Cheating on Exams

The causes of cheating on college exams can be wide spread, but they all have one goal: to pass the test at any cost. College students who cheat know the risks of cheating, but often don’t believe that the consequences will apply to them. Sometimes, the student in question believes that they can get out of the consequences simply by a stealthy execution of the cheating technique, and other times, the student believes that although they will be caught, they can talk the teacher into letting them go “just this once”.

Certain students decide to cheat due to low self esteem. In other words, they believe that they aren’t smart enough to complete the exam. This causes the student to degrade themselves further saying that the student taking the exam is not good enough to pass the exam. (Anonymous.)

Some students cheat due to utter lack of care. In this case, the student has no reaction towards the subject at all, causing them to not study all together. In this case, the student is very reckless. (Anonymous.)

More commonly, the student feels over worked and stressed. They may feel stretched between subjects, causing them to feel the need to cheat on one subject to save a more important one. In this circumstance, the student may have studied for the exam, but not retained the information due to stress build up or over working. They then panic before the test, realizing that they have retained little or no information, and cheat out of desperation. (Anonymous)

Another cause of cheating is the availability of the information needed to cheat. This can be caused when the student is placed near another student with a high level of knowledge on the subject. This situation is more likely to happen spur of the moment, with the cheater aware that a student nearby is finishing the exam quickly and with ease. The student then believes that the student finishing the exam fast has all the correct answers, and cheats. (Bjorklund, Mikael; Wenestam, Claes-Goran.)

Other times, the student may have simply procrastinated. In cases with procrastination, the student is careless. They put off studying thinking that they will get to it later, inevitably never getting to studying or studying too late to retain the proper amount of information. In other cases with procrastination, the student tries to study but becomes distracted constantly, eventually giving up just for the moment, until just for the moment turns into last minute studying or not studying altogether. (Anonymous)

Some cases are caused by peer pressure. Cases where peer pressure is a factor can either be the cheater is pressured by others to copy information, or the student is pressured by another to give information. In the first situation the cheater may be told by others that they won’t be caught, and cheating is safe. When the student is pressured to give information, they are often told that they need to help the student, they need to be a good friend, or that cheating is cool. (Bjorklund, Mikael; Wenestam, Claes-Goran)

Some situations where cheating occurs happens because the student believes that the teacher dislikes them, and is making the test unfairly difficult to get back at them. Of course, this is absolutely untrue, however the student may believe otherwise at the time. (Bjorklund, Mikael; Wenestam, Claes-Goran.)

There are cases where a student cheats due to low grades. In this case the student may study, but still fears failing and feels that cheating is demanded of them. The student may feel that although they studied, they didn’t do an adequate job of studying, which means that cheating seems to be their only option. (Bjorklund, Mikael; Wenestam, Claes-Goran)

Test scheduling is also a cause of cheating. Exams may be scheduled to close to each other, drastically overwhelming the student, potentially causing the student to panic and cheat. The student may study some, and then give up, feeling that studying is useless. (Bjorklund, Mikael; Wenestam, Claes-Goran)

Most students who cheat are aware of the severe penalties they may receive for their actions. However, the student continues to cheat, often believing it is the only way that they can pass their exam. Cheating has many causes but yields to few outcomes with most leading to severe consequences. They are aware that being ejected from the school is very possible, academic suspension is common, and that the college may ruin their entire college record. Some students may have their record ruined to the point where admission to another college becomes impossible, and they are forced to abandon all hope of further college education.

Citations

(Bjorklund, Mikael; Wenestam, Claes-Goran. “Academic Cheating: Frequency, Methods, and Causes.” Education Line.21 March 2000.16 Nov 2010 http://www.leeds.ac.uk/educol/documents/00001364.htm)

(Anonymous.”The Causes and the Consequences of Cheating.” The Daily Californian  6 May 2005. 16 Nov. 2010 http://www.dailycal.org/article/18628/the_causes-and_the_consequences-of_cheating)

The Prison Called School

The debate about if students involved in such activities such as Theatre, sports, and Debate through the school system should be required to undergo drug testing is a very controversial topic. Some find drug testing in schools useful believing that it discourages children from using drugs to enhance their ability to gain muscle or for personal use; however, this is not always the case. Drug testing in schools does discourage some students from using drugs for sports, and is useful in keeping many sports teams clean.                                                                        Drug testing students may be effective, however it is immoral. Schools are given the right to drug test students at will, and the student cannot refuse without risking severe punishment. Adding this to extracurricular activities will take the fun out of the activity and diminish the amount of students who sign up for such activities. (Dougherty)                                                                Students may fear a false result from simple tasks such as eating poppy seeds. The simple task of eating a poppy seed bagel or a lemon poppy muffin could cause disastrous results for the student. Eating poppy seeds in excess is known to produce a false result in drug tests for opium, which means that testing results could end up in false expulsions or detentions for otherwise innocent students. (Erowid)                                                                                        Criminals undergo drug testing as well as people in lower end jobs such as fast food and restocking in retail. Since some students already have drug testing in the work place, to test again is redundant. The students that do not undergo drug testing already are still as capable of doing drugs as the students already working. The students with jobs are just as capable since many times the student has inside sources which tell them when the drug testing will be, giving the student enough time to purge the drugs and all traces from their system. Some drugs, like marijuana can be purged from the system in very little time with intense detoxification. Other substances like Opium can be flushed from the system in as little as four to six hours notice. Drugs such as heroine are very risky to purge in such little time, sometimes resulting in death, therefore a student’s chance of passing a drug test on this drug is very unlikely. However since fewer students use heroine, the main problem is with marijuana.(Haley)                                                        Students who obtain information from inside sources may be able to detoxify their system in as little as 24 hours with the aid of ample amounts of water as well as the occasional use of supplements which claim to purge the system faster or more effectively. Water however, is the best known form of detoxification as it over hydrates the system causing the body to purge extra water, taking along with it some unwanted substances including the same chemicals which would cause the student to test positive for illegal substances. With a little notice to the student of the impending drug test, the purpose of the drug test is rendered useless.                                                Students already deal with having their lockers and personal property searched at random. Many schools bring in police dogs to sniff the lockers, suddenly putting the school in lockdown. Doing this can intimidate or scare many students, and confuse others. Students are not criminals, this is clear. Yet dogs are sent into schools, and in others the students are forced to walk through metal detectors on their way to class. Every public school has its own armed police officer, with more troublesome schools having more than one. Schools are continually resembling prisons more and more, from the stark walls to the strict teachers. Drug testing the students seems to be the next logical step for the school board towards making the schools resemble federal detention centers and less like a warm, comforting environment which best promotes learning.                                                                                                                                              The worst part of drug testing students for extracurricular activities is it seems to be going through a loop hole in the students’ rights. Outside the walls of the school, not a single person could force the student to take a drug test, not even the government without reasonable suspicion of the student being under the influence. The Supreme Court ruled in the case of Veronia v. Acton that the students’ rights could be diminished so that drug testing could occur in an attempt to bring drug use down amongst the student body. (Drug Testing Students) Yet law clearly states that drug testing may only be forced when there is reasonable suspicion that the suspect is under the influence of an illegal substance. Further diminishing the student’s rights seems immoral. To treat the student like a convict is wrong.                                                               There are cases in which the Supreme Court has ruled that it is unconstitutional on the basis that it does not cause the unsupervised student any more risk than they would have been in while supervised. This logic is just. The testing of students at random for drugs is unjustified search. Many students would be tested which exhibit no signs of being on an illegal substance. This diminishing of the rights of the student is unconstitutional and yet it is being carried out regardless of the fact that it is both unnecessary and illegal. Drug testing is perfectly acceptable if the student is showing signs of being under the influence of illegal substances like that of hallucinogens, methamphetamines, or steroids. (Wilson)                                                                                In conclusion, testing students under the pretense that a great number of students are under the influence is immoral. Few students use drugs in actuality, and we should focus on those few who are exhibiting signs of drug use instead of testing the many students who are innocent. The students who do use drugs may find inside sources as to when the drug testing may be, and quickly flush what is left out of their system. The constitutionality of testing students at random during extracurricular activities is debatable, and therefore it is better to assume the student is innocent than to treat the student like a criminal.         

Citations:

Dougherty, Candidus K. "Rights of Students." Encyclopedia of the Supreme Court of the United States. Ed. David S. Tanenhaus. Vol. 4. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2008. 240-244. Gale Virtual Reference Library.

Erowid . “Poppy Seeds” Drug Testing.  The Vaults of Erowid            http://www.erowid.org/plants/poppy/poppy_testing.shtml

"Rehabilitation and Treatment." Drugs. James Haley. Ed. Robert N. Golden and Fred L. Peterson. 2nd ed. New York: Facts on File, 2009. 173-181. The Truth About. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web.

“Drug Testing Students” Drug Policy Alliance. Drugs, Police, and the Law. http://www.drugpolicy.org/law/drugtesting/students/

"Drug Testing." Gale Encyclopedia of Everyday Law. Ed. Jeffrey Wilson. 2nd ed. Vol. 1. Detroit: Gale, 2006. 615-619. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web.

England

             England: A land with a rich cultural history and a strong sense of adventure. A place with a history so unusual it has yet to be fully understood. From the Druids and the Celtics to the modern day Englishman, England has quite a history. England's history as we know it first started with the Druids who were the 'priestly class'. The Druids have long been suspected to be the makers of Stone Henge but we will likely never know as the Celtics and Druids did not write down their history due to their value of the human memory by which they passed down their history. They had an organized religion which they carried out for the Celtics. The Celtic man(a farmer in almost all instances) would go to the Druids requesting a sacrafice be made to the Gods( whome were all nature based) on his behalf. This sacrafice was usually to insure fertility for the mans spouse or to ensure a good harvest. Sacrafices were usually performed by burning a criminal to death on a wicker pyre. Later decendents of Vikings would conquer the land forming an organized community and introducing the art of blacksmithing to the Celtic people. Soon after the Vikings left England the Norman French (also decendents of vikings) came and introduced Christianity to the Celtics while simultaniously driving the Celtics into what is now known as Ireland and Wales. The Norman French settled into England and blended with later arriving peoples. The Norman French developed English social classes as well as culture. Needless to say if you are of English descent you are also of French and Viking descent. England developed in following years becoming a stronger country and becoming a major World Power, in the process conquering many countries and spreading its culture over the world at the same time. It is this desire to explore and conquer which, I believe, reflects back to England's Viking roots. It is this determination which has made England such a great country to this day and has helped form America into a country we know and love so very much. It is also this rich history and determination to succeed wich makes me proud to be of English descent and very pleased that I have the privilege of traveling to England within a weeks time.

On My Own

Every teenager seems to be ecstatic about the concept of moving out of their parents nest, yet I quickly discovered it wasn’t such a great thing after all.

                When I was growing up I thought day in and day out about how great it would be to finally get rid of my oppressive parents. Yearning to be free as most teenagers do, I would find myself dreaming constantly about the day I moved out, planning to move out as soon as I turned 18. As I got older, I realized this dream wasn’t as realistic as I was unemployed, still in high school, and not quite ready for the freedom I once ached for.

                The day my parents decided to move to Florida, they gave me a choice: stay here and live with family, or move to Florida with them. Seeing a way out, I told them I had decided to stay in Virginia. That summer we worked on moving my belongings to my grandfather’s house only a week before my family was due to move to Florida. Everything was boxed up and moved to my grandpa’s house where I unpacked things one by one, deciding which needed to stay boxed up and which things needed to be unpacked immediately. A few days before my family moved to Florida, I moved in with my grandfather.  My grandfather and I quickly decided that although we lived in the same house, we would not depend on each other for anything, essentially living separately.

                Suddenly on my own, or so it seemed, I found myself struggling to stay afloat. Missing my parents and trying to figure out how to manage life on my own, I quickly discovered what it feels like to be independent. I had to buy my own food, budget, clean everything, and take care of my car. Having been raised in a very sheltered environment I found myself at a loss of what to do. I would call my mom almost in tears begging her for advice. I would beg my grandma and others for advice on how to handle money. I was simply told, “You will figure it out honey.”, and then left alone.

                Now, although I have adjusted to life on my own, I no longer wish to be on my own just yet. I miss my family to much, along with the free food. I miss the warm hugs from my mother and the comfort given by my family when I wasn’t feeling well. Looking back, I probably should have stayed with my parents, at least for a few more years.

The Church and the Class Assignment

A young college student lies in her bed, staring at her laptop. That would be me. Hi I’m Miranda, the completely and utterly confused girl wishing her assignment would go away. As I stared at the computer screen, I began to loathe my inability to write a simple fictional story. See, I’m the artistic type, so this should be easy right? Wrong. Constant pounding from teachers to keep my papers very realistic and straight forward have dried up my imagination to the point where all of my art is now annoyingly realistic. Ask me to write a poem and I’ll have a million written by noon. When challenged by an art teacher to create a surrealistic sculpture, I somehow managed to turn something very surrealistic, into a slightly twisted realistic piece of crap. So, here I am sitting at my computer writing about how I wrote my paper. But by the end of the day, the simple process of writing a paper becomes an evil task within itself. So what’s a girl to do? And that is where my boyfriend Jordan comes in.

            Jordan walked into the room, or rather strutted with his head held high. “Hey babe what’s up?” he said. “Ughh… Jordan you know I don’t like being called babe. It’s demeaning to women. I’m not a piece of property you know.” I retorted. “Oh come on you know I love you.” he crooned while sitting down next to me on my bed. “Shut up I’ve got to get this paper written.” I snapped back at him. You have no idea how annoying that can be. “Geez sorry hun I guess I won’t be helping you write that paper then.” he said. “Wait…. Help? Paper? Don’t go!” I said desperately as he got up, grabbing for his arm like my life depended on it. “Oh now you need me.” he said in an almost mocking tone of voice as he sat down next to me, kissing my cheek gently “Write about your life experiences dear, things that you found interesting or funny, but twist them a bit. Make them…. unusual….. demonic almost.” “You want me….. to write about demons ruling over my life…… You realize Pastor Jeff is going to kill me right?” I said giggling. “And how is he going to find out that you wrote about demon possession?” Jordan said inquisitively. “I don’t know man, but he knows everything. It’s like God tells him everything I do!” I said. “Maybe he’s stalking you!” he said as pushed me to the side playfully. “Or maybe he’s the possessed one!” I giggled. And that was when the phone rang.

            As I reached over to grab my phone, my wrist brushed past my bag, and my bible fell out of my purse opening to Ephesians and my eye caught Ephesians 6:12. I picked up the bible and read the verse which stated “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” “That’s odd.” I thought and reached over to pick up my phone “It’s the pastor…..” I said in a halting voice while looking at my boyfriend with scared eyes. “Well maybe it’s just a coincidence.” Jordan suggested in a hopeful voice. Shaking my head to clear my thoughts I answered my phone “Hello, Miranda speaking.” I said. “Hey Miranda its Pastor Jeff here. I was just calling to check on you, to make sure you weren’t falling into the trap of thinking about things like demons or Hell.” the Pastor said in an accusing voice. “Well actually I was talking about that, fancy you calling right at the exact moment I was talking to Jordan about demons.” I said in a dry voice. “Don’t talk about it! You will fall subject to the demons within hell and they will wreak havoc over your entire life!” he snapped. “Uh sure, okay. Whatever you say Pastor.” I said “Well I’d love to stay and talk all day but I have a paper to write.” “If you have a paper to write don’t worry about coming to church tonight, the sermon isn’t any different than Sunday’s sermon.” he said in a robotic voice. “Well, I plan on getting this done as soon as I can and coming anyway, distance from God’s people distances one from God.” I stated. “Well don’t, it isn’t important.” the pastor yelled right before he slammed the phone down, hanging up.

            I turned to my boyfriend still staring at my phone in shock, “What just happened?” I asked, confused. “I have no idea hun, absolutely no idea.” Jordan said as he scratched his head. “You realize this means we have to go to church tonight no matter what now, right?” I said. “I know.”  Jordan groaned. He isn’t as religious as I am, so dragging him to church is a chore within itself.

            As we walked through the church, I could feel something different in the air. The normal warm, inviting nature of the church was replaced with a bone chilling cold that penetrated the heart. “Something is wrong here.” I said with a scared tone to my voice. “Something feels…….wrong.” “I know, I feel like something is standing right behind me, about to attack.” Jordan said in a hushed tone.”You feel it too? Good. It’s not just me.” I said, calming down a little. Walking up to greet the pastor, I saw emptiness in his eyes, like the very soul which once filled the heart of that man was suddenly sucked from his heart. My breath quickened, and I gripped onto Jordan’s hand even tighter.

            “Hi Pastor Jeff, are you ok?” I asked, worried. “I’m just delightful pumpkin, although you shouldn’t be here today, homework is more important than God.” he said.

            “QUICK! Hit him with the offering dish!” I screamed at Jordan. Jordan ran over to grab the offering plate from the usher and ran back to my side as quick as he could, swiftly hitting Pastor Jeff in the head with the plate as hard as he could. “TWANNGGGGG” the sound of the offering plate resonated throughout the sanctuary. Pastor Jeff stumbled back, stunned. “TIE HIM UP WITH THE BAPTISMAL ROBES!” Jordan shouted to me. I ran as fast as I could to the back of the church, ripping off the sleeve of one unfortunate baptismal robe. “Here! Use this to bind his wrists!” I offered in a hurried tone. Jordan suddenly had Pastor Jeff hog tied. “I knew dating a redneck would come in handy one day.” I said to myself. Looking around I noticed the entire church staring at Jordan and I. “Miranda…. we may wanna get him out of here… NOW.” Jordan said urgently. “I’m on it!” I exclaimed while helping Jordan pick up Pastor Jeff and running to the car. As Jordan threw the pastor into the back of the truck, now gagged with duct tape, I hopped into the passenger’s side. “FLOOR IT!” I yelled as he hopped into the driver’s seat. As we sped away into the country side I looked over at Jordan, who had a single hand rested on mine. “You realize we have to exorcise him and return him back to the church unharmed right?” I said bluntly. “Darn it.” Jordan exclaimed. We pulled over to the side of a dirt road and I got out, bible in hand. Jordan pulled the pastor from the pack of his truck and gently set him on the ground. As I sat down on a nearby tree stump, I started flipping through the bible, looking for useful things on exorcism. “GOT IT!” I said a few minutes later”Right here, in Mark 9:29. It’s so simple I can’t believe I didn’t see it sooner!” “What?” he asked. “It says that this kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer. So pray like the wind bullseye!” I said to him. “Uh, I don’t really pray out loud babe….” Jordan said hesitantly. “Call me babe one more time and that will be you hog tied on the ground.” I said calmly. “Ok ok I get it. Its dear or hun from now on.” he said, backing off. “Good.” I said quickly “Now get to work!” Jordan finally complied, bowing his head. ”Lord, we ask that you take these demons out of this pastor which we really don’t know how are there in the first place.” I prayed “What she said.” Jordan added. “Amen” we said together. I stood up and ripped the tape off of the pastor’s mouth.

 “OWW!” Pastor Jeff shouted. “What is wrong with you?” I said. “What are you talking about Miranda, and while we are talking, why am I tied up in a field?” the pastor asked accusingly. “Dude! You were possessed!” I said. “What are you talking about? I was trying to convert wiccans one moment and the next I’m in a field!” he barked. “That would do it.” I said. “Huh?” Jordan asked. “Wiccans can be pesky convincing people, they can twist what you believe in until you agree with them. And that is when THEY strike. The demons, the possessors, the evil.” I explained. “Wow you have learned a lot since we last spoke. I’m proud of you.” said Pastor Jeff as we untied him and helped him up. While all three of us got back into Jordan’s truck and drove back towards the church I couldn’t help but think. “What will the people at church do? It looks like we just kidnapped the pastor and ran.” I asked Jeff and Jordan. “I will explain everything to them don’t you worry.” the pastor said. “Whew. But just to be on the safe side, you are going in first Pastor, and you are going to be my human shield.” I said while pointing at Jordan. “Okay love.” Jordan said patting me on the arm “I’ll protect my girl.”

As we approached the church, we saw cop cars out front. “Uh oh…..” I said. “Let me talk to them first.” Pastor Jeff stated. Once we pulled up, the pastor got out and spoke with the police, after all three of us had spoken to the authorities, we were released. After a few minutes waiting outside while Pastor Jeff spoke to the congregation, Jordan and I walked in hand in hand to the church to a standing ovation. “Wow, I guess Pastor Jeff explained it pretty well.” I commented.  “I guess so.” Jordan agreed. At the end of the service over half the congregation lined up to congratulate Jordan and me.

As Jordan dropped me off at home, he remarked, “Writing that paper won’t be too difficult now will it?” “I sure hope not!” I said to him before giving him a quick kiss. I got home and sat down in front of my evil computer yet again and wrote a paper about what Jordan and I went through, but this time, from the view point of the pastor. And guess what? My friends and my professor loved it. I even got an A+! My first in that college!