Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Ethical Responsibility or Not

I have a huge dilemma, and I have no idea what to do. I'm in a graduate program with several people that I work with. There are two people that are behind me in classes. They both just finished one of the more demanding professors that we have. For the purpose of this post, let's call these two folks Dip and Dope. So, Dip emails me to ask about borrowing a book. I email Dip back and say congratulations on finishing the battle axe's class. Dip sends me the following email back.

"I will call you in a bit....let's just say, I wrote Dope's final for him on a laptop on the way to class and didn't quote anything....unlike mine where I spent 2 days and quoted EVERYTHING, and Dope made a 34 out of 35, and I got a 31.5 out of 35! You do the math."

They cheated in graduate school! This is just a huge no-no. I don't condone cheating, but it does happen in high school and undergraduate school. People are young and stupid. They tend to learn. By the time you are in graduate school, you should know better than to pull this bullshit. It sounds corny, but you should really respect the institution, your professors, your classmates, and your degree more than this. Oh, and respect yourself. Mr. Bitchford thinks I should just suck it up and move on. He says the world just doesn't care. It really bothers me that my classmates and I have worked our asses off, and these two cheat their way through a course. Will they keep doing it? Who knows? Did they really even earn the degrees they currently hold? I have no utterly idea what to do...if anything. Help.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh shit. I can't really tell you what to do...but let me ramble for a minute.

These people, dip and dot or whatever the hell, are cheaters. Obviously, they learned to cheat a while a go and they depend on it to get what they want. I promise you this is not the first time (nor is it the last) that they have cheated.

People that cheat are idiots. The fact that Dip emailed you a confession of cheating, well...there you go. Young and stupid isn't really fair. I was young at one point, but I didn't cheat...although, I did let a few cute boys try to copy my answers...so, yeah, I guess I did. But never mind that. What I mean is age really has nothing to do with it being acceptable or not, it is just more readily expected of a younger crowd. Adults, though, should know better...if nothing else.

I don't think it is corny for you to expect that people have enough respect for their degree that they do their own work. Sadly, though, a lot of people don't. There are tons of people who are out there trying to obtain a degree for the financial benefit it holds and nothing more. As opposed to people like you and I who like learning and other benefits are seen as a plus.

Cheaters cheat themselves, over and over again. They don't learn the material (ever), they don't learn how to write papers (ever), they don't learn how to do their own work. Bleh.

I am a tattle tale, I like telling on people. I am the oldest of four girls and I blame my mother for breeding us to be information purging machines. With that being said, I would probably anonymously tip off the professor or dean....

...but, I am a tattle tale who gets annoyed by people who take the easy route.

Mrs. Flax said...

Stupid shits. They'll hang themselves. I know you feel like they devalue your degree. But they don't. Not unless you let them. You are getting something. They're getting nothing. I wouldn't worry about them.

Unless . . . there is some sort of student responsibility code that requires reporting on your part.

Unknown said...

Okay, high school? Fuck it and let it go. But this here is serious business and you should mention it to the teacher, just for lulz if not your own satisfaction. The teacher will look for similarities and then decide on his own. I say do it.

Liz said...

I'm mean. Unless you have to deal with these people outside of school just print out the email and walk it over to the dean. Skip the teachers and go right to the people who it'll end up with anyways. If you deal with them outside of school you should still report them, just be more subtle.

I hate cheaters. I'm not saying that I never did it myself, but that was in high school and I still feel bad about it. I always wonder if the jerks who are cheating will get away with it an eventually beat me out for my dream job. Without their cheating they wouldn't have a chance.

Liz in Seattle

Alexandra Bitchford said...

Thanks for the advice, everyone! I'll let you know if I make a decision. It was worse today because one of the cheaters will now serve on a committee with me. I couldn't even look at him today. Loser.

chocolat lover said...

I would say go for the annonymous tip off to the dean.

I hate it when people openly brag about cheating!

With a bit of luck Dip & Dope will get caught, and will have all of their assignments looked into ;o)