Everyone's Doing it
Right now, across Moldova, 12th graders are facing a test more excruciating, more painful, and more important than the SATs could ever be. This torture form is better known as the "baccalaureate exam," or simply, the "bac." It is a national exam, and obligatory if a Moldovan student wants to enter college.
Students endure lengthy and in-depth exams in all of the subjects they studied in high school, based on everything they learned in 4 years of high school. Not only that, but the test MEANS more than the SATs. In some cases it is the ONLY merit by which admittance to colleges is based on. Adding to the pressure, it is only being administered right now, in the summer after the students completed 12th grade -- they don't know yet where they will be come September, what they will study, or even if they will be admitted into University. Talk about a pressure cooker.
The thing is, everyone* cheats on these exams. It is almost expected. Now, I'm not a teacher - I don't see these tests administered, nor am I a professional survey taker - but out of my town's 12th grade class, I'd say I know 75 percent of them. All of whom, are cheating on these tests. (this isn't hearsay either - this isn't my kids using the excuse that "everyone does it" - this is them, readily admitting to me, and to each other, how they "survived.") They are going to the bathroom, and asking their professors (who wait in the hallways) for answers -- professors look good when kids score well. Or they are talking on a cell phone, or texting on a cell phone back and forth to an 11th grade student sitting in his or her home with a text book. And SOMEHOW, the teacher administering the test doesn't catch them doing this.
And they all admit it. All of them. My 11th graders joke that they "already took the bac once," referring to the help they gave the 12th graders. This one girl I work a lot with, a 12th grader, and really one of the brightest kids I know - someone whom I trust more than I trust the mayor of our town, someone who I look to when I doubt Moldova's positive future - is cheating. She is a smart girl, and could probably pass it on her own -- she is always in the top of her class. But, she says, if she doesn't cheat on the exam, and everyone else does, how will her scores compare to the rest? And how does it help her, she further argues, to be honest, and to not be admitted into a university -- why did she work so hard in high school for nothing?
Again, I'm looking at this from way outside the system, not only did I not learn in this environment as a student, I also don't work in this environment (not a teacher). I grew up in the world of honor codes, and had 3 SAT II test scores automatically canceled on me when the proctor found a Spanish Verbs cheat sheet on the floor of our classroom -- and no one admitted to owning it. (I wasn't even taking the SPANISH SAT II, but try telling that to ETS). Yes, students cheat in America. But, in my opinion, it is not as systematic as it is here.
And it is systematic here. It starts in high school, and goes on in college and in university. There are rumors all the time about students "paying" for grades instead of taking exams -- they justify it by saying that they can't pay for an "A", they only pay for "C's". Do they learn less or more? I'm not sure. I'm also not sure what I would do as a student in an educational system that has standardized cheating. I do know, for example, that many Moldovans don't like the idea of going to Moldovan doctors when they are sick. Why? Because they doubt their expertise... How am I to know what percentage of that MD you earned, and what percentage you paid for? Which is too bad, because it brings down the credibility of those who honestly graduate and complete their studies - when the system is corruptible, everything gets blurry.
*Everyone = everyone I know. Clearly I have no way of knowing if EVERYONE is cheating. But I wouldn't bet against it.
Students endure lengthy and in-depth exams in all of the subjects they studied in high school, based on everything they learned in 4 years of high school. Not only that, but the test MEANS more than the SATs. In some cases it is the ONLY merit by which admittance to colleges is based on. Adding to the pressure, it is only being administered right now, in the summer after the students completed 12th grade -- they don't know yet where they will be come September, what they will study, or even if they will be admitted into University. Talk about a pressure cooker.
The thing is, everyone* cheats on these exams. It is almost expected. Now, I'm not a teacher - I don't see these tests administered, nor am I a professional survey taker - but out of my town's 12th grade class, I'd say I know 75 percent of them. All of whom, are cheating on these tests. (this isn't hearsay either - this isn't my kids using the excuse that "everyone does it" - this is them, readily admitting to me, and to each other, how they "survived.") They are going to the bathroom, and asking their professors (who wait in the hallways) for answers -- professors look good when kids score well. Or they are talking on a cell phone, or texting on a cell phone back and forth to an 11th grade student sitting in his or her home with a text book. And SOMEHOW, the teacher administering the test doesn't catch them doing this.
And they all admit it. All of them. My 11th graders joke that they "already took the bac once," referring to the help they gave the 12th graders. This one girl I work a lot with, a 12th grader, and really one of the brightest kids I know - someone whom I trust more than I trust the mayor of our town, someone who I look to when I doubt Moldova's positive future - is cheating. She is a smart girl, and could probably pass it on her own -- she is always in the top of her class. But, she says, if she doesn't cheat on the exam, and everyone else does, how will her scores compare to the rest? And how does it help her, she further argues, to be honest, and to not be admitted into a university -- why did she work so hard in high school for nothing?
Again, I'm looking at this from way outside the system, not only did I not learn in this environment as a student, I also don't work in this environment (not a teacher). I grew up in the world of honor codes, and had 3 SAT II test scores automatically canceled on me when the proctor found a Spanish Verbs cheat sheet on the floor of our classroom -- and no one admitted to owning it. (I wasn't even taking the SPANISH SAT II, but try telling that to ETS). Yes, students cheat in America. But, in my opinion, it is not as systematic as it is here.
And it is systematic here. It starts in high school, and goes on in college and in university. There are rumors all the time about students "paying" for grades instead of taking exams -- they justify it by saying that they can't pay for an "A", they only pay for "C's". Do they learn less or more? I'm not sure. I'm also not sure what I would do as a student in an educational system that has standardized cheating. I do know, for example, that many Moldovans don't like the idea of going to Moldovan doctors when they are sick. Why? Because they doubt their expertise... How am I to know what percentage of that MD you earned, and what percentage you paid for? Which is too bad, because it brings down the credibility of those who honestly graduate and complete their studies - when the system is corruptible, everything gets blurry.
*Everyone = everyone I know. Clearly I have no way of knowing if EVERYONE is cheating. But I wouldn't bet against it.
This entry was posted
on Thursday, June 19, 2008 at 1:15 PM.
