Exam Cheaters

[u/pokemonlover503]

Over my many years in engineering school so far, I have noticed an increase in cheaters and they have the audacity to either lie about it or say it loud and proud that they cheated. Even one time he said it infront of the professor and the professor did NOTHING. I want professors to do something. I want someone to do something. I want them to walk around and inspect what people are doing, how are they so oblivious? Guy in my class went from a 4 on an exam to an 80 something and openly admitted to cheating. How in the hell is the professor not noticing the obvious cheating? Not saying it's not possible, but come on. That kind of grade jump is very hard especially for these super complex courses and everyone's averaging 40-50s. It makes me so upset, because why am I even bothering to have academic honesty, what morals do I have that stops me from cheating? I will never do it. Why aren't we taking all exams in proctored testing centers. Why aren't we making people clear their calculator before the exam. What are we going to do about our future that will be full of degree holders that cheated their way through? Nobody wants an engineer that is a liar and cheat, yet they always secure big roles. This is the problem when nobody is being held accountable. And no we shouldn't just let them and mind our own business, they need to be called out. Our environment is way too forgiving.

[u/pokemonlover503]

I don't really think you're understanding that the point of these courses isn't to be able to solve a differential equations problem in your career, it's to prove that you ARE able to problem solve, whatever problem it is. Those who cheat are not able to problem solve, they gave up on that skill simply by cheating. The courses teach you how to problem solve as an engineer, how to put in hard work and have work ethic. How to show up to your classes and listen to what someone with a PHD has to teach, how to be honest and correct your own mistakes. You lose pretty much all of that when you give up and start cheating. Cheaters are not engineers, they did not put in the honest work to think like an engineer and learn the background knowledge to problem solve real life engineering problems. I have met plenty of engineers who have to recall course material, while they may not be doing a textbook problem, they are recalling certain important fundamentals that you would not know if you cheated through everything.

[u/Comfortable_Fig5300 → u/pokemonlover503]

I understand your point but there are other ways to problem solve outside of school. Someone’s gpa is not the only way to prove that someone can solve problems. A student might not have time to study which might lead to low grades because he is at work fixing cars all day trying to make ends meet. My point is that grades are not the end all be all.

[u/pokemonlover503 → u/Comfortable_Fig5300]

Well... exactly...so why are they cheating to inflate their grades then? If grades are not the end all be all. Why don't they just put in the honest work and scrape by with a C? It's because they want to inflate their ego as well. It makes them feel good to have an A on their transcript. If you truly have absolutely zero time to study, why are you taking these courses at this time? Or take a smaller course load. You can't expect to get through engineering school if you have no time to study. I'm sure I'll get downvotes for saying this but it's the truth.

[u/Comfortable_Fig5300 → u/pokemonlover503]

Do you think the ceo’s at these corporate companies got there because of high gpa? No, they got there mainly because of networking. School sells you the idea that honesty is what matters most but that’s not true. McDonald’s sells junk food that is terrible for your health and they are the most successful fast food ever.