Final exam cheaters caught... but really it's about the comments

A college professor found his final exam posted on an online site notorious for providing ways to cheat. Students upload materials, including tests with answers. You have to pay to access the sight, or upload enough material to earn access. So people who access this site know what they are there for. He had them take it down, but then uploaded his final exam with obviously wrong answers. This is an ethics/philosophy class.

Out of 90 something students, he calculated about 40 failed using his uploaded exam. So there is a debate - is it entrapment?

Beyond that, and why I am posting this, is that in reading the comments to the story I was struck by how civilized and respectful they are. Opinions are respected and no name calling or whataboutism. It's a good model of a honest debate. I read this story after looking at a few news articles with the usual rude, ugly behavior. The contrast is remarkable.

https://dailynous.com/2023/05/25/am...a-philosophy-professor-his-cheating-students/

 

The comments section was probably civilized because the article topic/title screened out a fair percentage of those that like to be shitty to each other in article comments in the first place. What’s left behind is people interested in philosophy and ethics, and college test-taking. Not to mention people who would know about this news site in the first place.

BTW this final exam was a take home test, good god.

 

I suspect this will become more common as the older generations who are clueless about technology retire and younger teachers take their place. Interesting for sure.
As someone who has been through undergrad and dental school recently, many classes can be passed simply through memorizing old test questions that have been written down over the previous years. Kind of scary when you think about it, laziness on both sides propagates it

 

As the teacher was teaching a course on ethics should we not be considering that this is proof that our personal codes of ethics and moral compasses vary, and humans as a species are not wholly "just"? He performed a fantastic, though small, study on the ethics of a (limited) population, thus furthering the insight and benefit of his life's work. He highlighted that (edit) *some students are specifically looking for the right answer in the wrong places instead of using the institution (moreso this class) how it's meant to be used ie critical thinking, education, and hard work.

There are many factors, yes, but reading through a slough of the comments there were many people who were educators expressing their worries of AI generated articles, people inclined to cheat, and people seeking illegitimate credentials. There's mention of the failing education system which is far too true; from people buying their childrens' degrees to people plagiarizing entirely through subtle copy-paste and fluff up.

This has been happening for years and it's just getting worse, and as many people tend to say even on the Tacoma related portions of this forum "additional competition promotes improvement". Hopefully this acts as a one of many catalysts for the education system across the world to really buckle down on plagiarism, cheating, false information, lack of critical thinking, etc.

 

This is why I give same day practical and oral exams. Too many students cheat.

 

It's only entrapment if someone was forced into doing something they normally wouldn't do. If they're accessing the site while trying to get the test answers, they're intending to cheat.

 

Should have just used Chat GPT

 

This ^

 

Some do. It can be somewhat detected, but I'd guess that soon it won't be.

 

The professor could change his curriculum and final exam every semester. That way cheating wouldn't be possible.

 

There was some interesting discussion about how one of the professors essentially did that, but even then if people were intent on falsifying their results, he said it would still be possible to eventually weed out the correct answers. Would it take longer? Definitely. Are people shitheads and want a good grade without learning and instead use misplaced determination? Definitely.

 

I look at cheating as if you came up with the right answers you passed the test. I don't think cheating is right, or fair. I don't think I have ever cheated on a test. There's a good chance you are cheating yourself out of the knowledge you would gain, by learning and retaining the lesson. Whose to say, somone who cheats on a test can't also learn the material and retain the knowledge?

I often joke and say ethics are over rated, and consider myself an ethical person. How important are ethics in today's society? Most people in power will play by the rules, while blurring the lines of what is ethical. This seems to be the norm of how things work.

Ethics can be a fun thing to debate.

On the side of philosophy. I take the position of how can you really teach philosophy, or grade philosophy? It's reallly comes down to how an individual thinks, and what their system of beliefs revolve around. Philosophy is very subjective.

 

Philosophy is meant to be objective, not subjective. That's why it's important to learn. You learn the basic theories, questioning who and why, critical thinking, thought vs emotion, personal values (morals) vs codes of ethics. You learn to think clearly while taking in every detail and fact and forming an educated opinion. You learn that people in power absolutely do not play by the rules, rather they play by the rules they made for themselves; a breach of ethics wouldn't you think? If we learn to question authority without combativeness we can find ways to make things better for everyone not just one.

It's certainly best learned alongside other subjects like a psychology, sociology, history, political science, law, anthropology, Indigenous studies, womens' studies etc major, or add on to a preexisting degree upon furthering education towards a Masters or PhD not only to question what they learned but to articulate what they learned better. Otherwise you get too many people saying they're free thinkers who don't actually think freely and are influenced by so many factors that were never their own thoughts to begin with. Nature vs nurture, objective vs subjective, if you will.

For grading I can only assume you go off of issues including but not limited to:

- Does someone grasp theory A and theory B (plus some)
- Do they understand where certain theories came from? which philosophers first offered theories like "I think, therefore I am"?
- Are they able to write a sound argument or thoroughly describe a subject from an impartial view without the means of right or wrong? Are they able to describe what is right or wrong, or rather why right or wrong can't exist as black and white?
- Are they able to show that they have insight and why that insight is so important?
- Describe why they think what they think or change that thought using factual information gathered with an objective view on a situation?
- Are they showing an ability to be analytical instead of skipping vital information or being emotionally driven?
- Can they articulate a thought/theory/feeling of a given subject, uninfluenced by substances or a digital service?
- Is their language, writing, or explanation clear and carefully described?

 

Love this. Great article and comments (which I read and was impressed with the professional tone of all). I liked how the professor said the "AITA" type thing.

That quote from him hit home:

Maybe (as the saying goes) I am the asshole here. But I would take that possibility a lot more seriously if that were the judgment of my immediate peers (philosophers at least, if not specifically ethicists), and even more so still if those peers could articulate an argument beyond simplistic accusations of dishonesty or ‘entrapment.’

Seems to me that is very key here. The students who used the online key being so quick to condemn because they were negatively affected seems a sticking point for their stance to me, IE the Clean Hands Doctrine (as anyone who watches Judge Judy knows well).

 

To add, ethics and compasses certainly are not (and never will or could be, as well) universal. A longtime (now former) friend and I stopped speaking for several reasons but this was the catalyst:

Dropping him off at home I noticed the rear bumper of his truck was damaged extensively..he said his wife backed into a light pole. Several months later he picked the truck up at the body shop good as new. He let it slip that someone had lightly tapped him in a parking lot and he claimed the prior damage (which was also far more than could have been caused in the tap), the tapper's insurance had to dish out. I said something about it and he said "well shouldn't the body shop know that was there before?" "Shouldn't the tapper have taken pictures?" "Shouldn't the insurance company know that wasn't possible?" "Aren't they supposed to be the experts and not me?" I replied "that absolves you of being honest?" at which he said tough shit for them. Mind you if this happened to him he'd scream to the heavens. Yet he felt he did nothing wrong.

I can agree too with you re the system. I graduated college in 1999 and haven't been back since. We have the MCAS testing in my state at least and it's basically designed to not fail anyone, even if that student should fail. Sucks for those who apply themselves, and sucks that the failer isn't getting any real lesson from the failure.

 

Well done. If I might ask, what subject(s)?

 

This.

Perhaps if they put that same effort into learning the material they wouldn't need to hunt for the test.

 

Ethics wise I can't agree more re cheating yourself. I get the temptation if it's a dry subject/instructor or something not necessarily vital. I remember my freshman college algebra class people would just do anything NOT to learn the subject, they just needed that class to graduate and be done nor did they feel it would be useful.

Professionally I had someone outright steal my research at work who was in a higher level than I and present it to a group as their own, getting credit for their hard work despite telling me "WE can take this to the group together" and not even mentioning my name. That said my leadership wouldn't do anything to stick up for me or address it with that person's manager either. Power at times is the most corrupt and ethically bankrupt segment..which I feel is true both of that person and my leader.

Never took philosophy as a subject so I can't really dig too deep there.

 

I'm part of the graphic communications department where I teach web design, ui/ux, animation, and digital publishing classes.

 

Sorry to bother, but can't add that cheating oneself is ethically wrong, regardless of the subject or instructor... I mean learning has intrinsic value, even if a subject may not seem immediately useful In my experience, I've seen people cheat to get through classes they find unimportant, but I believe there's always something to gain from learning. Professionally, I've had my research stolen and my leadership didn't address it( Power can be corrupt and unethical. While I haven't studied philosophy, it offers valuable insights into ethics))