When I was in middle school and high school, cheating involved tiny writing on tiny slips of paper tucked creatively within the palm of your hand. Or writing formulas on your desk in math class. Or warning a friend in the hallway between classes that a pop quiz was looming in Chemistry. And most of us—if not all of us—knew it was wrong.
All of that was so 20th century.
Not only has the thinking around cheating evolved (or de-evolved), but the means of cheating has also changed. A study released this summer by Common Sense Media shows that students are using technology to help themselves to a better grade:
- More than 35% of teens admitted to using their cell phones to cheat.
- 65% say others in their school cheat using cell phones ("I don't do that, but someone else does.")
- 52% said cheating involving the Internet (looking on the Internet for the answer to a test question)
- 38% have copied text from various Internet sites and said it was their own work
Others used their cell phones to text friends and warn them of upcoming pop quizzes. Some even used the cameras on their cell phones to take pictures of the tests for friends.
Talk about creative. What would happen if these same students applied the same effort or energy to actually study?
I'm not surprised that students cheat. They're sinners just like the rest of us. They're tempted in the same way an adult is tempted to cheat on his taxes. What is alarming to me is their attitude about cheating. I'm not suprised, but I'm still bothered:
"Many students do not consider this behavior as cheating. Only about half of students polled admit that cell phone use during tests is a serious cheating offense, and just 16 percent say calling or texting friends to warn them of a pop quiz is cheating; instead, they believe they're simply helping a friend.
Students who cheat using the internet generally view plagiarism as more serious an offense than other types of cheating, yet more than a third of teens (36 percent) said downloading a paper from the internet was not a serious offense, and 42 percent said coping text from web sites was a either a minor offense or not cheating at all."
I've been asking myself some questions:
How would this generation of teens define cheating? Would they even have a working definition for it that guided their actions?
I haven't figured out the answer to either of those questions. But I do know that as we work with girs, we need to have discussions about integrity. Honesty. Character. Those topics aren't nearly as flashy as our retreats on fashion, boys, or taming the tongue. And I think that's probably why we don't talk about them nearly as much.
Maybe we don't talk about honesty because we struggle with it ourselves and don't want to point the finger. The temptation not to give back the extra change the cashier gave back. Cheating on a spouse—even if only emotionally. Making copies of something that's copyrighted, including music or computer programs. The struggle with tithing when money gets tight. The temptation to say everything is great when you're hurting. It's all about integrity. Honesty. Character.
Even though we as leaders may sometimes struggle with these issues doesn't give us an excuse not to talk about them. It means that we allow others to hold us accountable (which means being honest, ironically). It means holding students accountable, even if it's not fun or flashy or popular. And it means talking with girls about it. Often.
Leave a comment