Comments on: Cheating when you can http://www.intelliot.com/blog/archives/2006/04/14/cheating-when-you-can/ Thoughts, opinions and fascinating discoveries by Elliot, a student at USC Sat, 30 Aug 2008 08:34:30 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.1 By: Luke http://www.intelliot.com/blog/archives/2006/04/14/cheating-when-you-can/#comment-21160 Luke Fri, 14 Apr 2006 21:28:28 +0000 http://www.intelliot.com/blog/archives/2006/04/14/cheating-when-you-can/#comment-21160 The real question is: "Is the work worth the learned material?" If you can't legitimately prove that I'll need whatever it is that you're teaching me then there's no good reason that I should continue to put effort into learning the material. A quick grasp of it is probably good enough for anything I'll ever really need. Now, never doing the homework is probably just dumb...you need to be able to get close enough, but if the quiz takes longer than an hour it's probably not worth it and alternative means to solving it should be found. It's just like doing taxes...the government really doesn't need to know about all those cash transactions... It's the idea of finding a balance of what's really worth it and what's not. Most people of course don't find that balance and go too far down the hole or build a mountain to go over it. Really, sometimes it's just not worth it in the end no matter what educational types say. The real question is: “Is the work worth the learned material?” If you can’t legitimately prove that I’ll need whatever it is that you’re teaching me then there’s no good reason that I should continue to put effort into learning the material. A quick grasp of it is probably good enough for anything I’ll ever really need.

Now, never doing the homework is probably just dumb…you need to be able to get close enough, but if the quiz takes longer than an hour it’s probably not worth it and alternative means to solving it should be found.

It’s just like doing taxes…the government really doesn’t need to know about all those cash transactions…

It’s the idea of finding a balance of what’s really worth it and what’s not. Most people of course don’t find that balance and go too far down the hole or build a mountain to go over it. Really, sometimes it’s just not worth it in the end no matter what educational types say.

]]> By: Michael http://www.intelliot.com/blog/archives/2006/04/14/cheating-when-you-can/#comment-21152 Michael Fri, 14 Apr 2006 15:56:07 +0000 http://www.intelliot.com/blog/archives/2006/04/14/cheating-when-you-can/#comment-21152 Nice analysis. You're starting to face the reality of the "public" man and the ethical questions he faces daily. Without the conviction and integrity of the individual "private" person, society faces the downward slide towards chaos. I'm very proud of you. Grades are only an indicator of how well you learned. If you fix the grade by cheating, you lie about what you've learned. But even more devastating that lying is that you have proven the kind of person you are. Nice analysis. You’re starting to face the reality of the “public” man and the ethical questions he faces daily. Without the conviction and integrity of the individual “private” person, society faces the downward slide towards chaos.

I’m very proud of you. Grades are only an indicator of how well you learned. If you fix the grade by cheating, you lie about what you’ve learned. But even more devastating that lying is that you have proven the kind of person you are.

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