Several weeks ago, one of our staff members sat down outside his math classroom to take a make-up test. After some minutes of work, an anonymous girl walked by, surreptitiously dropping a folded sheet of paper on his desk and without a word of identification, walked away. Not knowing what to do, he quickly shoved the paper in his backpack, but later saw that written on the paper were the girl’s neatly organized class notes, which included every single necessary formula for the test.
In its many forms, academic dishonesty is firmly entrenched in the culture of Stuyvesant High School. If you walk down any hallway in the building you are almost guaranteed to see students copying homework, sharing questions on tests or “loosely paraphrasing” another student’s work on labs. Take-home tests, when they are given, degenerate quickly into answer-sharing free-for-alls. In one example, a teacher who had attended the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), an institution famous for its honor code, gave students in his AP class—students who are theoretically genuinely interested in learning the material being taught—a take- home exam of the kind he was given in college. Sure enough, while some students chose to take the exam without outside help, the majority of students shared answers with one another, clearly violating the teacher’s trust.
Even our AP classes, which only enroll students who have expressed a desire to take the course, are filled with instances of academic dishonesty, raising questions about how Stuyvesant students will behave when accepted into elite universities, such as Caltech, which use the honor system. A good student must also be a good citizen, and act with integrity in all his academic pursuits. Despite how prevalent this behavior is, we are rarely caught or made accountable for our actions. We as a student body are considered to be some of the “best and the brightest” in New York City, if not the nation, and yet, often our high grades reflect not our hard work and academic aptitude, but rather our willingness to cheat, lie and game the system.
The question, of course, is why. What is it about our school and our students that seems to breed contempt for integrity and motivate us to cheat? Who and what is ultimately to blame?
The tired, knee-jerk response to these questions is that it is the cut-throat, competitive nature of Stuyvesant that encourages this behavior. The school is predicated on a student body selected solely based on exemplary performance on the highly-competitive Specialized High School Admissions Test. Every student who walks through the second floor entrance on his first day of freshman year has out-competed thousands of other students for the privilege to do so. Furthermore, a large number of the students at Stuyvesant earned their privilege with the help of preparatory classes, constituting what some would argue is an unfair advantage. This argument may have a modicum of truth to it—we come to Stuyvesant hungry for success, and are willing to use unorthodox measures to attain it—but is ultimately inadequate in describing the fundamental motivations for academic dishonesty at our school.
Academic dishonesty stems from a profound lack of respect in our school community, as well as a sense of combative division between students and the faculty and administration. We are a school that puts far more emphasis on the quantitative value of numbers and statistics than on the importance of learning and knowledge. The work assigned in many classes reflects this approach to education. Busywork assignments asking students to perform onerous tasks, such as copying down physics problems verbatim from a Regents review book, send a clear message that deep, conceptual understanding of material is worthless when compared to high scores on a standardized test. This type of assignment completely disrespects the material being taught, and ultimately insults students’ academic skills. The same can be said of pop-quizzes given in English classes—the administration of which shows that the teacher does not respect or trust his or her students. These quizzes encourage students to read books through alternate sources such as Spark Notes because of the implicit message sent by the quiz: it is more valuable to memorize facts about the book like the names of characters or important events than to actually read and form one’s own interpretations of the text.
Some teachers will even go so far to disrespect the subject they are teaching by reading their classes questions from the departmental finals in order to “prepare” their students. This devalues the material being taught in the course, and essentially an entire semester of study. We are some of the best and most capable students in New York City, and we deserve assignments that challenge us to think critically and analytically as opposed to ones that simply test our mental endurance and ability to regurgitate facts.
This implicit disrespect fosters the kind of “us against them attitude” that motivates academic dishonesty. Students feel so victimized by the amount of assignments they receive, the tenor of their assignments and the constant fear of quantitative evaluation that they resort to academic dishonesty as an act of desperation. It is a well known and unsurprising fact that the classes which assign heavier, less analytical workloads are the classes in which students are more likely to cheat. Students in morning classes will provide later periods with answers to a test despite the fact that their answers will help those students score higher than they will themselves. This is not the behavior of students who seek to relentlessly out-compete their classmates. This is instead an act of communal resistance—a non-verbal way of saying “we’re all in this together.” Copying homework or sharing answers to a test, while undeniably wrong, become minor acts of rebellion against a course and school that has devalued learning and analytical thought.
Although academic dishonesty seems inevitable, to an extent, in any high school community, there are things that can be done to foster a less vicious and more respectful environment. Teachers should eliminate busywork and rote memorization from their curriculum because most students have shown, through copying at least one homework assignment, that they reject this type of instruction. Assignments and exams that test a student’s ability to analyze and apply concepts are not only harder to copy, they also communicate to students that this is meaningful work that should be taken seriously. In a similar vein, the volume of work assigned by all classes should be decreased. A constant flood of work devalues the effort that students put into their assignments, and the exhaustion brought on by sleep deprivation causes students to copy work that, if they had time, they would complete. Fewer assignments with more emphasis on analysis would remove the sense of meaningless obligation (and often legitimacy for copying) that many students feel towards many of their assignments.
Finally, teachers must make academic dishonesty a constant part of the dialogue in class. Simple measures that have been adapted by some teachers in the school, including non-cheating pledges on exams that are administered, can help remind students that academic dishonesty is a serious transgression that poisons the learning environment. Constant re-enforcement also prevents some students from falling into the morally relativistic trap of thinking that their academic dishonesty is justified because all of their classmates are engaging in the behavior as well.
We, the students, also have great responsibility when it comes to curbing academic dishonesty. Far too often, students copy work or cheat on tests simply because it is easier to do so than to actually invest the time and effort necessary to earn good grades with integrity. If the culture of the school is to be reformed so as to create an environment antithetical to cheating, we as the student body must do our part and resolve to rise to the intellectual challenges presented by our teachers with full moral rectitude, and ostracize those who refuse to change their ways.
By shifting our school’s focus from quantifiable, statistical achievement towards a more humanistic emphasis on analysis and critical thought, we can help eliminate the “us versus them” mentality that is at the root of many instances of academic dishonesty. If students are made to feel as though they are respected by their teachers and that they are a part of a wider community, they will hold themselves to higher standards of conduct and behavior. Of course, there will always be those who under any circumstances are willing to lie and cheat their way to the top of the meritocracy, but in a respectful, learning-based Stuyvesant High School, they will not have a leg to stand on.
Some of the assignments and practices by the school and its teachers are indeed problematic. However, they are no excuse for the cheating that is pervasive at Stuy. Ultimately, it is up to every individual student to determine whether they are going to cheat themselves of this educational opportunity or not. It is unfortunate that the school is not more effective in discouraging cheating, but it is the students who cheat who are in the wrong. Poor teaching is not an excuse.
Cheating is synonymous with efficiency. Sometimes students have better things to do than the mindless droning busy work that takes hours to complete. They have their own activities to pursue and simply wasting time completing pointless work completely interferes. Moreover, this is work that will not get your mind anywhere it needs to be for the real world. The fact of the matter is, there is way too much emphasis on statistics and not enough on good education and as a result, you’ve got kids pressured and brainwashed by quantitative values running around trying to translate grades into success. Another thing, why is it wrong to cheat. Its because we’ve been conditioned to think that way since childhood and thus we continue to think that way. I don’t see whats wrong with cheating, I don’t really see why you would do it anyway. Get some good teachers who arouse your interest in the material, and you’ll learn, which will not only reduce the need to cheat, but is the most important thing, far above getting a high number on a peice of paper.
I couldn’t disagree with you more. First, cheating is not synonymous with efficiency. Cheating is unethical and subverts several important elements of society and your education. If you don’t think the work you have been assigned is meaningful, address it with the teacher and the administration. But don’t assume that you know more than they do – remember that they may be correct. However, if you are unsuccessful in your attempts and have to perform some tasks of drudgery, I assure you that it won’t be the last time! You also address that there is too much emphasis on statistics, but your cheating does nothing to address this issue. Cheating is not wrong because of conditioning. Cheating is wrong because the adults who run your school, and the colleges you hope to attend, and the corporations that you may one day work for, believe that they should set standards and students or employees should follow them if they want to attend or work there. In your case, the standard is that you should do your own work so that the school can assess your progress and so that you can learn the skills and information that they want you to learn. Perhaps there is another school with different standards and expectations that would have suited you better. Finally, while it is great when your teacher arouses your interest in the material, it’s your education so take control of it. Don’t waste your time and blame the school or the teachers.
Re: “If you don’t think the work you have been assigned is meaningful, address it with the teacher and the administration.”
“But when a long Train of Abuses and Usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a Design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their Right, it is their Duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future Security. Such has been the patient Sufferance of these Colonies…”
I am, of course, not advocating armed revolution. Nor am I saying that our beloved leader Stanley Teitel and teachers wish to reduce us under absolute despotism.
Yet, what can one do when an administration that governs without the consent of its students ceases to pretend that it is in any way beholden to the interests of its subjects?
We have no guaranteed powers, no checks nor balances: the only method of redress left to us is to beg.
We are required by law to participate in an institution we have no control over. Do not dare blame the students for a dysfunctional school.
You are required by law, because you have not yet reached the age of majority. Meaning you do not have full citizenship rights. Sorry.
at least Stuy does not pretend to be responsive to students!!!
hmm…lets think about this…DONT GO THERE!! your paying to go to that college. Thats all on you. if you dont like it, LEAVE
Cheating is far more efficient than rote memorization and busywork. You must admit that copying another person’s work is much faster than memorizing and rewriting a table of numbers that has no value beyond this week’s exam. Students have no control over their education whatsoever. It is up to parents like you to advocate for their children. You may pride yourself on not being a helicopter parent (disclaimer: I have no idea), but the opposite– a parent who blames his child for lacking interest and failing to thrive in a sterile environment– is just as bad. If you wish to say that “children” cannot and should not have legal power, you must also accept that “empty words” are all they have. If you would like to tell those same children to “seek redress for wrongs through the judicial system,” acknowledge that even they are capable of recognizing wrongs.
This is a ridiculous statement.
Because cheating is more “efficient” than brute force memorization doesn’t make it write.
Are you learning anything? Is it fair?
Should a kid be able to sit in the back of class, sleep the entire year, and get a 90 in the class after cheating on every test?
No. And if you believe that is the case, you are sadly mistaken, and will have a very tough career following Stuy, where not everything is based on a test or a grade.
I didn’t blame the students for a dysfunctional school. I blamed the students that cheat for their own decision to cheat. It’s a decision. The “dysfunctional school” didn’t make you do it. You made you do it. And you can stop doing it, if you want to. Furthermore, if you do cheat and there are repercussions, those repercussions will be as a result of your own actions. The biggest cheat of all will be if you deceive yourself into believing that you never had a choice and “they” forced you to cheat. You want to be an adult, now or in the near future, start taking responsibility for your actions.
By the way, none of us have “guaranteed powers” or “checks and balances”. We all have the right to seek redress for wrongs through the judicial system, as do you. Students have done it before. The fact that you are not pursuing this avenue shows that, deep down, you know that your argument is weak. Either that, or you care enough to spout half-baked political folderol but not enough to actually seek positive change. Whichever.
“The quantitative value of numbers” is redundant. Numbers are by nature quantitative, and furthermore so are grades.
He was probably referring to “the quantitative value of grades,” where the grade one receives reflects not so much how much was learned but how many requirements were fulfilled.
It is my responsibility to engage you, and it is my responsibility to teach you without nonsensical busy work. You should, however, remember, that your version of Unnecessary and mine are perhaps a little different.
But for an adult to make the argument that gaming a broken system is wrong, for equally well-meaning adults to create a semantic straw man to burn, as with the debate over the redundancy of “quantitative numbers,” that’s just silly. It’s Wag The Dog. The student perspective is that there are myriad factors which compel cheating, and a school culture which encourages it. And in the article, the students take some responsibility for their actions.
The students advocate for shared responsibility. I think it is time for us (all of us) to accept some blame for the state of things and work to improve them, without resorting to divide-and-conquer or condescending remarks, the sole purpose of which is to (metaphorically) scream at teenagers, “Know Your Place and Shut the Hell Up.”
really like this honesty
This needs to be taken seriously. It is a valid cry for functional education not rogue memory.
If it can be Googled we only need to know how to spot accurate authority. Students don’t need memorization because nothing in this modern world that is fact is inaccessible with technology on the fly.
How to discern, how to fail & try, and narrow down options, will be of value. The quantitative component of the educational equation has gotten so ridiculously heavy, that there is no truth in the results for anyone. When you lack qualitative, which provides the value of existence, motivation goes. Education needs to change…my solution does not focus on whether someone dotted the I or crossed the T it is on continuously trying. http://www.virtualhandhold.com/blog/2011/05/06/If-I-could-write-a-solution-for-education.aspx
Work load does not equal rigor.
Grades do not equal learning.
As long as we have kids striving towards the Almighty A, we’ll have cheating. We’ve created a culture where the value of grades far outweighs the value of learning.
Stop making students memorize what they can easily locate and use with the technology they carry in their pockets.
Value and respect kids’ brains, time, intelligence, and desire to learn. Give evaluations that make it impossible to cheat (and no, we’re not talking five versions of the same test here).
I’m glad to see the student body engaged in this discussion; I hope this is a part of a broader effort in the school to focus on what can be done to live up to the high expectations of academic excellence that we all share for Stuy.
I do think, however, that there is more to the culture of cheating than the piece lets on – time constraints and avoidance of ‘busywork’ may be part of it, but that’s not giving the students quite enough credit for their free will.
I think the truth – from my own experience, as a graduate a little over a decade ago – is that as students we made choices about what to invest our time and attention in. Academics get much of our lives, but not all. And not equally. When I was a student, I copied homework many times, and surely wouldn’t have made it through some labs without the brains of my fellow students. But I didn’t transgress in every class – far from it. I would never have dreamt of cheating on a paper for Mr. Girn or Ms. Danaher; would have sooner failed than cheated on a test for Ms. Caputo or Mr. Brandwine.
As students, we made choices about where to really commit ourselves, where to try our best, and where to do just enough to get by. Cheating helps with getting by – and that’s the choice so many of us made.
So the challenge is greater still than the editorial allows: as long as our students lack motivation in any class, the possibility of cheating will loom large. Only compelling courses, with great teachers, and students bent on maximizing their education, can eliminate all such activity. That’s a tall order – my hat’s off to those who strive to meet it.
Completely agree with ‘A Parent and a Teacher’. Evaluations that make you use all the information available are the way forward.
Problem is, though, if we make a society completely dependent on technology to do even the most basic things, what will happen if those tools are suddenly unavailable?
What happens when you need people who can navigate without a GPS, calculate without an iPhone and spell without a tiny red line under every word to help you?
When I was at Stuy I hated kids like this author here. Kids who took shortcuts, kids who skated while others worked hard, kids who took up a space that could have gone to someone who would have appreciated it – and then who felt entitled to whine about how the system wasn’t serving them.
Critical thinking, analysis, research – these are all important skills. However, memorizing facts and formulas is also an important skill. Knowing things without having to look them up on Google is an important skill. If you want to know what critical thinking without any knowledge to base it on looks like, go watch a video of a Sarah Palin interview.
Do you think if you want to become a lawyer, you can pass the Bar exam without rote memorization? Do you think if you want to become a doctor you’ll be able to google where the appendix is during surgery? What do you think you’re going to do for the next ten years of your life after High School that doesn’t involve memorization and menial tasks? Live in your parents’ basements?
Going to Stuy is a privilege. Stuy prepared me for college, and adult life, in ways that I could never have appreciated as a teenager. Some of that involved doing things I didn’t want to do. But somehow, unlike this author, I didn’t come to the conclusion that I was a member of the first generation of human teenagers to ever not want to do their homework. I didn’t decide that since I didn’t like my assignments it was okay to just not do them. Which is great, because as an adult with a job there are a lot of things I have to do that I don’t find particularly stimulating or entertaining, but if I didn’t do them, I wouldn’t have a job.
School is supposed to prepare you for adult life. If I got caught, in an adult job, plagiarizing my work, or otherwise not doing my job, I’d get fired. And that’s the key to stopping cheating at Stuy.
If you want the cheating culture at Stuy to end, toss out the kids who cheat. Zero tolerance. The only reason that’s not happening is because teachers and parents are colluding with the students, so that Stuy continues to get funding and plaudits and a good reputation among colleges.
And that’s the real pity – the real issue that this author is just too young to have encountered yet. The kids aren’t cheating the adults – the adults are cheating the kids.
As I was reading this article, I could not help but nod along in agreement, especially when you came to the part about the lack of respect within the school community.I think it’s a great point that we need to examine why it is that we cheat. (I like how you said “we” because it’s true that most of us do cheat, a little, some more than others). It’s time to dig a little deeper into this issue rather than just writing it off as “one of those things lazy high school kids do.” Also, from an editor’s perspective (I write for a high school newspaper in VA, and came across this article via Google), this article is very well composed. Thank you!