EricW Posted October 25, 2003 Share Posted October 25, 2003 Liota & SL, (I know it's Saturday, but...) You would not believe how widespread the academic fraud is in my track. I know for a fact that someone is getting ahold of the tests from the copy center for at least one class. Then the students split up the homeworks amongst 3 or 4 of them and turn it in. The profs make up for it by assigning massive amounts of homework, making the non-cheaters suffer for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiG Lady Posted October 25, 2003 Share Posted October 25, 2003 ...well, I was 'appalled', yes, but I think the word "violated" came closer to how I felt. I spent honest time at my work and got honest "A's." Why couldn't the other jerks do the same.......?......... The honor system has totally vanished. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kimel Posted October 25, 2003 Author Share Posted October 25, 2003 I hate cheaters too...but not nearly as much as I hate the administration that lets them get away with it. Wayyy back when I was teaching as a grad student I caught a student changing his answers on a test (written in pencil, erase and write in new answer verbatim from posted answers, turn in for a re-grade). I suspected him the first time but the prof wouldn't do anything about it. So, I started photocopying everyone's test before I turned them back. Then all re-grades were compared with the photocopy. I caught the same kid as well as one of his buddies with that net. Prof finally was convinced so ran them up on charges of academic fraud. The dean let them off and I was forced to apologize for "my mistakes". Why? Because they were pre-med and had already been accepted to med school and the U was worried that the scandal would make them look bad. Those guys are probably now practicing physicians somewhere in this country. Think about that the next time you go to the doctor. That was my last semester teaching, thankfully. But it soured me so much on academia that it was a major factor in deciding not to pursue a PhD. I can starve just fine on my master's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricW Posted October 25, 2003 Share Posted October 25, 2003 About as scary as doctors are cheater engineers. My first year out of college I had to deal with one old fart who had a Master's degree in Mechanical, who literally couldn't take the tangent of an angle. He designed a keypad for a piece of electronics where the keys were an interference fit. He was so stupid that he even dimensioned the print at the wrong locations so that the interference couldn't be seen just by comparing the numbers. I pulled out my calculator, did a couple quick calcs, showed him the results, and he absolutely refused to believe he was wrong. "I'll have to go back and sketch that up on CAD to verify your numbers." What the SOB did to find the tangent of 3 degrees before the advent of the personal computer is anybody's guess. Fortunately the only thing at stake was money. Easily fixed for $50K. Think about that before the next time you hop in a jumbo jet..... BTW, I used to be a Teacher's Assistant and had guys faking lab reports and turning them in. Brought it up to the prof. What happened? Exactly nothing. I'm not sure anyone's academic career should be destroyed over one mistake. I had more than my share of (non-academic) f-ups in my time. But, get caught cheating twice - and that's the freakin' end of you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiG Lady Posted October 25, 2003 Share Posted October 25, 2003 After a couple of the astonishing breaches of the honor system during the aforementioned tests I observed, I finally managed to tell one of the visiting instructors of the incidents. She had the option of staying on with us another term or another year or something, but she promptly quit after hearing about the cheating. I don't know if that really did any good (likely NOT) for her to do that, but she was as appalled as I was. It also made me realize I'd be up against this kind of s**t in trying to do some honest post-graduate work and was one of many factors that kept me from going forward with it. Economic influences were one of the reason, yes, but disgust was another. [little green emoticon here] I see this kind of crap in the workplace, too, but don't EVEN get me started on THAT...!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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