Cheating an Epidemic in our Schools
Hello Everyone! I hope all is well with you! I’m back after a two week Halloween Party. It was a blast! And I want to take just a minute and thank all the wonderful authors and contestants who participated in our event. I hope you had a great time and we’ll try and brew up some new and exciting events in the months to come. So stay tuned!
The topic that I want to discuss today is cheating. I posted this on my blog yesterday and I thought I should share it will all of you today. :)
From my research, I’m finding that cheating is a way of life in our schools today. At first, I was surprised by this but then I looked back on my own high school days, and realized that cheating was prevalent back then too.
Back in my day, (not so long ago, wink) I remember a certain football player who wanted to copy my answers on a test in health class. The teacher had left the room and there was a debate between all the students. Half of them wanted me to let him copy my answers and the other half didn’t. What a dilemma I was in, because I liked him and considered him a friend, but I didn’t want to get caught cheating.
Luckily, the teacher returned, and the class settled down. I didn’t have to make that decision. But what about kids who do? From what I’ve learned, it’s becoming easier and easier to cheat. It’s almost the norm nowadays. There is tremendous pressure on teens to get good grades and many are taking the quickest route to success.
And it’s hard for parents to caution against the perils of cheating when kids get away with it and are rewarded with good grades. And isn’t that the goal? Good grades?
What makes the process even more difficult is that these students see adults cheating as well. In fact, what do you do when your own school does it? In this article, http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/07/06/i...
Authorities found that educators in Atlanta were changing test answers on students’ tests in order to get a better score. Officials suspect this is a widespread problem brought on by the initiative “No child left behind” where teachers can suffer salary cuts and lose their job if their class doesn’t meet the requirements specified by this initiative.
So what’s the answer to the cheating epidemic that seems to be a problem not only among students but teachers as well?
In my opinion, the problem is that we’ve become a results oriented society. Our society is sending this message and our kids are smart…they’re picking it up loud and clear, and that message is…we don’t care how you get the best score…it only matters that you get it.
How very sad. We’re not doing our children any favors by sending this message. We need to shift that focus from results to the learning process. That’s right. :) We need our kids to be graded on how much they’ve learned or improved and let’s make learning fun again! I mean when they were babies those kids were curious they wanted to learn. Now, that curiosity has been snuffed out because society says you’ve got to learn these specific things and you’ve got to achieve this result. I don’t know about you, but for me that takes all the fun out of it!
I know what you’re thinking, how in the world are we going to do that? That is a good question and I don’t have all the answers, but I’ve got some ideas. :) In my opinion, as parents we need to focus on the strengths of each of our children. And we need to work in conjunction with educators in developing those strengths. I believe that our kids will grow up with healthier self-esteem and more confidence because they were able to develop these strengths.
There’s a great book available written by Jenifer Fox, M. Ed., titled “Your Child’s Strengths” and it’s a great resource for parents and teachers. We need to start there and create an educational environment that allows each child to develop their strengths. By doing this, we’ll eliminate the cheating problem we have in our schools today.
You can find the book in many book stores or on Amazon. Here’s the link.
http://www.amazon.com/Your-Childs-Str...
I know what you’re thinking…that’s going to be hard to do. You’re right it is…we’d have to revamp the whole educational system…but aren’t our kids worth it?
I’d love to hear any other ideas or thoughts on the topic. Feel free to leave a comment and thanks for stopping by!
The topic that I want to discuss today is cheating. I posted this on my blog yesterday and I thought I should share it will all of you today. :)
From my research, I’m finding that cheating is a way of life in our schools today. At first, I was surprised by this but then I looked back on my own high school days, and realized that cheating was prevalent back then too.
Back in my day, (not so long ago, wink) I remember a certain football player who wanted to copy my answers on a test in health class. The teacher had left the room and there was a debate between all the students. Half of them wanted me to let him copy my answers and the other half didn’t. What a dilemma I was in, because I liked him and considered him a friend, but I didn’t want to get caught cheating.
Luckily, the teacher returned, and the class settled down. I didn’t have to make that decision. But what about kids who do? From what I’ve learned, it’s becoming easier and easier to cheat. It’s almost the norm nowadays. There is tremendous pressure on teens to get good grades and many are taking the quickest route to success.
And it’s hard for parents to caution against the perils of cheating when kids get away with it and are rewarded with good grades. And isn’t that the goal? Good grades?
What makes the process even more difficult is that these students see adults cheating as well. In fact, what do you do when your own school does it? In this article, http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/07/06/i...
Authorities found that educators in Atlanta were changing test answers on students’ tests in order to get a better score. Officials suspect this is a widespread problem brought on by the initiative “No child left behind” where teachers can suffer salary cuts and lose their job if their class doesn’t meet the requirements specified by this initiative.
So what’s the answer to the cheating epidemic that seems to be a problem not only among students but teachers as well?
In my opinion, the problem is that we’ve become a results oriented society. Our society is sending this message and our kids are smart…they’re picking it up loud and clear, and that message is…we don’t care how you get the best score…it only matters that you get it.
How very sad. We’re not doing our children any favors by sending this message. We need to shift that focus from results to the learning process. That’s right. :) We need our kids to be graded on how much they’ve learned or improved and let’s make learning fun again! I mean when they were babies those kids were curious they wanted to learn. Now, that curiosity has been snuffed out because society says you’ve got to learn these specific things and you’ve got to achieve this result. I don’t know about you, but for me that takes all the fun out of it!
I know what you’re thinking, how in the world are we going to do that? That is a good question and I don’t have all the answers, but I’ve got some ideas. :) In my opinion, as parents we need to focus on the strengths of each of our children. And we need to work in conjunction with educators in developing those strengths. I believe that our kids will grow up with healthier self-esteem and more confidence because they were able to develop these strengths.
There’s a great book available written by Jenifer Fox, M. Ed., titled “Your Child’s Strengths” and it’s a great resource for parents and teachers. We need to start there and create an educational environment that allows each child to develop their strengths. By doing this, we’ll eliminate the cheating problem we have in our schools today.
You can find the book in many book stores or on Amazon. Here’s the link.
http://www.amazon.com/Your-Childs-Str...
I know what you’re thinking…that’s going to be hard to do. You’re right it is…we’d have to revamp the whole educational system…but aren’t our kids worth it?
I’d love to hear any other ideas or thoughts on the topic. Feel free to leave a comment and thanks for stopping by!
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Marci wrote: "Lisa you are so right on with this post!!! One thing that came to mind for me is the question "are we keeping our kids too busy to do homework and study so they feel they need to cheat to succeed?..."You bring up a good point Marci. I feel that a combination of extra ciricular activities along with time to study is very important. Both my kids have homework every night and they're in first and second grade! I can only imagine as they get older that they'll have much more. They only get a couple of hours to play and have dinner before they start their homework and then it's off to bed. I also feel that kids cheat when they're not really interested in a subject. My second grader is bringing home reading assignments and he grumbles every time he has to sit down and read. I asked him why he didn't like reading and he said that the books were boring. :) I think that's another part of the problem. :) Thanks for stopping by Marci! Your comments are always appreciated!
Has our internet based society made our kids move too fast?