how to get away with cheating.  I hope UCF has an honor code and they get booted anyway.

way to lenient, I know at my college, one student who was caught cheating was given two options - faul the current class and pay for and retake the entire class again or be kicked out of school then and there. (this was in addition to some mandatory penalties that are in place for anyone caught doing un-ethical behavior on campus.)

All of those students should face much much stiffer penatlies, though I do think an ethics class would be good to include in there.

Law school is similar - tough penalties, because any violation of the honor code calls into serious question an individual's fitness to practice law. The first day of school, I tell people one of the things I love about our country is our justice system, and why.  Then: they are preparing to be officers of the court, and how dishonesty undermines the system.  (Spare me the lawyer jokes please; most of us take this very, very seriously.)

The gray area is, "did the person understand that what she was doing was plagiarism?"  But outright cheating on an exam or paper? Sayonara.

I could see the same thing being applicable to people who want to be in the military, officers in particular.  The fabric of our country depends on these people being honorable.  I'm cool with zero tolerance in either situation.

[sidebar rant]

It's "too" lenient, with two Os!! Arrrgggg!!!!!!

[/sidebar rant]

Edited by mrbbrad 2010-11-18 2:35 PM

Indeed.  That's a pet peeve of mine too, so when I do it myself it really pisses me off!

At William & Mary and UVA they have an Honor Code(and I'm sure many other "real" colleges) - violations go before a student board, but pretty sure admitting to cheating means you are out.  The board is for the greyer violations of the Honor Code.

At Pitt...there was no formal honor code and the professor would deal with you as he see fit, I believe.

Edited by meherczeg 2010-11-18 3:30 PM

Punishment doesn't fit the crime...   Like saving 20 minutes drafting in a race and getting a 2:00 penalty.   Really not a great deterent IMHO.  

I think that 2/3's of the class learned that when a bunch of people try to cheat, everyone has to experience consequences (retaking an exam).  If I read between the lines, that 1/3 that self-identifies (or that gets identified in other ways) will still experience some more consequences.  If they fail to self identify, they will likely get booted from the university, and maybe face legal action.  If they DO self identify, do you really think there will be "no further consequences"?  You don't think that all the professors will know who they are, and watch their grades much more closely?

Medicine is another area where you don't want to have people cheating.  You don't want your doctor to have gotten where they are by faking knowledge.  Part of the reason docs practice defensive medicine is that some people mess around with things, and we all end up paying a price.  And docs that get frequently identified to the state board get closer scrutiny.

My favorite part was "It will take a hand-written, hand-delivered note from God to get you out of this exam". 

I'd like to know a little more about this 'test bank' that the professor is talking about.

While I agree that cheating is wrong and the students who did it should be punished (whether they admit to it or not), this 'test bank' sounds suspiciously like something we used to see at my school except in a more official capacity.  And for the record, I'm talking about another school in the Florida state system...so I'm sure there are many similiarities.

When I was in school for engineering, there was a HUGE 'database' (for lack of a better word - repository, perhaps?)  of about a billion (yes, I'm exagerating) test problems that any student could get access to.  These problems were organized by subject/course.  Most of the problems came from past exams, but plenty also came from homework assignements and the textbooks we used.  We would work these problems in prep for exams all the time.  The professors would then use the same problems (or similiar ones) but with changed numbers or slightly changed variables, in the exams.  In one incident, a professor didn't bother to change any of the numbers from a previous exam so we all knew exactly what the answer should be.  Now, in our case, these were long, drawn-out engineering problems, so just knowing the answer wouldn't even get you half credit, you had to show your work.  But it was a system that most of the professors used and most of the students accepted.  I never felt like it was cheating because it's not like we had the exact test or memorized answers or anything.  In fact, some professors intentionally shared their old tests so that the students had more problems to practice on.

I always thought that resuing old questions was a cop-out on the part of the instructors.  The professors for whom I had the most respect were the ones who wrote original tests each time.  These tests that challenged my ability to think critically and not just my ability to solve problems like those we'd done in class or for homework. 

If this 'test bank' he is talking about is a similar piece of work, I think it's FANTASTIC that it's been wiped clean (as he said) and that the professors will now be writing all new questions.  Honestly, I know it's a lot of work, but that's how it should be.  Perhaps these cheating students have now taught these teachers a lesson?