Introduction to cheating
Cheating is where a person or a group of persons acquire or do something in a deceitful, a dishonest, or a devious way. Here persons use incorrect and prohibited means to achieve something or results. In other words, illegal ways are used to manipulate results; here in this essay, some of the reasons that cause teachers to cheat for their students are highlighted. This is done basing on the articles District Administration and Kappan Magazine, both of them have highlighted some of the incidences involving cheating in schools.
This paper contains the introductory part, which is used to introduce the issues under discussion, the main body that will actually handle the problem in detail, and finally the conclusion, which summarizes the paper’s findings and the stand the paper lies on or the emphasis the paper puts in.
Cheating has been a rampant issue for many years now. Teachers and administrators have been manipulating results of their students to ease the pressure on their performance. In many occasions, teachers who have been reported cheating for their students, have been put on the note after some of the students who had never passed certain examination settings just emerge with higher grades that they had never actually achieved in their performance since their enrolment in their respective schools. Kappan Magazine’s story by Starnes reports on how teaching is valued today where teachers are recognized on the results they produce but not what they give in class (Starnes 70).
One example of case like this is recorded in the District Administration article, where it stalks about the assessment test results in Knowledge and Skills, which jumped up from the normal results Lang Middle School in Dallas had originally been getting from the same particular students. This raises concern because a student cannot just achieve a big change in his performance overnight. This issue raises eyebrows and one begins to wonder what happened for these students to perform that way. Another case of concern is that in Baltimore where after investigations, it was found that a pattern of erasures were used to change incorrect answers to correct ones; this is according to the article’s report finding (Dessoff 51). In addition, according to the report by Kappan Magazine, Bobby Ann Starnes mentions about the erasures (from wrong to right answers) detection found by the testing company McGraw-Hall in Rhee’s case in Washington D.C. (70).
In many other cases, it has gone to an extent where teachers have been found using overhead projectors to provide answers for their students; this ultimately defeats the whole purpose of having test examinations given out. To this very end, the integrity of administrators and teachers is questioned, as one tries to question this integrity another question arises, what is the cause of the problem?
The necessary support for meeting this expectations is not provided, thus teachers have been left to decide for themselves ways of achieving the expectations and at the end of it all retain their jobs. The higher the stakes, the more pressure it accompanies, and the more the pressure the higher the chances of cheating are to ease the pressure on the people affected. Also in Kappan Magazine, Bobby talks about how the secretary of education fired teachers who could not produce results. One thing, Paige had not given teachers the necessary support but expected good results of it all (Starnes 71).
The current stand on cheating
The situation nowadays has increased where many schools’ test results have been found so much irregular; this irregularity is on the rise with many schools being under investigations, especially after tests have been done. On the recent note according to the District Administration article, more than 50 schools in Atlanta Public Schools are under investigations by the Georgia Bureau of Investigations after they had done the Criterion-Referenced Tests of 2009. This clearly indicates that many schools are still practicing this unethical thing (Dessoff 52).
Reasons why teachers cheat for their students
The first thing is pressure to perform at certain levels, according to the District Administration article. This has forced many administrators and their teachers to be actively involved in rampant cheating scandals to meet the requirement of certain levels. On the other hand, teachers have been forced to cheat so that they may achieve good results because their pay actually depends ultimately on their general performance. Therefore, the fear of losing their jobs has impacted negatively on them, thus they have lost their professionalism in their way of handling matters around them (Dessoff 50).
Minimal support, this happens mostly after the expectations are set. The government has not been able to figure out how the teachers are going to meet these expectations; thus, the teachers have been left to device their own ways, which includes cheating for their students so that these expectations are met. When this is done successfully, the teachers expect to maintain their jobs. This is in regard to the District Administration article’s reports where it says that a key factor for principals is their job’s security because school performance reflects on them (Dessoff 50).
Another thing that is eminent from Kappan Magazine, Bobby Starnes say the culture or the environment under which the teachers and students are causes them to engage into cheating as the only possible way to remain in the system (71).
This papers position on the issue at hand
Cheating should not be allowed at all levels of education and many good measures should be devised to stop it from continuing at all costs. The main reasons why these actions have to be taken are; when one person cheats or is involved in cheating and advances to the next level where facilities and space are limited.
The person denies chances for genuine students who have worked so hard and at the end fail to get the chances that would have made them reach their destiny thus at the end not justifying their efforts. Another thin, teachers cheating for their students encourages laziness among the students which makes them people with low achievements in life because they would always want to be helped out every time they get a responsibility.
Finally, this vice has to be stopped because it is unprofessional and defeats the essence of having tests done by students. The students are just used as a tool by the teachers to maintain their jobs. This means that the students’ needs are not put into consideration as long as they are made to perform so that the teachers are paid. This explains why students were helped to pass a test then afterwards their performance became worst than even those that followed them the next years; this is according to the District Administration article’s report about the case at George Washington Elementary School (Dessoff 51).
On the other hand, realistic expectations should be given out under good support programs and where unreasonable consequences are not embedded on realization of the same results so that people may not be forced to cheating, this is in view of Bobby Starnes report in Kappan Magazine (Starnes 71).
Conclusion
In conclusion, measures have to be put in place to stop the continued practice of these vice so that laziness and the general incapacitating of students in schools may reach an ending. More support should be given to teachers so that the expectations laid for them may be realized easily and professionally.
