Don't get caught / Two Shoes Tuesday # 25 -- "Cheat"

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Our prompt word this week is cheat.  What comes to mind when you think of this word?

The first thing that came to my mind was cheating on your mate.  I don't why that was first, for sure I wouldn't ever cheat on mine.  We will have been married for 40 years this coming weekend on February 24th.

The second thing that I thought of was cheating in school.  I can honestly say that I never cheated even one time in any of my classes.

That isn't the case for everyone.  Some school cheaters are very flagrant but all deserve punishment.  I will relate to one of my students here.

Caught Red Handed

When I first started teaching at San Jacinto College the newer teachers were assigned to teach an Orientation 101 class.  This was required of all new freshmen with no prior college work.  The course was to help students adapt readily to our campus and also to learn what was expected of them and offered some insights as to how to do well in school.

About the third year that I taught the class I suspected one of my students cheating.  We only offered two exams.  During the first exam one student appeared to be glancing at the student across the isle trying to find how he answered.  Every time I would look over to him or go stand near him he was turn his eyes on his own work although he was fidgeting a lot.

He made a fair grade on his test but when I checked several of the question numbers he missed were also missed by the cross isle student.  They both had the same multiple choice letter even though their questions were different.  I had previously warned the students that the test had scrambled questions.

When I passed the papers back, I asked the suspected cheater to remain after class.  I talked with him, told him by himself again how I scrambled the questions and how his missed questions matched the number questions of the fellow across the isle. 

He vowed he didn't cheat and that was that.  I could have booted him from class but there would be repercussions for me in checking how good I had informed and warned him, what proof I had, etc.  I.e. the red tape and pain I received would not be worth the punishment that he got.

So I let bygones be bygone and went on.  For the final exam I again gave my warnings and tried hard to keep a special eye on this problem student.  I did suspect he was cheating but did not call it on him.

When I corrected the papers he did terribly bad.  His grade was in the twenties or thirties or lower.  Sure enough, he had letter for letter for question number for question number the same answers as his across the isle fellow student even though most all of the questions were different due to my scrambling. 

With just two tests and him getting only a fair grade on the first and flunking the second by a wide margin, those test averages, his atrocious attendance record, and  his low in class and project grades, HE FAILED my course. 

He was the only student that I ever failed Introduction 101.  I suspect his other classes were not good either as I never saw him again on our campus. 

He did not come to me for any raising of his grade work or the like.  The test grades and the course grades were posted by me the next day after the final exam so he should have known well before he received his official grade report from the college. 

That was before the privacy laws.  Now most professors do not post class grades.  Our San Jacinto policy was later changed.  If the student wished to get their grades right away after the exam before the college mail they could give their teacher a self addressed stamped envelope. 

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Two Shoes Tuesday is a place for bloggers to share what we enjoy doing most... writing! Each week Josie provides a one-word writing prompt and invite us to share a short story, poem, essay, thought, or photo relating to that topic.

The writing prompt this week for February 19, 2013, is "cheat".  For a list of and links to those participating, go here.