This morning one of my students asked me to help his friend cheat on her homework.
Of course, he wasn't quite that open and blunt about it. We normally meet on Monday evenings for supper and chatting. His English is really good, and he enjoys using it. This morning he stopped by my office to make sure we were still on for this evening and then asked if I could check over something he wrote. I said, "Sure. No problem."
Then he started telling me the story of how a girl he knows at another school was too busy with her classes, and since his English is good, she asked him to write this paper for her. He just wanted to make sure he had done a good job. I asked if she had already turned in the paper, and he said no. He wanted me to check the paper he wrote for her before he gave it to her. I told him that was cheating, and no, I wouldn't participate in it.
"But it isn't an exam. As I think about it, it's just a little piece of homework--not very important at all."
"No. It's cheating, and I'm not going to do it."
"But it isn't cheating."
"It's her assignment, and you're helping her cheat by writing it for her. Having me check it would be the same as having an American write her English assignment for her. That's cheating."
He wasn't too happy with me. The thing is, cheating is frighteningly common over here, so common that students honestly don't even seem to realise they're cheating. They're just "helping a friend." When it comes to speeches in my classes, I know that most of the students probably don't write their own speeches. Sometimes I've watched them take one from one of their classmates and then read it to the class (which is why I don't allow the reading of speeches in my classes anymore).
The even more sad and stupid thing is that I told my student that I'd check his writing once the paper was turned in.
{{kicking self}}
Posted by jonhanneman at April 19, 2004 11:00 AM | TrackBackWhen my older brother was in college (the college shall remain unnamed), he would help some of the foriegn students (nationality shall remain unnamed) edit their papers for grammar. In some students' papers, he would notice whole sections that were obvious plagarism from sources like encyclopedias, and when he questioned them on it, they told him "oh, the professors know we do it, but they don't mind because they know we are [nationality] and that we don't know English very well." The sad thing was, what the students said was true--the professors looked the other way and had a lower standard for plagarism for students from that particular country.
Posted by: kathryn at April 19, 2004 01:11 AM