MS>     A better question would be "Why not cheat on homework"?
MS>     How many teachers just assign homework without correcting it in 
MS> had such teachers, and one was immortalized by D.C.-area HS teacher 
MS> Williams in his book.)
MS>     When a teacher just checks to see that kids hand in _something_ 
MS> only that it was turned in, there's every incentive to cheat.  When 
 
Hi Matt,
 
  Interesting statement, and one many students probably use to 
rationallize their behavior.  I asked one of my users here on the BBS 
why he wanted to cheat in a game (he asked me to modify his player 
account) and he said "why not? I want to win".  Do these kids take the 
same approach in classwork?  "why not, I want an A on my paper" I would 
guees that some do...
 
  I was interested in the little blurb that Charles posted, it makes me 
wonder what the students surveyed viewed as "moral and social values" 
in decline?  Perhaps they didn't see cheating as morally wrong.  
Perhaps cheating in school "doesn't count".  It'd be interesting to me 
to see what issues those students put at the top of their list...or is 
it merely a case of situational ethics.  Say for example, it's okay for 
them to cheat on a math placement test because it'll qualify them for 
the math class they "know" they should be in...but they wouldn't dare 
cheat once in that math class. [yeah right..more rationalization]  
 
  I won't argue the issue that teachers need to review the work they 
assign, but the fact that they may or may not *should* be irrelevant to 
whether or not the student cheats or does their own work.  We teach our 
students (cadets) that one way of looling at ethical behavior is
the concept of "doing the right thing when nobody is looking".  If you 
can stand the test of that little statement, you are headed in the 
right direction.  What is apparently a nebulous topic for many of 
todays youth (people period?) is just what is "the right thing"?  bing, 
bing, bing (lights flashing and bells sounding) that's the question, 
who is teaching kids the difference between right and wrong?  Are 
parent(s) not following through on their parental responsibilities to 
raise their children with a socially acceptable value set? again 
defined by who/what? societal norms? your standards?, my standards? 
acckkk! some kids are undoubtedly raised with the idea that cheating is 
okay as long as you don't get caught! Clearly there are more players in 
that arena then the parent(s), perhaps with varying levels of 
involvement or directness.  How do we (society at large) convince 
todays youth that this is unacceptable behavior?  There has to be some 
accountability, if we expect them not to cheat, we have show them why 
its unacceptable, give them feedback along the way, hold them 
accountable and provide realistic consequences if they stray. 
 
Dale
 
--- TriDog 10.0
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