Interesting discourse at Aude Sapere on cheating as taught to and by teachers:
If a student has to put in a 2+ hour effort on an assignment, it is not appropriate to give him 1.5 points which contributes to a total score of 214 points. Yes, that’s about .007% of the total grade. Even the most irrational, untaught mind will kick in and see the inherent worthlessness in that kind of time-to-effort exchange…
I’ve yet to see an education or certification course that wasn’t built upon “groupthink” . . .Ultimately, these practices are encouraged and usually backed up with some kind of rationalized justification like, “Teachers should collaborate for the benefit of their students.”
So just what kind of teacher does this create?
What if the work the student — and the teacher — are being asked to churn through HAS no (or little) value?
If a reasonably smart person can look at a typical textbook or set of state standards (has anyone had the time-wasting joy of reading FL’s Sunshine State Standards — blech!) and see that it’s mostly tripe and repetition. . . how could most of the players not end up just wanting to get through the day, by hook or by crook?
Like the “he shouldn’t have lied, other shouldn’t have covered up, god what a creep!” reactions to Foley. If he wasn’t in the closet, what might have been different?
What is contributing to these cheatin’ ways?
Nance
From our PDE yahoo newslist today –
“Cheating is Up – Among TEACHERS”