Re:Harvard details suspensions in massive cheating scandal
by doctorpangloss on Sunday February 03, 2013 @02:16AM
(#5158954)
It's hard to not feel a little sympathy for the handful of 2012 grads whose lives were put on hold by the investigations this fall.
A few months prior to the incidents, I had had a conversation with the College president and Dean Smith about cheating and mental health on campus. They were aware of some kinds of cheating; they were not aware of others, particularly the acute or technologically advanced kind.
I argued to Hammonds, the College president, that the design of exams was the root cause of the cheating, not a lapse of morals. It seems that I was vindicated in this assessment, because cheating happens in classes with final exams of any kind, most strongly in take home exam classes. This is just a particularly egregious example.
On the other hand, it could be that morally deficient students sort themselves into Government and Economics. But that's utterly ridiculous, and I hope most will agree with me that fixing the tests (preferably by eliminating them), rather than just blaming the students, is the right step forward.
A few months prior to the incidents, I had had a conversation with the College president and Dean Smith about cheating and mental health on campus. They were aware of some kinds of cheating; they were not aware of others, particularly the acute or technologically advanced kind.
I argued to Hammonds, the College president, that the design of exams was the root cause of the cheating, not a lapse of morals. It seems that I was vindicated in this assessment, because cheating happens in classes with final exams of any kind, most strongly in take home exam classes. This is just a particularly egregious example.
On the other hand, it could be that morally deficient students sort themselves into Government and Economics. But that's utterly ridiculous, and I hope most will agree with me that fixing the tests (preferably by eliminating them), rather than just blaming the students, is the right step forward.