why do teachers turn a blind eye to cheating??

LTV950rn · May 11, 2011

DO NOT give up!! You have a strong sense of ethics! Don't quit!

I would most definitely bring this to the school's attention. Go all the way to the top. Show them the proof.

fanfan8787RN · May 11, 2011

Don't give up. Finish the program. I don't know about your school but nursing classes usually do not transfer. Those in your program who are cheating will probably have difficulty passing their boards. Good luck to you.

purpletulip4 · May 11, 2011

I am a practicing NP and I also teach at the local university. There was a cheating scandal at the school this past year and I am also frustrated on many levels. First, the students who did not speak up until after the final exam on the course evaluations. It would have been so easy to catch those who were cheating in this case but all I had was circumstantial evidence and no one willing to be a witness when going to honor court. So guess what, not guilty.

If you have told the course instructor that you've seen a copy of the exam and that person does nothing about it, keep going up the chain - PLEASE. Go above the program director to the dean if needed. Then go to someone above the dean if nothing gets done. Please, please, please don't stop. The school will want to avoid negative publicity. Go to the media if you have too.

CloudySky · May 11, 2011

Agree with the others. I absolutely would turn the test into an instructor.

I received my degree from a small private Catholic nursing college that stressed ethics.

There was one guy who started the program with his wife the semester before me. He failed a semester and entered my graduating class while his wife continued to graduate the before him. This guy with the upperclassmen wife was in a study group with our class valedictorian and most of the top students in my class. This one study group was fed a substantial number of test questions before every single test we took - courtesy of the flunky guy's upperclassman wife.

It was VERY obvious to the rest of the class that this study group had an unfair advantage due to their advanced knowledge of many test questions throughout all our years of nursing school.

Without naming names I left an anon note in front of the office of one of our instructors stating the unfair advantage one study group had. The instructor took it seriously. She knew who to call into her office without my mentioning it.

Of course our the "highly ethical" class valedictorian and her boyfriend from said study group were absolutely incensed. Poor baby after couldn't handle an even ethical playing field.

The people in said study group figured out it was me who told because I had complained to them on a few occasions over a year's time that I felt it was wrong. They didn't talk to me for the rest of school but I still did not regret doing the right thing.

taalyn_1, CNA · May 11, 2011

Do the right thing, turn in the test to the instructor and stay in school! Those who cheat will pass the class but they wont pass NCLEX (BUT YOU WILL!!)

Rob72, ASN, RN · May 11, 2011

Politics. Scandals endanger accreditation, and may result in faculty being fired. Picking out cheaters also carries the potential of a discrimination suit.

From loooong experience in teaching/University hospitals- determine if you are willing to destroy someone's life (sometimes that is not inappropriate). Get all the documentation you possibly can. When submitting your grievance/claim, make sure that your evidentiary statements are supported by your evidence, and DO NOT make subjective statements. Once your evidence is laid out, THEN make your subjective/experiential statements. Note how this made you feel worthless, depressed, PTSD, trans-gender challenged, whatever. Your position must be unassailable, and largely inarguable. Anything less will get you black-balled.

If you can't stake the vampire's heart, soak him in garlic oil, and bury him in a perpetual fountain of holy water, don't make it a campaign.

Whispera, MSN, RN · May 11, 2011

I'm an instructor and I appreciate it when students alert me to cheating. I don't see everything. When I see it, and/or when they alert me, I watch more carefully and definitely confront the issue.

I have a bit of a different take on what is defined as cheating, however. I see a test as a learning experience, not as just a means to a grade. The questions should be intended to reinforce what the instructor sees as the most valuable information or thought-provocation. They shouldn't be the same questions, in the same order, semester after semester. They should be refined and shuffled, and new things added while old things are removed. I leave copies of my old tests on reserve in the library so students can use them as study guides. If an instructor uses the same test over and over, she is not doing her job.

As for assignments, there are ways of assuring that specific students are doing the work. Signature by an impartial witness on the paper? Observation for sentence structure/word use repetition?

I agree that a student who cheats on assignments and tests probably won't pass NCLEX. Probably, too, somewhere down the line his or her practice will be discovered by an instructor and confronted strongly.

If you report cheating to an instructor, you've done what you can. It's not your responsibility to be the cheating police. It's your job to do the best work you can so you can be a great nurse. Make your mission to be your own personal best. Leave the policing to the school once you've reported it...

Whispera, MSN, RN · May 11, 2011

You wrote: ..."I found a test and 33 pages of all the material we did in community this semester and a copy of one of the tests that we took."

What are these 33 pages? Where'd you find these things? email? on your desk? in the mailbox? Do you know who sent them? How are the 33 pages a problem? I just need some more info here.

Katie5 · May 11, 2011

Are YOU passing the class?

Typical- simply roll over and die because some of your colleagues are unscrupulous.No, do not go back to class, please do not take the exam.

And it is not nice of you to tar all teachers with the same feather.

MissingMyErica · May 11, 2011

Okay, so if you're doing what YOU need to be doing in the class, WHY would you worry more about what other people are doing AND DROP OUT???? That makes no sense to me. You are too upset to study for the final? What? I don't get that. What exactly are you upset about? That people are cheating? So report them and move on. Do YOUR best on YOUR exams and realize that your moral compass is different from others. I feel like there is more to the story than you are letting on. Are you in danger of failing? Why would you give up on what you've worked hard for because other people are cheating? Doesn't make sense to me.

gentlegiver, ASN, LPN, RN · May 11, 2011

I have no clue as to why they allow it. I do know in my class I sat across from the class Valdictorian and watched her as she checked her cheat sheets for each question on the exam. The instructor said she felt bad cause the girl had a family to support and had to pass. Well, guess what!! I was working full time & raising 2 kids on my own too, I didn't cheat and I passed the exam and my NECLX with flying colors! The cheater however flunked her NCLEX and had to take refresher courses to pass the 2nd time.