*****
This has been my most stressful semester since dealing with the cheating in my first semester... and most of that stress was self-imposed. If I could learn to adapt to this culture I would have had a great semester. When things like the internship system don't work I'd get stressed out, yet all I needed to do was say, "There's no problem here. Everything is fantastic!" It's what they want to hear and as long as everyone plays along with the charade everyone is happy.
*****
I received surprisingly little begging this semester and even less response to the grades. I had a class where 50% of the class received a C/C+. I know a good chunk of them expected a higher grade and I was waiting for the onslaught of "But, sir!" Only one student asked for a breakdown of points. Not a single complaint. Nice, but almost scary.
*****
A former student contacted me on FaceBook to say he's angry because a professor sold test questions to a student. He seemed more upset that someone else had the questions than he was about the cheating. Rumors like this fly around the university. I have no idea, of course, if this specific allegation is true and I'm glad the prof he was accusing is not in my department or anyone I know. I have, however, seen cheating here that blows away anything I have seen anywhere else. This semester's lesson: A 2 hour final is plenty of time for a good student to answer an entire final for at least 2 or 3 of his friends. How? Some give short tests. I proctored a test where the final was 35 multiple choice questions. I noticed that a couple of students hadn't answered a single question 30 minutes into the exam. Why? The guy next to them was dutifully taking the test and when done would exchange and answer his questions for him. This isn't staring at your neighbor's paper. This is writing your name on the test and handing it to your neighbor to answer it for you.
I've asked former students, "How common is this?" I received a smiling, non-verbal response. After the pause I asked, "Really? It's that common?" I was basically told "1. Some profs know we are doing this and look the other way and, 2. It is simply the way things are done here."
But it's not the way things are done here for everyone. In the same class where I am sure there was test swapping going on there was another part of the class where some students sat isolated and struggled through the test all on their own. I felt bad for them - "If it is a group effort for some it should be a group effort for all."
Also, I wonder why students want to take classes with me.
- My average grades are 2.4 - 2.7, meaning my average student gets a C+. I'm not giving away grades.
- There's no chance I'm going to switch mid-lecture into Arabic to make it easier for them to understand.
- I give assigned seating on the midterm and final. I grade them in order of where they sat and it is easy to see patterns and I fail them. Nobody else gives assigned seating.
- This semester I added: "Take out your cell phone and put it on the front of the table. If you touch it during the test you are done."
- A test with 60 multiple choice questions, 4 essays and a case study is too long to do "the swap."
- During the test I walk around. I don't sit up front with my head buried.
- And, of course, multiple versions.
In other words, I have made it much harder to cheat and many still want to take my classes. I'm just not sure why. Yes, it's nice to get the e-mail like the one below but I'd be seriously delusional if I thought more than 5% of my students were like her.
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