The human mind has unlimited capacity for finding ways to get around difficult task. The human mind coupled with YouTube may be unstoppable as it works to avoid work. Students are so quick with devices, mechanisms, and modes for cheating that one academic official has already waved the white flag, “We’re not catching them. We’re not even sure what’s going on.†(Greg Toppo, “eCheating: Students Spin a Web of Deceit on Tests,†USA Today, December 16-18, 2011, p 1A)
Here’s a list of the types of stratagems the little darlings in high schools and colleges have developed, with a little help from their YouTube friends, to cheat:
• The students have a program that allows them to print soft-drink labels that, instead of having nutritional and caloric information, have answers, formulas, and other nifty bon mots for exams. The YouTube video shows how to take a picture of a soft drink label and then use photo editing to plug in test information.
• Companies are selling a kit that turns cell phones and iPods into hands-free device that can be used during exams for a hands-free method of getting answers during the exam.
A college consultant says, “This is about the pressure that kids are feeling in school. The pressure to do well, the pressure to get into a good college.â€
Actually, ma’am, it’s about dishonesty. Pressure is a driver, but pressure does not excuse nor justify cheating/thivery. The Barometer imagines that more than a couple of thieves who were under considerable financial pressure. We don’t excuse them from various felonies on the grounds of pressure. Not cheating is easy when’s there little to nothing at stake. The definition of character is not cheating despite the pressure.