Big, fat cheaters!

First big test today = disaster.

Though I had been warned that students in this country view tests as a legitimate opportunity for group work, I was still taken aback by the rampant cheating.

I explained very clearly that there was to be no talking, no looking at other people's papers, no cheating whatsoever. I made them spread out and put away all their books; they professed to be shocked and wounded by my mistrust. I gave out two versions of the test; they were downright resentful of the implications (or at the impediment to collaboration, more likely).

And then the whispering began! It wasn't even high-tech cheating -- right in front of me, with no shame whatsoever, if they didn't know the answer, they just asked their neighbor! "No talking!" I said furiously, about 432 times. Some of them smiled apologetically, others looked annoyed and rolled their eyes, but all of them merely waited until I'd turned my back to chastise the next miscreant to start comparing answers again.

These are college kids, for crying out loud!

But, as I mentioned before, cheating is so common in Chinese universities, the students almost seem surprised that I object to it. The Christian Science Monitor had a good article about the subject:

Beijing - Three professors at a leading Chinese university – including one of the country's top experts in traditional medicine – have lost their jobs in a new plagiarism scandal. And the government finally seems to have been jolted into tackling the academic dishonesty that plagues many faculties here.

Experts are not holding their breath, though. In a culture where knockoffs are normal, from sportswear to DVDs, it will not be easy to expunge deep-rooted academic habits, they warn. But some say hope may lie with a new generation of internationally trained teachers ... (more)

And whether its really a consequence of China's lax approach to copyright issues, or another offshoot of the Communist "all for one, one for all" credo, I'm certainly not the only teacher plagued by cheating. Down in Yushu, Brendan has declared all out war on the little scammers, with mixed results:

Cheating continues to be a large issue. Fed up with failing quiz grades, I have decided to make students who earn less than 80 percent on a quiz retake it. The two words my students are most afraid to hear in my class are “zai kao.” Unfortunately, this led to a veritable orgy of cheating during the retake. They literally attempted everything in the book. One of my students tried to get out of the retaking by erasing the grade I have given him, a 38.5, and writing in “41.5.” Note to self – do not grade quizzes in pencil... I laughed at him and said, “zai kao.” The students also embedded the answers within a bunch of Tibetan script that they had written on the chalkboard, thinking I would not notice it. I did. Some of the students wrote the answers on the paper that covers their desks, hidden within designs. I tore these off. They also hid copies of the quiz on various parts of their person. I collected them all. One student even tried writing on his hand. I watched him read off his hand during the entire quiz, collected the quiz, then asked him to show me his hand. He tried to cover up everything but his fingertips with his sleeve. I crumpled up his quiz and said, “zai kao.” . . .