Old Content:

Cheating, Academic and Otherwise

September 14, 2008 by Kyle Brady
Tags: Cheating, Coffee, Copyright, Drugs, Mental Stimulants, Stimulants
As required by the FTC, a Full Disclosure is available - this piece adheres to the Code of Ethics

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Let's not kid anyone:  cheating has been an issue for decades, if not longer, by athletes.  Today's middle aged parents are more than willing to discuss how they either cheated so they could "play in the big game" or they helped someone cheat for the same reason.  So alarmist cries of shame for this specific demographic are unnecessary.  It's not new to the current educational generation, and don't pretend otherwise.

That being said, cheating for purely academic reasons ("the smart kids") may be new, but the "how perfect are you?" situation of college admissions hasn't occurred at this level of intensity ever before, so there is no standard to compare to.  Assuming it didn't previously exist, this culture of perfection, induced by the inane requirements of colleges who think too highly of themselves, can be the only cause.  So don't cry about milk that was not only spilled, but spilled by your own hand.

Most academic cheating occurs on a low level, and not as many would assume.  "Cheating" now encompasses using someone's words or ideas without referencing them as the source, through a rigorous and annoyingly complicated process.  Combine this with the ever-more-restrictive copyright laws and decisions from the Supreme Court, and it's almost impossible to not cheat in today's society.

However, if you consider issues such as "copying homework" or writing papers, you find the same issue.  It's very difficult to attempt cheating in a class such as Physics III: Electromagnetism, given that it's largely a bunch of math and esoteric equations.  Homework may be shared, or even copied, but if you consider that the tests and quizzes are still done individually... does it really matter?  If you copy someone's homework, but still fail the test, what good does that do you?  This results in copying homework not to avoid learning, but for a "let's hurry up and finish" mentality.  This is not truly cheating.

Similarly, "mental stimulants" are not cheating.  Coffee is a stimulant known to boost mental activity and acuity, should that be banned from test-taking environments along with Concerta, Adderall, or any of the other ADD/ADHD drugs?  If so, why not ban them from the work environment as well, since the school environment is intended to be in preparation for the person's future job?

But banning "mental stimulants", or even coffee, is just another example of archaic thinking.  Until the current batch of 70-year old rich white men are removed from making policy, even the most mundane of modern advances will be viewed with undue scrutiny, as if the Devil Himself had appeared in their bathroom mirror.  Computers allow people to work more efficiently and achieve more than previously possible, so why are they not banned, restricted, or screamed about?

The answer is obvious:  how can it be cheating if you aren't stealing or ingesting a substance?

Old Content posts are leftovers from a less structured, less civilzed era that are kept for posterity.
Kyle can be found on Twitter and MySpace, or reached via email.