An earlier post this week on what I wish they’d taught me in vet school prompted a comment on ethics from a vet student. Though I seldom address comments so directly in a follow-up post, I thought this one merited a reprint for fuller discussion.
Here’s the question (and my answer). Feel free to follow up with your own solution to the dilemma:
Q. Speaking of ethics--I'm a second year vet students and earlier this week I became aware (I'll omit the details, but yes, I'm absolutely sure) that one of my classmates cheated on an exam. What I found especially distressing was that said classmate didn't go out of her way to hide it, giving me the impression that she thinks everyone does it.
Is she right? Or is she just one bad egg? Well, someone helped her to cheat, so that would make it at least two bad eggs... How pervasive is this? Any other vets/vet students want to comment? Because I'm really quite horrified to think that these people will one day treat patients.
-witness
A. On cheating on examinations: In my class cheating would have been immediately exposed within our ranks and the perpetrators ostracized.
Though the administration might never have been informed (we were a very tight bunch and we all know that cheating means expulsion) I'd like to think we would have put an end to it ourselves.
In my class, however, we were extremely competitive. This dynamic can have negative effects (as it did in our case) but it does help curb cheating.
In your case, witness, I would make sure as many of your fellow classmates find out about the cheating event as possible. Let the cheaters hear how outraged you all are as their colleagues and let them ponder the implications of their cheating as your whole class slowly catches wind of it.
If your class is as appalled as you are the situation will probably sort itself out without expulsion. If the breeze makes it up to the administration, however, and these students are ousted it might be temporarily stressful for you. There’s no doubt that’s what’s keeping you from turning them in.
Regardless, I promise that you won't be thinking you did the wrong thing ten years from now when you have a better perspective on the implications of cheating among your fellow professionals (which you already seem to have a pretty good grasp of).
Here’s a story of mine I hope will help:
I was in a similarly uncomfortable position in vet school with respect to a faculty member during our first year. Uncomfortable sexual remarks were made in an anatomy lab by a male instructor to three female students (myself included).
I never had to turn the guy in. I simply registered my outrage among my classmates and let the chips fall where they may. Yes, I was called into the dean’s office where I was asked to explain the situation and it was absolutely unpleasant but I remained vague enough so that this man received a mark on his record for which there was no clear mandate to oust him.
For the record, the other two women classmates were angry with me at the time. We were never close after that but I know I did the right thing—as I’m sure they’d agree if you asked them about the incident today.
The moral of the story: Ten or twenty years from now you won’t be stressed or fretting about this, whatever you decide to do. Moreover, exposing your classmates after they’ve done something unethical (and technically illegal, by the way, as cheating is considered fraud) is your responsibility: “aiding and abetting” is wrong, too.
Consider this incident a trial for real-world practice, in which “cheating” can happen at almost all levels. Training your stomach to handle the very personal ethical struggles that occur in a classroom is excellent experience for what you’ll doubtless encounter in practice. Best of luck to you.
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Well said Dr. Patty. Well said.
CreatureofHabit October 31st, 2008 09:27:00 AM
I think the cheater should be busted beyond peer pressure. If she cheats now, will she will cheat in practice? Likely. I would be interested in why she cheated in the first place, lack of studying? Not undrstanding the course material? Competiveness? No one wants to be a stool pigeon but maybe we need to police our ranks better ouselves, starting in school.
Hobson October 31st, 2008 09:42:00 AM
If you want to raise the awareness of the issue with or without signaling this person out, send out an anonymous e-mail to your class e-mail list that simply says "Don't cheat." a day or two before the exam. Then post a few print outs near the exam room the night before the exam or write that on the chalk boards in the exam room (hopefully they have ones that go up and down and you can put it on a high board that won't be easy to erase).
If necessary, send an anon letter to one or more of your professors and ask them to spend a minute or two reminding the students of the ethics code during their next lecture and the day of the exam.
Going all out against this one person might not get the results you want. Especially with the weak case you have now, being second hand and without direct evidence. If it didn't outrage you enough to immediately confront this person or the teacher, then it's probably not good enough to warrant kicking this person out of school. But you do need to raise the threat level.
And next time someone brings up cheating (especially in such a casual manner) cut them off with,
"Stop. I want you to realize that if you're discussing cheating, I would be obliged by the honor code to expose you or be complicit. I don't want to do either. Please respect your fellow students and the honor code and don't even joke about cheating."
If you in any way value the relationship with this person, you can then invite them to a study group or suggest they start one. There's nothing wrong with working together BEFORE the exam.
Christopher Landauer October 31st, 2008 01:35:00 PM
As a professor, if I catch cheating once the student gets a 0 on the assignment, the second time they get an F in the course and I tell the Dean to put a mark on their record, a third time or a mark already on their record and I tell them to expel the student. Deans at my school don't expel students unless the prof pushes for it.
When I was a student, I found out some of my classmates were copying HW answer from previous years. I asked the professor whether this was allowed, w/o naming any names. He said the most important part was that they were learning the content, that how they got there was secondary, so I shouldn't worry myself about it. Had the prof asked for names I would not have given them; had he disapproved I would have made sure the students knew that.
zandperl October 31st, 2008 03:54:00 PM
I don't have the answer for witness, that has to be a personal decision on how strong his/her feelings about the issue and the reverse ostracizing/stress that could take place.
There was a segment on 20/20 sometime ago, about the widespread problem of cheating in college, plagerism, exams, etc. It bothers me that parents are often footing the hefty bill for an education that isn't earned.
When someone cheats, they aren't learning by mistakes or even failure. Will this come back on the person someday? I would think so. Does that person posess the right skills, ethics, and conscience for the chosen curriculum? People usually excel in what interests them & they enjoy---cheating becomes unnecessary.
It should alarm us in society, that professional degrees may not be worth what it should be. How about the "dumbing down of America"?
Barbara A. Albright/New Hampshire October 31st, 2008 07:03:00 PM
unfortunately cheating is a symptom of a bigger disease. It is the bigger disease that needs to be eradicated. I believe once that is no longer a factor, cheating wouldn't be such an issue.
I know someone who went to school in California ( for veterinary medicine) and he talked about all the activities illegal and not that keep many of his classmates otherwise occupied from studying.
LorriM October 31st, 2008 08:43:00 PM
I agree with Dr Khuly's suggestion to encourage other students to speak out against the behavior. Group dynamics can be a powerful factor in these situations.
In grad school, one of my professors believed group tests were a great way for students to help each other learn. She was very clear that we were to each prepare individually for the exam but that we were encouraged to work as a team to complete it. We were advised to attend group study sessions, and she also encouraged us to exclude students who were clearly trying to mooch off our hard work by arriving unprepared.
Believe it or not, her method worked for my class. For the final exam, two classmates failed to show up to our group study session and walked in for the exam clearly expecting to benefit from the hard work of others. We made it clear to them that they would not be allowed to mooch off of us and excluded them from our group submission.
As far as her belief that we would learn from each other, that proved true as well. Our collaborative approach involved explaining how we arrived at our answers, which allowed students to ask questions and correct work. It was more than a matter of simply giving each other the answers.
Posey November 1st, 2008 01:01:00 PM
Posey: That reminds me of how we worked in business school, too. We worked in "teams" of five or six students throughout the two years (we worked with the same students we were assigned to on day one). Though b-school at Wharton is fail, pass and pass with "distinction," many profs would encourage us to grade one another.
In these cases, my team would appoint a leader (on a rotating basis) and that person would receive the "distinction" if we agreed we'd all done a great job. Again, b-school can be pretty competitive--this assured there were no slackers. Meanwhile, our rotating leadership gave each of us a chance to shine. I wish more schools could work like this.
There's almost never an issue of cheating if you're encouraged to work in smaller teams without the brain-draining, multiple-choice exam method.
Dr. Patty Khuly November 2nd, 2008 08:45:00 AM
Well said Dr. Patty. Well said.
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