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LightElfRowena
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Post Have you ever cheat in college?
on: November 27, 2007 10:55
Ok I know i'm gonna get killed for asking that question. *hides* But be honest, have you cheated in college? I have and still do. Beleive me i'm not proud of it, but I can't stand studying for hours... it's boring. I just want to let you know that if any of you feel offended of my topic, let me know by PM me and i'll get rid of it. I promise, the last thing i want is seeing you guys upset and i'm a very loveable person. *huggles*
nightfairy
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Post RE: Have you ever cheat in college?
on: November 29, 2007 12:49
I don't think that it is something to be that ashamed of. My M.A. is about a year behind me now, and I can honestly say that I have forgotten most (well, most of the details) of what I learned for the final exams (those were oral, so there wasn't much chance to cheat there).

My personal conclusion is that, as long as you get the general hang of your subject and know where to look when questions arise later on, it doesn't really matter if what you cram into your head for an exam is backed up (or added up) by a slip of paper in your pocket Chances are quite good that you won't need most of it ever again (at least in the humanities....don't know how it might be with the natural sciences).

I know teachers who actually allow their kids to write cheat sheets, because they believe that once you make the effort to decide what has to go on such a paper and then write it all down neatly, you are likely to have learned a lot by heart anyway and that you won't need the paper at all

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scots56
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Post RE: Have you ever cheat in college?
on: November 29, 2007 01:59
I think "killed" is quite an exaggeration here. If you're looking for absolution, you won't find it from me. I guess if you cheat, you really only cheat yourself. I have my MA, and I worked very hard to get it...without benefit of cheating. Too often unfortunately, cheating has become an accepted practice. Okay then, go cheat on exams, cheat on your taxes, cheat on your spouse. If it gets you what you want faster, go for it. That's sad really.
awelyn418
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Post RE: Have you ever cheat in college?
on: November 29, 2007 03:37
In college I was one of the older students. I had a job and I was a wife and a mother so it was very difficult but I did it because I wanted to be a teacher. Since the age of 12 that was my dream. So it was worth the hard work. But I never cheated. It took me 4 years to get a two year degree. I found a job I love where I use all that I learned in college. So, I can't comprehend that type of thinking. When I walked across the stage and was handed a diploma with my cheering family was one of the proudest of my life. I did it myself no help no cheating ever. It to might be because we are of a different generations but I don't think so I believe it must be the values you were taught as a child.
LightElfRowena
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Post RE: Have you ever cheat in college?
on: November 29, 2007 05:11
My mom was raised pretty strict in academic in my home country Bangaldesh but by the time i was born, i was raised there when i was 3 years old until we moved to the US. I wasn't like her. I spent all my life watching TV or just being outside. I study a little but only for 15 min a day. I hate studying for hours especially when it comes to textbook. >_< Most tests/exams deals with critical thinking and I can't critical think because it involves DEEP thinking. So i resort to cheating. Sometimes i wish i was raised in a country where they actually put me to WORK in college, like Japan, or Germany. They really push you there. I guess what i'm saying is, i'm a slacker in college.
awelyn418
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Post RE: Have you ever cheat in college?
on: November 29, 2007 08:10
I live in the USA too and the college I went to provided help free of charge to help students with learning it was like a lab that taught you how to study. I had so many people counting on me. I was the first in my family to graduate from college. So, maybe you could get help so you would not be a slacker.
nightfairy
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Post RE: Have you ever cheat in college?
on: November 29, 2007 11:34
Sometimes i wish i was raised in a country where they actually put me to WORK in college, like Japan, or Germany. They really push you there.
Forget about that! Well, do so for Germany....I live in Germany, and have spent my school and uni years here, so I think I'd have noticed if anyone had pushed me
No, really, I heard gruesome things about Japan, but schooling here is nothing if not liberal and easy-going. Okay, I can't compare it to the US as I've never been there, but thinking about my uni years, the students from 'elsewhere' were much more of the busybees than we natives were...I remember feeling really bad whenever I went to the library, because my fellow student Julia from Belarus seemed to have taken up residence there...and still blushed about being a lazy student.

About the thinking thing....I'm not sure if that is something you will actually succed in cheating about. What I meant by writing a cheating sheet was that you might find it relaxing to have a 'backup' in an exam where there's a lot of single things to remember, like names, dates, certain connotations. I don't think it's possible to actually fake critical thinking. It's bound to attract an examiner's attention sooner or later!

So I agree with awelyn that you may need to get help with that. Maybe you should try and do something that encourages concentration and introspection, like yoga, autogenic training or a really contemplative hobby?

hugs

[Edited on 29/11/2007 by nightfairy]

[Edited on 30/11/2007 by nightfairy]
BerethEdhellen
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Post RE: Have you ever cheat in college?
on: November 29, 2007 02:09
I find cheating in school (or anywhere, for that matter) just another step down in the lowering values of our civilization. Human life, other's property, learning, writing skills...all have disintegrated in the last number of years.

When I was in school, like Awelyn, I was an older student....a single mom who worked full time, kept a home, raised a child and went to university (50 miles away) several nights a week. I maintained a 4.0 GPA throughout...and it was all done on my own efforts. I will never forget the day my 7 year old daughter brought me two slices of bread with a piece of cheese in the middle, saying, "Happy Mother's Day, mommy." It was Mother's day, and I had forgotten completely, being as I was surrounded by bookmarked tomes while I worked on a paper that was due.

Every night I watch the news and note the number of murders, rapes, robberies that top each segment. I read the written works of members here that are ..excuse me but...enough to make me gag, they are so atrocious. I remember teaching a junior in university who began his final report of the semester with the line, "Are family ain't got...... " and it went down hill from there.

Cheat if you wish but I personally think you'd learn a great deal more if you extended your self, got off your butt and made an effort on your own, rather than whining, complaining and blaming every thing and every one but yourself. You said it yourself. "...i'm a slacker in college." (Note the lack of a capital I in I'm). That's exactly what you are and you have no empathy or sympathy from me.
Life is good! Live it to the fullest. Love well those near and dear. "You cannot step into the same river twice, for the waters are ever flowing on ....." Heraclitus I Aear cân ven na mar
BelleBayard
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Post RE: Have you ever cheat in college?
on: November 29, 2007 02:41
Whoa... Okay, I can say I haven't cheated in school, but definitely find studying difficult. However, cheating eventually cheats the cheater. Does that make any sense? You're not really learning anything and when you get out of school, you won't know what you need to in whatever field you chose.

Please try to do as others have suggested and go to tutoring because only by understanding the why and how of things will you truly learn. Today is a different day than when many of us who have responded were raised and we would have been (and many are at the thought) horrified to have cheated.

If you feel overwhelmed you may need to back off on how many classes you are taking. Take a break and then go back and apply yourself. If you don't understand something, then you must ask questions and seek help from tutors.
scots56
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Post RE: Have you ever cheat in college?
on: November 29, 2007 02:54
My mom was raised pretty strict in academic in my home country Bangaldesh but by the time i was born, i was raised there when i was 3 years old until we moved to the US. I wasn't like her. I spent all my life watching TV or just being outside. I study a little but only for 15 min a day. I hate studying for hours especially when it comes to textbook. >_< Most tests/exams deals with critical thinking and I can't critical think because it involves DEEP thinking. So i resort to cheating. Sometimes i wish i was raised in a country where they actually put me to WORK in college, like Japan, or Germany. They really push you there. I guess what i'm saying is, i'm a slacker in college.

Okay, again, no sympathy from my part of the world. I would advise you stop playing the victim. You have made your choices. It isn't anyone else's fault that you "are a slacker." So, if you don't want to be...don't. Get off your duff and put some effort into it. In the real world, honey, there isn't anyone who is going to give you a free ride because "you weren't challenged" enough. :banghead:
Dream~Giver
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Post RE: Have you ever cheat in college?
on: November 30, 2007 03:57
My mom was raised pretty strict in academic in my home country Bangaldesh but by the time i was born, i was raised there when i was 3 years old until we moved to the US. I wasn't like her. I spent all my life watching TV or just being outside. I study a little but only for 15 min a day. I hate studying for hours especially when it comes to textbook. >_< Most tests/exams deals with critical thinking and I can't critical think because it involves DEEP thinking. So i resort to cheating. Sometimes i wish i was raised in a country where they actually put me to WORK in college, like Japan, or Germany. They really push you there. I guess what i'm saying is, i'm a slacker in college.

I am a senior in high school, and never once in my life have I cheated. Like you, I have a mother who was born and raised in a foriegn country with strict academics (South Korea). She did indeed push me to do well in school, but it really came down to what I chose to do. I chose to accept my mother's advice, I chose to do the best I could.
You also had that choice, but you didn't take it. No offense dear, but from what you've written, it seems like instead of working for the things you want, you want them handed to you instead. Nothing in life is ever handed to you. This is preparation for your future; being a slacker is the last thing you want to be. That's all I have to say.
Sirithros_Lirenel
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Post RE: Have you ever cheat in college?
on: November 30, 2007 06:19
I *had* to say something.

Don't kill me, but personally, I feel that it's completely disturbing how people seem to treat cheating as not that much of a big deal these days. Not just in the area of academics, either. Earlier this year I was running for the committee of my school's Medical Society with a couple of friends, and afterwards we were comparing the questions we'd been asked, and my friend's boyfriend who'd tagged along and run "for the heck of it" (so you can see why I can't refer to him as a friend) was laughing about how he'd been asked if he had any previous leadership positions and he'd lied about being chairperson of table tennis and shooting, and evidently he thought it pretty hilarious that "they lapped it all up". *snorts* And when I took him to task about it all he said was "Hell, it's common! Everyone does it!"

But that's beside the point. I think pre-university schooling doesn't really teach you academics, because when you go to university you're going to learn everything all over again, but rather, I'd feel that the more important lessons I've learnt from high school (or secondary school and junior college as we call it here) are discipline, academic rigour, and *how* to study instead of "what to study".

I study a little but only for 15 min a day. I hate studying for hours especially when it comes to textbook. >_< Most tests/exams deals with critical thinking and I can't critical think because it involves DEEP thinking.


I don't mean to sound presumptious or self-righteous or anything, but there you have it - at least you've pinpointed the problem. If you only spend fifteen minutes a day at the books how are you going to "critical think"? From personal experience, I had issues with critical thinking too, and I'm definitely not the brightest bulb in the hallway, but I do know that critical thinking can be *developed*. If you put in the effort, that is. Schooling is not about rote learning and memorisation, because if you took the time to understand the underlying themes and concepts, you wouldn't need to cheat. It's like preparing for a math exam - you could waste time and effort memorising the answers in sequence, or you could make sure you knew the concepts, and then you'd be able to tackle not just the given question on, say, calculus, but *any* calculus question anybody throws at you because you know how to apply the concept. My "language arts" was a complete disaster, so I read essays and journals and figured out on my own what constituted "critical thinking". And I like to think it worked, because my scores went up.

No offense dear, but from what you've written, it seems like instead of working for the things you want, you want them handed to you instead. Nothing in life is ever handed to you.


I'm sorry, but I have to agree. If you "can't stand studying for hours", well to be very frank, that is your problem and yours alone. Your parents can push you, other people can tell you to start working, but ultimately it is your body and your future and if you don't want to put in the effort nobody can make you. I know it sounds cliche, and I've heard this lecture many times from my own parents, but the further along in schooling I go the more I realise it's the absolute truth. Recently my school implemented the "teach less, learn more" scheme, which is supposedly based on the US system (is this true?) where the role of the teacher isn't to spoon-feed you, but rather just to open doors and tell you "look, there's stuff behind this door for you to learn, if you're interested". Your teachers *are* challenging you, and more so than if they were to ply you with assignments and lists of things to learn. The challenge here is to cultivate the discipline and will to sit yourself down and hit the books, to find out what you know and what you don't know. Cheating may get you through your exams, but ultimately you don't develop study skills, and you don't even learn the academic stuff.
awelyn418
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Post RE: Have you ever cheat in college?
on: December 03, 2007 02:58
I suggested to Lightelf that maybe she is not cut out for college. Maybe a different type of school say a technical school. Hairdresser,secretary,chef, computer tech. She is going to look into the tutoring programs at her college. So maybe our words made a difference. She will still have to apply herself and hopefully not cheat.
Aowyn
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Post RE: Have you ever cheat in college?
on: December 18, 2007 04:23
Yes, I have a major problem with cheating. Cheating is both lying to yourself and others, and stealing at the same time. Most universities have an honors code/system that you are agreeing to when you accept admission.
Yes, I think it's a very big deal. Many grad programs consider your rank and GPA very seriously and cheating robs someone else of their rightful place. Do you want someone who cheated their way into medical school operating on you? I don't. How about researchers who "pretty up" their data to make a drug seem safer? Is that okay?
Call me a puritan, but I work in the educational system and I've seen people cheated out of what they've rightfully earned by others who cheat. There is no room for it in academia.
You can't ever say you've earned something if you cheat.

[Edited on 12/19/2007 by Aowyn]
writer900
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Post RE: Have you ever cheat in college?
on: December 22, 2007 06:00
Cheating is not good. It forfeits your honor and any respectability for your work. I've been tempted to cheat, of course, but never actually would cheat. I know it's hard, very hard sometimes, but you've got to take a deep breath, roll up your sleeves and work hard sometimes. Trust me, I have two moderate learning disabilities, and nothing is never handed to me. But even though it's hard, I have to keep on trudging and work twice as diligently. You may feel like giving up, but cheating is never worth it, and you will only lie to yourself by cheating. You can do it. :hugs:
raina_alassë
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Post RE: Have you ever cheat in college?
on: December 23, 2007 05:13
I've never cheated in any exam or test, no matter in which class it was. I agree with the others: one only cheats on oneself. And where is the honour and happiness of the success? I take pride and glory in the honour of not cheating. I am sure, that once you stop cheating, you will find pride over yourself as well, as you success depends on yourself, and not on cheating.

I hope for you the best!
-raina

PS. Our teachers sometimes made a sudden test, that we never knew about ahead, and we had to put all the books on the floor while doing the test. He wanted to know what the class actually knew, without giving anyone any opportunity to cheat. It shouldn't have to be that way. :nono:
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