Ethical Question

[erkishhorde]

If the prof didn't want you to be able to program the formulas into your calculator, he wouldn't let you use a graphing calculator that is capable of storing the formulas. A cheat sheet inside your calculator cover is slightly different because you're not using a built in function of the calculator. I'm sure by now every teacher knows that people program formulas into their calculators. But, having all the equations isn't the whole answer. If you don't know how to use them you're shit outa luck.

I dunno, maybe I think this way because that's how it was when I was in high school and college too. There's a reason why all the licensing tests in CA prohibit calculators that can be programmed to store information.

People ain't gonna be happy if you screw the curve even if it's based on morals. Not everyone's morals are the same. The ones that "cheated" obviously don't feel like they were cheating or don't care or they wouldn't have done it. The problem with ratting everyone out is that you can't prove who was cheating since you didn't see anyone specifically doing it. The next problem arises when or if you ever need to work with any of these people later. If you do anything, do it in the privacy of the prof's office hours.

[hbliam]

If your grade had not been affected, I would let it go and side with the "they are just cheating themselves" philosophy. Unfortunately, it turns out they cheated you. You need to inform the professor in private. He probably needs to throw out the test and be more restrictive on future tests.

The only hiccup is..is the girl that told you this accurate? All you can really show is that she cheated. Her, "half the class" comment proves nothing and may have been said just to make herself feel better for being a cheater.

[GAAN]

My issue - all of the tests are curved.  Because the avg was 74, there was no curve.   

sounds like the lack of a curve allowed you to honestly assess what you know

[Vindingo]

sounds like the lack of a curve allowed you to honestly assess what you know

Out of carelessness I skiped an entire section of a question -10pts.  If I reread the test more carefully, I wouldn't have missed the question to which I knew the answer.

So yes, I know to check my work and to STFD, but I also know that the class (same group of kids) avg last semester was usually a 60.
I see the curve as a cushion and not a crutch.  This is the first time there was no curve, and also the first time I would have liked to take advantage of it.  I'm over it. 

After sleeping on it, I have decided not to say anything to the professor.  I will mention it to the other students who did not use their graphing calculators and see how they feel.   

 

[Grampa]

rat them out...... I would not want a doctor working on me who needed a cheat sheet

[badgalbetty]

My own personal opinion is this........never ever ever lie, cheat or steal. Always stand tall to what you believe in and if it gets tough for you then so be it.I would talk with the professor and let him/her know what you know.

[il d00d]

Might be a long shot, but you may go to your professor and talk about the section of the test that you missed, offer to solve it then and there in front of him.  If he talks about how changing your score would be unfair, then you bring up the fact that (and you will not name names) people programmed the formulas into their calculators, that you are doing this the right way, etc.
If he leaves the door open for people to cheat then it would seem foolish for him to have problems being flexible on scoring for someone who abides by the rules and made a mistake. 

[sbrguy]

not to bash you, but....you are whining that life isn't fair.
the fact is either the teacher knows you can program the calculators and at that point is tacitly agreeing to let you program them or completely clueless in the 21st century that these things can do it and should know better than to let the calc in.  sorry but part of his job is to be somewhat in touch with how people can or may cheat, him saying "i didn't know" is him being a crappy teacher, maybe a great researcher but a bad teacher.

that being said if he knew about it, then he can just say, no calculators or only simple calculators no programming allowed, simple as that.  rules are rules.

sure you studied hard, that is good, but like others say you go to learn, if you worry about the grades (and they matter to an extent) then you can either still study and not put the formulas in the calulator and do your best and maybe beat the others or you can go along with the crowd and beat them at the game.  which decision you make is what you will have to live with.  

if what you are mad about is that you didn't program the calculator well consider this a life lesson, the world is not "fair or honest" 100% of the time.  what they are doing is not cheating since it was not explicity said that you can't do it (unless the teacher said no programming of calculators, that i missed, then they are cheating), that is life that is exactly how a business will treat an action that they can't be prosecuted for.  even the attorney here will tell you he can't prosecut you for something that is not against the law.

Nobody likes a rat, just like others say, and even honest people hate rats because they know that when they may stray from time to time from the line they don't want a rat to rat them out because what they did may have been for a "good reason" but its still breaking the rules and they know they don't want to be ratted out.

good luck with wiathever you decide.

[sbrguy]

HOWEVER, after last semester, I failed my first engineering class and i couldnt register for the class again because it was full and over tallied, i learned that some kids in my class who were absolute make the beast with two backsing idiots that couldn't figure out the difference btween a torque and a moment, failed and got back into the class. Reason? They got "hooked up".

moral of this story is simple that heman missed.  its that being "hooked up" matters just as much in school as in the real world.  come on we all know that getting the "hook up" or a "favor" from someone is real and alive in the real world.  it matters.

school is a mirror image of the real world not a utopia of the real world, because you have people living in the real world teaching it and studying in it.

[redxblack]

As a teacher, I'd want to know if people are cheating on my tests. I'd talk to the prof during office hours. Let him or her know you're not there to grade grovel, but that you're concerned that a course with a curve is being subverted by dishonesty, and the integrity of the course is important to you as a student.

It would be AWESOME if for the next exam, the prof brought a box of simple calculators and told students to clear all materials but a pen, a blue book and to take one of the department calculators.

In short, I'd snitch. Not to better myself, but to differentiate myself from the geniuses that view school as a game instead of a place to hone skills and learn.

[cokey]

rat them out...... I would not want a doctor working on me who needed a cheat sheet

+1

[zooom]

moral of this story is simple that heman missed.  its that being "hooked up" matters just as much in school as in the real world.  come on we all know that getting the "hook up" or a "favor" from someone is real and alive in the real world.  it matters.

school is a mirror image of the real world not a utopia of the real world, because you have people living in the real world teaching it and studying in it.

isn't being "hooked up" now just simply called "Networking"?...

[pennyrobber]

I work in the wonderful world of academia at a major private university. Academic dishonesty is something we have to deal with from time to time and it's a touchy subject. There are appropriate ways to deal with cheating but many professors chose not to deal with these issues because anymore, you have to have concrete proof and sometimes that isn't enough. There are those students that will cheat and if caught and reprimanded, will simply have their parents raise hell, keeping the punishment to a minimum. This part of the system is broken.

I wouldn't bother bringing it up to the professor as they will likely not be able to do anything about it. Additionally, realizing that "good" grades are important for students to maintain scholarships as well as gain entrance into grad/law/med school, the grades are otherwise unimportant. My advice would be to ignore the people who are cheating and just concentrate on learning the material.

[GAAN]

Out of carelessness I skiped an entire section of a question -10pts.  If I reread the test more carefully, I wouldn't have missed the question to which I knew the answer.

well

that is just damn frustrating

I had an instructor tell me one time that what they did is not cheating

because

"a true professional knows where to get the information if they don't know the information"

or some such bullshit

[Vindingo]

well
that is just damn frustrating
I had an instructor tell me one time that what they did is not cheating
because
"a true professional knows where to get the information if they don't know the information"
or some such bullshit

  that is a good line!

I doubt teachers in China or India use that line though... where do all of our doctors and engineers come from?