Cheating is the symptom of educational woes
I’m saddened by the news today that five children paid someone to take the SATs for them and as a result they could face serious time.
“Colleges look for the best and brightest students, yet these six defendants tried to cheat the system and may have kept honest and qualified students from getting into their dream school,” DA Kathleen Rice said. “These arrests should serve as a warning to those taking the SAT this Saturday that if you cheat, you can face serious criminal consequences.
I’ve heard a lot of teachers complain how rampant cheating has gotten, but we need to start asking why. What’s going on that our students have thrown morality out the window? If you look at the very basics of our humanity, you will see that people cheat based upon our survival instinct. Let me explain with a scenario:
A man is caught stealing at a grocery store. He’s guilty of theft and should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. But, what if, you learn that this man stole a sandwich because he was starving? Or, what if he stole a loaf of bread to feed his children? You would be a monster if you ignored his reasoning and sent him to prison and left the starving family to fend for themselves.
When anything threatens a person’s livelihood, income or social status, they enter survival mode. I believe that the system itself lead the students to their moral breaking point.
During the economic downturn, the biggest losers have been our educators and students. Every time I turn around I read about another cut to funding in education.
Due to the drop in funding, colleges have increase their fees, limited enrollment, and increased their entrance requirements. The result is that students are doing what ever it takes to get what they feel they need to survive.
Children are told from day one, that the only way to make it in this world is to get a good education, to get into the best schools. In California, we took pride in guaranteeing a higher education for all, but now even community colleges are feeling the burn.
I am not condoning cheating. It’s wrong. But, I’m saying cheating is the symptom of a much bigger problem. We’ve got to take a look at what’s really going on. We’ve got to stop our politicians from taking money away from our schools.
Teacher Oz is A Tribute To Educators
Image via WikipediaAnyone interested in history or is a student of history will appreciate this fantastic website called Teacher Oz’s Kingdom of History. What drew me in was a link to Billy Joel‘s “We Didn’t Start the Fire.” In it, an educator from Texas named Tracey Oz, provides links to sites that explain each of the words in his lyrics. The result is a page that provides detailed information on the major historical events of the 20th Century.
For instance, the suicide reference links to Religious Tolerances’ explanation of Jim Jones’s People’s Temple. The links are so in-depth that you can get lost in each one.
I just “wasted” a couple of hours just following the marvelous links on the one page, when I wandered down to the bottom to click on her index. My eyes popped out of my head! The Billy Joel song lyrics page was just the tip of the iceberg. The vast amount of history found in her pages is so comprehensive, so astounding, I’m drooling.
I read somewhere that colleges are having trouble with students using Wikipedia as a resource for their assignments. The problem with Wikipedia is its often incorrect, as the information is entered by volunteers. You don’t have to worry about the validity of Ms. Oz’s research. I also like that she tells students how to reference her website in their papers.
Its easy to see that this educator has such a passion for her calling that it would be so cool to be her student. But don’t take this history lover’s word for it. She has received kudos from The History Channel, librarians, historians, grad students, and most importantly other teachers.
This website not only covers the 20th Century History of the US, but Ancient History, Military History, World History, Religious History, Art History, Biographies, etc. etc.
Educators and parents will especially appreciate that she has dedicated one page just for them encompassing education, lesson plans, study skills, teaching links, and all links relating to education.
If that wasn’t cool enough, she even has some “fun” topics, like the history of food.
Come on already! Go visit her site! Teacher Oz’s Kingdom of History
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