Cheating in college

  • Thread starter Thread starter JeffinBuffallo
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
J

JeffinBuffallo

Guest
When I did my examination of conscience for my 1st confession I saw that cheating on exams was in the list of mortal sins. I haven’t cheated at school but many at my college do. I reported a student for taking photos of an exam that they had not yet taken and as a result my instructor made up a new exam for them to take. This student was furious when they were given a different exam and somehow knows that I told on her and now half the class is angry at me for telling on her. Did I do the right thing? Is a Catholic morally obligated to speak up about cheating or should I have minded my own business?
 
Yes, to turn the other cheek would qualify as a sin of omission.

But don’t worry you did the right thing, God sees all.

“Blessed are ye when they shall revile you, and persecute you, and speak all that is evil against you, untruly, for my sake” (Matthew 5:11 DR)

“And you shall be hated by all men for my name’s sake: but he that shall persevere unto the end, he shall be saved.” (Matthew 10:22 DR)
 
I think your actions were both right and fair. May God bless you.
 
When I did my examination of conscience for my 1st confession I saw that cheating on exams was in the list of mortal sins. I haven’t cheated at school but many at my college do. I reported a student for taking photos of an exam that they had not yet taken and as a result my instructor made up a new exam for them to take. This student was furious when they were given a different exam and somehow knows that I told on her and now half the class is angry at me for telling on her. Did I do the right thing? Is a Catholic morally obligated to speak up about cheating or should I have minded my own business?
Click to expand...
Everything the other two posters said, and for the record these classmates are very immature to not realize the consequences of cheating IN COLLEGE! Sometimes I feel there is nothing but idiots in this generation I was born to be apart of…
 
Absolutely you did the right thing! 👍 Those other students should have been expelled instead of giving you a hard time.
 
JeffinBuffallo said:
This student was furious when they were given a different exam and somehow knows that I told on her and now half the class is angry at me for telling on her. Did I do the right thing? Is a Catholic morally obligated to speak up about cheating or should I have minded my own business?
Click to expand...
Let them be mad. They don’t sound like people you want for friends anyway.
 
JeffinBuffallo said:
When I did my examination of conscience for my 1st confession I saw that cheating on exams was in the list of mortal sins. I haven’t cheated at school but many at my college do. I reported a student for taking photos of an exam that they had not yet taken and as a result my instructor made up a new exam for them to take. This student was furious when they were given a different exam and somehow knows that I told on her and now half the class is angry at me for telling on her. Did I do the right thing? Is a Catholic morally obligated to speak up about cheating or should I have minded my own business?
Click to expand...
Not to minimize how awful it feels to have everyone mad at you, but …

Hahahahaha! Really? THIS is what they are mad at? What a bunch of punks! So let me get this straight - a girl decided to try and game the system so she didn’t have to actually learn the material for the class that she (or her parents) paid for, and you didn’t let her get away with it. So half the class realized that you wouldn’t let them get away with it either, so now they’re mad at you. Wow.

Please accept my condolences on having to deal with this baloney and please also be reassured that you did the right thing.
 
Thank you all for your responses. I went to the the Head of the department about my instructor a few weeks ago and was told that the school has a “non-confrontation” policy in dealing with students and she gave me a speech about how cheaters are just hurting themselves. I really felt she didn’t care and I was actually shocked my instructor made a new make up exam when I told him about that girl taking photos of the exam. He previously caught people in my class in the act of cheating and let them keep taking their exams. Several students had cellphones hidden in their laps that they used to cheat & when asked by my instructor they would turn off their phones and give excuses like: “I had it out to see the time” or “I have a sick family member and thought they might call”. Unfortunately my college only care about making money and seem to look the other way in matters like this. In the future I think I’ll keep my mouth shut and just do my best to go to a better school that actually enforces their academic honesty code. I did some research online and sadly the vast majority of college students admit to cheating :mad:
 
JeffinBuffallo said:
Thank you all for your responses. I went to the the Head of the department about my instructor a few weeks ago and was told that the school has a “non-confrontation” policy in dealing with students and she gave me a speech about how cheaters are just hurting themselves. I really felt she didn’t care and I was actually shocked my instructor made a new make up exam when I told him about that girl taking photos of the exam. He previously caught people in my class in the act of cheating and let them keep taking their exams. Several students had cellphones hidden in their laps that they used to cheat & when asked by my instructor they would turn off their phones and give excuses like: “I had it out to see the time” or “I have a sick family member and thought they might call”. Unfortunately my college only care about making money and seem to look the other way in matters like this. In the future I think I’ll keep my mouth shut and just do my best to go to a better school that actually enforces their academic honesty code. I did some research online and sadly the vast majority of college students admit to cheating :mad:
Click to expand...
You need to tell the head of the department that by allowing these people to cheat they are not only hurting themselves they are hurting the reputation of the college - in turn hurting the value of the degree you are working for and paying for. In a sense - these people are stealing from YOU.
 
SamH said:
You need to tell the head of the department that by allowing these people to cheat they are not only hurting themselves they are hurting the reputation of the college - in turn hurting the value of the degree you are working for and paying for. In a sense - these people are stealing from YOU.
Click to expand...
Agreed - that makes me very angry for the situation you are in! I’m sorry I can’t actually do anything to help.

Boggles my mind to think of. Does no one value learning for its own sake anymore? At the risk of sounding like an old lady, back in my day I was a single mom all throughout college and took no fewer than 6 classes each semester. I found time to learn the material and get my money’s worth out of class. If I could do it, they can, too.
 
I really want to go to the Dean about this but I have many more courses I need to take in the Biology Department. I am afraid the Head of the Biology Department will be angry and view me as a troublemaker if I go over her head or keep pressing this issue. Sadly I think we live in a society where we are expected to just look the other way and keep silent when we witness wrongdoing. Thanks again for all the support. I’ll try to let it strengthen me while I’m being harassed by my angry classmates these last few weeks of the semester.
 
SamH said:
You need to tell the head of the department that by allowing these people to cheat they are not only hurting themselves they are hurting the reputation of the college - in turn hurting the value of the degree you are working for and paying for. In a sense - these people are stealing from YOU.
Click to expand...
Also stealing from our future. I went to college before the time of everyone with cell phones but I can only imagine how many kids are cheating now. wow.
 
I have noticed that kids in college don’t seem to respect their professors like they did only a number of years ago. They seem to always be arguing with the teaching- trying to get a better grade on tests. They seem to feel entitled to pass because they have paid tuition.

Yes, students can see themselves as consumers but things have gone too far.
 
I can’t believe this is on the list of sins. I haven’t had to cheat because I study my butt off anywhere from 8 to 12 hours a day before a test. My record is 18 hours for a calculus 1 final. I have to say though, I don’t care if someone cheats, education is the biggest scam preceding the state run lottery system in America… If someone wants to take that risk, then that’s up to them.
If a man is raising a family and going to school, I don’t’ care what he does to pass, as long as it means he can provide a living for his family afterwords. That’s real world
The real dishonesty here is the price of tuition, and the size of the classroom.

Cheers!, 👍
 
Jessup said:
If a man is raising a family and going to school, I don’t’ care what he does to pass, as long as it means he can provide a living for his family afterwords. That’s real world
The real dishonesty here is the price of tuition, and the size of the classroom.

Cheers!, 👍
Click to expand...
Really? I say if you can’t play by the rules don’t get in the game. There’s this little thing called integrity.
 
ringil said:
Really? I say if you can’t play by the rules don’t get in the game. There’s this little thing called integrity.
Click to expand...
I’m sorry if this offends you, but I don’t think you have been exposed to certain aspects of making a living, to be able to relate and really understand what that education means to some people.
I stand by what I say, its not an honor contest, its about quality of life, and putting food on your table its not a game. Not everyone gets sent out to college by mom and dad when they turn 18.
I’ve seen meth head pipe insulators working 18-20 hour shifts high on crank 7 days a week for a month so they can make a living before they get laid off and have extra money. There are not words, I have to articulate, the hurt feeling you get when your told your not allowed to use the rest room with Air Conditioning so you can properly clean yourself in the summer heat , because you are contractor trash.
People ask me why how I’m able to study 12 hours a day before test. Those are the same people that haven’t been exposed to making a living this way, they don’t’ know what that piece of paper means. Its all about survival; integrity goes out the window.
I was as disappointed as anyone else, when I got to the university and found out they had Marijuana clubs, their and the fraternities have a keen advantage keeping old instructors test on file.

Cheers! and God bless, 👍
 
@ Jessup - you’ll get no argument from me that higher education is, by and large, a racket. Unless you pick a field of study that pays well after graduation. None of that changes my basic question, which is - does no one value learning for its own sake anymore? I don’t give a $$^^&&*^% if everyone else in my class is cheating - I want to learn what my profs have to offer. Maybe it’s becuase the profs at my college were awesome, but I really got a lot of knowledge and wisdom out of college. (University of Alaska - Fairbanks, if anyone’s taking notes.)

Getting through college was THE REASON I can provide for my family - once my husband abandoned me with 2 kids, I realized it was up to me to be the breadwinner. So I picked a field of study that paid well after graduation (for me, accounting, but I am told engineering does well, too), and I threw myself into it. Oh - and I was on WIC, food stamps, and took out student loans to get where I am today.

In short, yes I do know “what that education means to some people.” I am that person. And I accept no excuses for cheating.
 
AthenaC said:
@ Jessup - you’ll get no argument from me that higher education is, by and large, a racket. Unless you pick a field of study that pays well after graduation. None of that changes my basic question, which is - does no one value learning for its own sake anymore? I don’t give a $$^^&&*^% if everyone else in my class is cheating - I want to learn what my profs have to offer. Maybe it’s becuase the profs at my college were awesome, but I really got a lot of knowledge and wisdom out of college. (University of Alaska - Fairbanks, if anyone’s taking notes.)

Getting through college was THE REASON I can provide for my family - once my husband abandoned me with 2 kids, I realized it was up to me to be the breadwinner. So I picked a field of study that paid well after graduation (for me, accounting, but I am told engineering does well, too), and I threw myself into it. Oh - and I was on WIC, food stamps, and took out student loans to get where I am today.

In short, yes I do know “what that education means to some people.” I am that person. And I accept no excuses for cheating.
Click to expand...
I respect you for that, I haven’t had to raise any kids.
I too enjoy learning as well. After having spent most of my time studying math and the trades.
If the schools want to discourage cheating, the instructors should actually teach and organize the class instead of creating diploma mills . Classes should be smaller, and they should rid the universities of these filthy organizations that distract what the school’s real purpose is. The schools don’t mind cheating if your apart of a fraternity; and have access to a test bank of old instructors files.
No one makes it through life being a "nice guy " I personally would rather be dead then not have an education.
 
Uriah_Betrayed said:
Everything the other two posters said, and for the record these classmates are very immature to not realize the consequences of cheating IN COLLEGE! Sometimes I feel there is nothing but idiots in this generation I was born to be apart of…
Click to expand...
Our generation is surprisingly intelligent, just sadly misguided. That’s where we come in, to lead them down the right path, towards Christ.
 
Would neglecting to report cheaters be sinful? If so, why?

I would be very reluctant to report anyone I knew was cheating.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top