The rantings of a teacher who retired from the classroom but not from education.
Saturday, January 20, 2007
Stupid Kid
I have a kid in my class that cheats like crazy. No matter how much I watch him, he manages to cheat. I finally realized that I have to give different versions of the same test. I told him that I was going to do this, but, of course, he did not believe me. The test day came. I made sure that none of the kids around him had the same version. Sure enough, in the middle of the test he yelled out "I can't believe you really gave me a different test!" The whole class started laughing. We all know he is not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but we didn't think he was stupid enough to broadcast his cheating. Even after 30 years of teaching, I thought I had seen everything. I guess there is plenty left for me to see.
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8 comments:
Sometimes I think I am lucky to have students who care enough about grades to try to cheat. But it is a nuisance to watch out for.
I had one last year, never caught him red handed, but I was certain. So I decided to watch him, and no one else, for one test. I think he got 15 or something like that. He stopped cheating. He stopped trying. His attendance plummeted. (Didn't need the math credit). But I figure that most of his high school math credits were not legitimately earned.
Another approach: on a final Friday, I gave the answer, and asked for an explanation. No way to cheat that one. (but no way to ask more than one or two of those on a fair exam)
Part of me used to agree with you, Jonathan, and say to myself that at least the kid cares. However, the ability to try something and at least work a little at it has become more important for me to see in any student. A learning disabled student often gives up and never develops decent work skills, even if they come up with wrong answers. Of course, there is also the ethics issue. I have also used the single test method to catch the cheat, and I love it when they get a 0. This is exactly what happened to a notorious and fairly brazen kid who cheated his way through life until he had me. I was able to fail him for the semester, so the extra work was definitely worth it. He didn't do much homework, and I remember discovering that he'd copied it with other's mistakes appearing on his homework. In retrospect, he was learning disabled and couldn't read very effectively but saw no other way but to constantly work at "getting over". When I realized the breadth and scope of his cheating and his apparent lack of conscience, I did what I could within my power to intervene in an indirect but very effective way. I don't remember if the kid graduated, or what happened to him, but I was happy not to deal with him any more.
I'm not nearly as upset with kids as adults.
It's kind of remarkable to see adults who cheat and lie as though it's their birthright, then stand up and complain about kids. But it's getting to be the American way, I guess.
And honestly, no one can deny its effectiveness.
I don't like cheaters, whether they are kids or adults. I agree with you Ellie! Learning ethics is an important part of going to school. As for caring enough to cheat, I don't agree at all. While the kid I am talking about has some learning disabilities, he is not really stupid and is quite capable of learning the work if he put effort into it. He is always late, talks non stop and does no homework or classwork. He constantly has to be told to stay in his seat. The only thing he cares about is "getting over".
I have an entire class of cheaters, so I have taken to giving 4 versions of the same test, with questions and answers scrambled. The first time I did this, I actually had 3 kids who were trying to figure out which question and answer was which on each version of the test! I told them if they spent half the effort preparing for the test as they did cheating, they would all be top students.
I won't even discuss the parents who went up to administration complaining about the zeroes I gave their lovely children.
I had a parent once tell me that I had to learn to be patient with teenagers so I can guess what the parents said about the zeroes.
I sometimes write "Version B" on a test and make a big deal out of having students make sure they have version B.
It seems to persuade many of them there is a version A out there somewhere. I do this only occasionally,
I've done that too, but it jonly works once a semester.
I've also used different colored papers to make them think tests were different.
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