It is possible to say that due to the modernization of our society, and youth in particular, one may claim that the percentages of students that cheat during their exams are quite high. To be honest, I think that technologies and careless control by both parents and studying facilities make such statistic grow. That will and does result in wrongly accessed students, that get false marks, and in the following, could mess up anything due to the lack of skills, knowledge and abilities. That is why I think that cheating during exams, and in general during the whole process of studying should be banned and controlled with great deliberation and attention.
First of all, it should be admitted that the number of cheating cases has become far more serious in the last period. According to Ron Shachtar: "State investigators found that, in 44 schools across the city, 178 teachers and administrators had systematically cheated on the state standardized tests taken by their students in 2009" (District Administration Magazine). The question can be risen, why professors, who, actually, are obliged to control the studying process, overcome rules of educational establishments. The answer lies directly in the system of education itself.
However, it was students` initiative to use various devices. But nowadays every school allows students to use the handheld technologies and investigate what impact it has on the process of studying. Karen E Smith states that “As learning becomes more mobile, these technological innovations become more common place and their advantages become evident. (Smith, Cap and Welsh)
Despite the increasing use of mobile technology and the exploration of its potential, there are also a number of social issues that form a dark side of this technology. For example, school divisions are forced to establish policies about mobile technology use in light of the fact that it could increase the potential for cheating and bullying” (Smith, Cap and Welsh)
Karen E Smith (2005), Canadian professor, states that “The purpose of the study was to identify the knowledge base educators have about this type of technology and then in turn, help educators to be proactive and responsible to the call for better integration of and knowledge with handheld technology” (Smith, Cap and Welsh). Apparently, reading it we will identify what impact technologies make on school culture and educators` development. The article consists of eight parts, each of which is rather informative and well-structured. It contains information about the newest technologies that student use at school, its influence on the process of study, it advantages and disadvantages.
Mobile technology gives an opportunity to make education flexible and also accessible for every student (even for disabled students). The devices are also popular among the ESL students as it gives then access to various vocabularies. Technology aids also help to socialize in the new uncommon environment. It also provides mobility for disabled who are not able to come to the desk. Various PDAs give students an opportunity to get access to speech and sight programs which are aimed to facilitate the study for blind. It is also used to compliment the curricular goals (for example in math).
On the other hand, students who became victims of cheating and whose work was undervalued in rates comparing those who cheated and those who used their own knowledge and abilities, can also be negatively influenced by cheating as the widely spread phenomenon in the high schools. Individuals, who were pressed by results of cheating to the lower levels in rates, are likely to negatively evaluate the educational and governmental systems, in general, and to be unaware in their possible future success.
Children use mobile phones during control papers and exams for cheating. However, if a child has become used to cheating, he will be able to complete this vile task even if he will not have a phone to cheat from. That is why the argument posed by many, that the absence of a cell phone will make the child study better is doubtful.
It is also states that, “Recent advances allow the flexibility of integrating handheld information with laptop computers and allow students to move without the hindrance of being tied to a lab through a power cord. In science, students use PDAs to access information databases and the Internet in order to gather data and test materials both in classrooms and in the field. (Smith, Cap and Welsh)
Among the advantages it is also pointed out that the Technologies have small sizes and may be carried in students` pockets giving an opportunity to learning on-the-go. The device is light and has resemblance to the laptop.
The second problem is Cheating and Plagiarism. An access to a great number of information online raises the desire of students to get high grade doing nothing. With modern technologies available it is necessary just to download information from the Internet. In other words, modern technology also gives students an “opportunity” to plagiarize.
The other primary reason students might cheat or plagiarize is that they do not know from whence the material came. However, one more problem exists. Students are eager to have more money than their parents give them. So, they easily believe into a simple way to win a million. As a result, they register on different website and got into serious debts and troubles, being cheated there. The consequences may be really grave and hard for all the family members. Moreover, sometimes, students can plagiarize from each other, copying not very trustworthy and credible sources, and again putting in jeopardy his or her marks and results.
Relying on other’s thoughts and thinking, that this person could provide one with decent information – is one of the frequent scenarios when students cheat. Friends and fellow students may assure one that such information could be regarded as incredible useful.
Judging by all mentioned above, one may ask “So what has been done?” Different programs are widely implied in schools and colleges. For example, there is a program worked out for improvement of study conditions. The program proclaims itself in sponsoring schools in poor districts. This program is called “No Child Left Behind”. It has been discovered that in many cases concerning cheating in the public schools, the main reason for the crime was possible subsidy for the school.
The chance to receive the grant had only those schools who achieved the high level of students' success at studies. The educational level of the school was checked by the special system of tests. Teachers helped students to get ready answers or chose the right answers in test papers by themselves. Those tricks had two aims: getting grants for educational establishments and improvement of teacher's professional competency. There were cases, when professors themselves took test materials from special rooms before the test. Such behavior was abandoned by school program rules and by ethical principles of professionals.
In order to improve the level of ethical development at schools, a few methods can be implied. First of them proclaims itself in meetings with professionals, who can share their right success stories. One more myths to develop morality in the high schools is to increase possible risks of cheating by implementation of technologies in the testing process. The most effective method is to work out ethically improving programs.
Hence, one can come to the conclusion that the issue on the cheating among the students is an extremely serious problem. Not only it harm the person itself, but also it can be very harmful for the society as a person who has been cheating may not have some particular skill or ability. For instance, a doctor, who cheated during his or her final exam, in order to get better mark or simply not to be flunked out, could cheat, therefore, during some emergent situation, he or she could simple do not know what to do and how to react. Moreover, the situation is getting worse due to the technological progress – with the help of various devices starting with common mobile phones, and ending up with wireless and tiny headphones, a student can easily cheat.
Special rules should exist for every students, the process of examination should be controlled scrupulously and given an opportunity to use technologies only if it is really necessary. The modern are brought us both success and losses because of the modern mobile technologies as only correct using may facilitate the learning process whereas a free access available may spoil not only study but even the whole life. Apparently, teachers must provide a protection and control for every students, be extremely attentive and knowledgeable in question of mobile technologies and all other methods of cheating.
Work Cited
District Administration Magazine,. 'Taking The Helm In Cheating Scandals'. N.p., 2015. Web. 20 June 2015.
Smith, Karen E., Orest Cap, and Jim Welsh. 'Cheating And Bullying Using Cell Phones And Pdas.'. International Journal of the Humanities 3.2 (2005): 221-227. Print.
