IS CHEATING ON EXAMS OK? (younger Poles don't think so)

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Aug 30, 08, 10:51 #1

Some younger Poles are surprised to learn that cheating on exams is a serious offence in the English-speaking world that even runs the risk of expulsion. Among Poles, prompting during exams is often looked upon as the comradely (koleżeński) thing to do, and someone who fails to do so may be regarded as selfish and unfriendly.
Some claim that reflects Poles' distrust of authority -- something engrained during 123 years of patritions, and half a century of German and Soviet enslavement? It's always us against them (the occupation forces, the school, government, the boss, clerks, police, etc.).

BubbaWooThreads: 46 Posts: 4,438 Joined: Sep 26, 06 ♂	Aug 30, 08, 10:58 #2
is cheating at anything acceptable?

SeanusThreads: 22 Posts: 30,158 Joined: Dec 25, 07 ♂	Aug 30, 08, 11:16 #3
Cheating in exams, mate

dnzThreads: 25 Posts: 804 Joined: Dec 2, 07 ♂	Aug 30, 08, 11:22 #4
cheating in exams is fine as long as you don't get caught and so long as you pass.

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Aug 30, 08, 11:58 #5

Seanus:

Cheating in exams, mate

You could cheat on your exam too. Lets say that you've been with your exam for a long time now, and the physical attraction has faded away throughout the years. Furthermore, the excitement is gone, the chemistry is long gone, you shifted apart without even noticing, and you hardly even talk to one another anymore.
Suddenly, you meet a new exam. A much younger exam and a very, very attractive one. At first, you try hard not to think of doing something nottie with the new exam. But then the new exam tells you that she finds you very attractive also. Suddenly, one rainy afternoon after a two-martini lunch, you find yourself in a cheap motel room with the new exam, doing.... Well, anyways, this is how you cheat on an exam.

puercoespinThreads: 1 Posts: 155 Joined: Jun 8, 08 ♂	Aug 30, 08, 12:01 #6
dnz: Cheating in exams tht's a part of deep polish culure lol

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Aug 30, 08, 12:12 #7

Thanks for that Dice, very constructive ;)

Cheating is considered socially acceptable. I've done so many exams, it doesn't bear thinking about. And for what? With that in mind, I let them cheat as exams are, sometimes, just a form of control that mean little down the line. They train the mind, sure, but there are other ways to do that. They only prove that u achieved sth at such and such a date. Whoopdeedoo!!

Having said that, it is a test and we should like to be tested as people. What is life without some element of challenge?!

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Aug 30, 08, 12:59 #8

I have to agree. Cheating played a big part in polish studies as i remember them throughout grade school and high school in Poland. It was normal. The ones with better grades were "expected" to reveal their answers or whisper one word "prompts" when asked. I often found it annoying and disrupting, but I will help. It was unthinkable, not to and if you did not, nobody would like you.
We all want to be liked in our fragile teen years, don't we? :)

Frankly, it was a shocker for me when I started my studies in the USA. Everybody was for themselves, a very unknown behavior for me, even between friends. Since I mostly relied on myself in Poland, and was the helper to others, it was no biggie. It was a joy not to be interrupted with whispers and pleading look in the eyes.

An exam is a test of your knowledge. Either you know it or you don't.
Do I want a plumber or a surgeon who cheated on their tests? I don't think so.

beckskiThreads: 19 Posts: 2,148 Joined: May 15, 07 MEMBER ♀	Aug 30, 08, 13:11 #9
Polonius3: cheating on exams is a serious offence Some of the universities in California may ban the presence of cell phones, during the taking of school exams. This is due to various students being caught in the act, of taking a photo of the actual test. A sincere thanks PF, for putting up with me FIVE terrific years, muah!

dcchrisThreads: 11 Posts: 687 Joined: Oct 29, 07 ♂	Aug 30, 08, 13:46 #10
the students in india went on strike because the schools wouldnt allow them to cheat

plk123Threads: 30 Posts: 6,412 Joined: Aug 29, 07 ♂	Aug 30, 08, 13:48 #11
BubbaWoo: is cheating at anything acceptable? isn't it a fact of life?

SeanBMThreads: 41 Posts: 8,727 Joined: Mar 10, 08 ♂	Aug 30, 08, 13:52 #12
I think cheaters should get extra points on their exam scores for ingenuity.

10iwonka10Threads: - Posts: 74 Joined: Aug 21, 08 ♀	Sep 1, 08, 12:14 #13
I don't think that it is ok- but it is true some polish people cheat on exams. Someone told me once- if a future doctor cheats on exams how he will treat patiens later properly.....

polishgirltx	Sep 1, 08, 12:34 #14
no, cheating in a classroom is not ok....i used to do that in PL though... but i've never done it in the us... in PL the worst they did was just taken the cheating papers from you or they failed you... in the us they can kick you out from the college/uni and it's a permanent record in your papers which doesn't help in the future studies...

BubbaWooThreads: 46 Posts: 4,438 Joined: Sep 26, 06 ♂	Sep 1, 08, 12:59 #15
plk123: isn't it a fact of life? not where i come from mate no respect for cheats like that smug ukranian poot who cheated in the olympics

z_dariusThreads: 22 Posts: 5,091 Joined: Oct 18, 07 ♂	Sep 1, 08, 19:57 #16
BubbaWoo: is cheating at anything acceptable? yes, in the game of Poker. What is a bluff after all, if not a lie with a fancy name?

polishgirltx	Sep 1, 08, 21:04 #17
z_darius: What is a bluff after all, if not a lie with a fancy name? i don't think it's a lie...it's playing a smart ass... ?

plk123Threads: 30 Posts: 6,412 Joined: Aug 29, 07 ♂	Sep 2, 08, 00:20 #18
BubbaWoo: not where i come from mate who are you kidding? hmm

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Edited by: BubbaWoo Sep 2, 08, 01:24 #19

attitudes towards cheating and cheats differ widely between poland and the uk. OP makes this point in the first line of his post.

compare the adult mindset of a country whose children have been raised to cheat in their exams to a country whose children have been raised to see this as disgraceful

if its thought acceptable to cheat at exams, what else is it thought acceptable to cheat at

as if we really need to ask to find the answer to that one...

z_darius:

What is a bluff after all, if not a lie with a fancy name?

point proved

ShelleySThreads: 18 Posts: 3,647 Joined: Jun 26, 07 ♀	Sep 2, 08, 02:44 #20
I did a friend who works for an agencies a favour a couple of months back and did some invidulating on some exams - exam situations in the UK are pretty strict and any sign of cheating would mean that the kid is removed from the exam. Liars and cheats are just pathetic!

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Sep 3, 08, 17:44 #21

Cheating in exams that check practical application of knowledge and understanding is stupid. It can help a student pass one or two exams, but if student doesn't know anything or use their brain, sooner or later it will come out. At some stage arrears make it impossible to understand the further material and make a student unable to perform any task that demands thinking. And cheating is also very stressful - a cheater is afraid that someone may discover his or her tricks and he or she will fail. Taking an exam well prepared is the least stressful option.

But when the exam is about memorizing a lot of useless data that nobody knows by heart in real life but people look it up in some reference - then it's better to cheat than load your memory with rubbish that will be forgotten in a week.

I never knew why I had to know formulae by heart for physics. I don't think having them written down on a sheet of paper would make me understand physics less or it would be any helpful to someone who doesn't understand it.

z_dariusThreads: 22 Posts: 5,091 Joined: Oct 18, 07 ♂	Sep 3, 08, 20:58 #22
I've seen cheaters in schools in Poland and Canada. It did seem in Poland it was socially more acceptable though. In Polish cheating during exams is "sciąganie" which is almost reserved for the educational context. The English "cheating" is more generic and it does seem to carry more socially unacceptable weight.

VeridellThreads: - Posts: 4 Joined: Sep 26, 08 ♀	Sep 26, 08, 15:07 #23
Cheating in exams is a normal thing here, in Poland. For sure there are some students, who don't cheat at all (I know one or two :P)

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Mar 6, 10, 11:46 #24

beckski:

Some of the universities in California may ban the presence of cell phones, during the taking of school exams. This is due to various students being caught in the act, of taking a photo of the actual test.

A Polish colleague of mine who is an examiner for the Cambridge exams told me that Cambridge had had to revise its practice for listening exams (different days in different countries, only one paper) because students were photographing and recording the tests and then selling them on the internet.

The 2 main culprits; Greece (well, I suppose they need the money these days) and... can you guess?

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Edited by: Exiled Mar 6, 10, 12:10 #25

Greeks are masters in cheating.Next to university there are photocopy shops for making text pages very small to hide them everywhere possible.Some girls put them in their stockings or bras where a male exam supervisor is unlikely to check.Some students even had small operations done to hide micro headphones under their skin in ear lobe.In this way they tell the questions to sb outside and he tells them the answers by phone.

I remember in my classroom where during a break a cheat master in school got his desk with written answers stolen by another pupil who wanted to cheat as well.Then he came back and was in big surprise before the exams.Where is my desk mthfck?The other guy was huge.
And then the same guy(the cheater) when asked by the teacher how he fails in very easy oral tests while he manages to get so high grades in written exams:Sir,during written exams I have time to concentrate.In oral exams I am stressed.

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Mar 6, 10, 12:27 #26

Exiled:

Greeks are masters in cheating.Next to university there are photocopy shops for making text pages very small to hide them everywhere possible.Some girls put them in their stockings or bras where a male exam supervisor is unlikely to check.

hm... it is much better to print data using small (4-6) monotypic font (but everything should be capitalised) than play with photocopy... its usually much clearer... it's what i heard ;)

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