Blog 3: At Harvard, Suspects in Cheating Take a Leave

Harvard revealed that they are investigating a cheating scandal as known as "academic dishonesty." In one undergraduate course almost half of the students are accused of cheating on a take-home final exam last spring.  Students were directly told to work alone on the exam. The students worked together on the final or plagiarized the answers. The course has not be revealed, but some students say it was a government course called Introduction to Congress with 279 students. The course was well known for being easy and did not require a lot of effort to be successful in it. So far many of the students have took voluntary leave. Some students said there answers were the same because they shared class notes or received help from graduate teaching fellows. If the students are found guilty they could be suspended for a year. Some of the accused students are athletes and face worse consequences than others. An athlete is eligible to play for Harvard a maximum of four years. If an athlete played in only one game and then suspended for a year he or she has used up one of those four years. On the other hand if an athlete takes voluntary leave before he or she plays in a game, they could save year for the future.

I do not think what the students did was right at all, but I do not understand why you would give a take-home final exam. I know when you are in college you are viewed as an adult, but adults cheat and do stupid things too. The exam was in the spring so everyone was ready to get finished with school and start their summer. With that being said the professor should have known cheating was a high possibility. The course already had a reputation for being easy and requiring little effort. So a lot of those students took the class for credit hours and did not take it seriously. Of course some students are not going to be truthful, but that isn't a surprise either. This threatens the athletes worse because it can affect their chance of becoming pro. I think it was the right decision to take voluntary leave rather than a one year suspension. This should have taught the school and students a lesson. Cheating happens everywhere, but the students in that course just got caught. This incident affects Harvard students because the professors will pay closer attention the work being submitted. The students should learn a valuable lesson, which is follow instructions.

September 12, 2012
1:26pm
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/12/education/harvard-cheating-suspects-go-on-leave.html?src=un&feedurl=http%3A%2F%2Fjson8.nytimes.com%2Fpages%2Feducation%2Findex.jsonp