I didn't get a chance to post last week's Cheating News roundup from Caveon, so here you go. The two items that most interested me were the exam theft in the UK and the appalling widespread nature of cheating in California (Caveon's link is no longer active but I found one that was).
In the UK, parents and students are appalled and disgusted with the cheaters, as well as a lapse in security that allowed secure test items to leak out. But in California, there's no real question about where the security leaks are, and no quotes from outraged parents. Just a mention of one confused teacher who thought it was, you know, perfectly okay to let kids revise their essays before including them on the exams.
Don also links to a discussion found on an online bulletin board in which some kid babbles on at length about his oh-so-honorable "Five Ideals of Cheating." Now, I follow a lot of true crime news, and something about his guidelines rang a bell, but I couldn't figure out just what it reminded me of.
Then I realized that these five "ideals" - never tell anything to the authorities, never brag, use precaution, change your MO, keep doing it until your goals are achieved - are also the same five ideals that contract and serial killers use to avoid detection from the law. And I have about as much respect for this poster (for someone who insists, "Don't brag!", he sure is showing off here) as I would for any other criminal. I consider his list a pathetic attempt to reassure himself, and his readers, that these actions are somehow justified if you're clever enough in going about them.
(Cheating News from 7/9 will be added when Caveon's page is updated.)
Posted by kswygert at July 9, 2004 09:10 AM