Cheating in Exams

[Mourad KACEM]

237 cases of cheating were registered around Morocco in the late three days of ewams.

[Az-eddine KHALOUFI]

What about those cases that were not sanctioned or registered,those that were excused,and those as well that were prompted by some irresponsible teachers ? The official number seems to be just the iceberg as cheating has almost become a virtue in our society. Here is a little scoop to you: Try to talk about the issue with your students & ask them to tell you about the different techniques of cheating, you will be surprised. I personally did it with my students and was amazed at the innovative ways adopted to cheat. Thank you for raising a commonly neglected issue. But shall we take it as a pedagogical or a socio-psychlogical problem ? A new avenue for debate is open.

[Mourad KACEM]

I think it's a socio-psychological problem because it deals with the attitude towards cheating.Students or people in general think of it as a right,something that should be" legalized"in someway.The problem is when people think of negative things as virtues and vice versa.This problem can't be faught in a pedagogic way.It's a matter of up-bringing;a "bad- mannerd" child = "bad- mannerd" student="bad- mannerd" citizen then the society enters a vicious cercle and becomes like ours today.

[Khalil Zakari]

More and more students are cheating to get good grades. If you surf around on the Internet, you’ll see that there are websites dedicated to cheating. Some offer tips on how to get away with it, others glorify cheating as a way of life, and still others offer to send you a pre-written essay (for a small fee, of course). What’s going on that so many teens think it’s cool to cheat their way through school?

[Az-eddine KHALOUFI]

Here is proof to you that cheating is both a social problem and a psychological problem as well and by that same token it is a pedagogical one, at least in our case as teachers because cheating is found in all domains of life. Today I was invigilating alone in an amphi-theatre with more than 120 students and before handing to them the question sheet I said this to weaken their belief in the fake virtue of cheating : "If you are caught cheating it will be an immediate ZERO and there is no need for you to plead me or ask for forgiveness because the cheater is a mean person,a coward,an irresponsible deprived of the beauty of his/her humanity,not respectful of his/her religion,and has no sense of patriotism. He/she simply doesn't deserve to be amongst us". These words made the "virtue" collapse definitely as nobody could accept anymore to cheat in front of others: Socially speaking cheating has lost its value of "something shared & taken for granted. Psychologically speaking cheating has lost,in the mind of every individual, its value of "shared conviction leading to success" . More than 50 students handed in their exam sheets really blank which means that my word shook them very deeply as otherwise they would have tried to cheat by all means since obviously they were unprepared. There is one lesson I learn from this pedagogical turn : Deep down,students are honest people but they just have to be reminded of their true values and their duty as learners.

[Mourad KACEM]

Today was the last day of exams for the ninth grade.Due to insufficent teachers in our school,the administration had to seek the help of some teachers from primary school. Frankly, I never saw such a "negative and destructive" attitutde towards cheating!!!The majority of those teachers see cheating as something very normal and started helping students;NOT just simple help!!they started writing for them, help them exchange draght and exam papers....in general such irrisponsible acts will destroy all what is left good in our education....

[mounia]

I agree with you... We've faced same problem here... Primary school teachers think that's unfair to not let our students cheat... they say they are just victims of the educational system and normally we should sympathize with them otherwise we're going to be considered harsh and heartless... the worst in all this is that our students rely on cheating as a way off and so they regard us as monsters compared with the angels coming to defend them... It happened to me to clash with a teacher who supervised with me in same classroom.. Once the time was over, I started collecting the students'papers but the lady stopped me and said you don't have the right to take their papers while they haven't finished yet.. her excuse for that was that the students should sign before leaving, so they have to hand out the papers by themselves... you can't even imagine, it was a mess...

[soufiane benhammouda]

What scares me most about students cheating in the exam is getting used to it even in their professional life if they happen to have any. they would always find an argument not to do their job correctly. It can reach even their conjugal relationship later on. I can see how happy they are if they succeed to cheat in the exam which gives them confidence to cheat in anything in their life.

[mounia]

Absolutely, It has become a habit but they never recognize that it is a bad one, why? because some people do encourage them to do so, namely cheating.. you have the example mentioned above (primary school teachers). Some parents, if not the majority, never question about the little photocopies their children make before the exam-day and they never give importance to warn them not to cheat... the worst, they may buy the exam sheet for their spoilt kid , their reason for that is not the result in itself, but to get away from the costs of another school year on the same level but instead spend it on a new one... yah! if you look deeply into the problem, you find it a very alarming one and rather than looking for solutions, unconsciously, we make things worse...:-(

[Mourad KACEM]

You are all right about this topic.The problem is that adolescence is the main period for building one's personality.So most students who rely on cheating in this stage of their lives will surely become cheaters in their adulthood either in their work,at home....You can imagine the future of Morocco!!!!!

[mounia]

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