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Cheating with iPods
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| Wednesday, May 23rd, 2007 | Kristen DiPaolo | CWK Producer |
“It is kind of obvious, but teachers don’t really notice. They just think you are listening to music.”
– Danny Ryan, 16
Students today seem to be one step ahead of teachers and school administrators with regard to the “technology war.” Many schools have now banned cell phones at school, in part because some students were using them to cheat during tests.
But some cheaters have found a new hi-tech weapon – the iPod.
“[Students] will be looking at the test, and they will just have their iPod on their desk, and they will be scrolling down the information on it,” says 16-year-old Danny Ryan.
Because the latest iPods display word documents, some students will download cheat sheets.
“I know somebody who does it all the time, and he hasn’t gotten caught yet,” says Carlton O’Shea, 18.
Other kids will speak the answers into their iPods while studying, then play them back during a test.
“It is kind of obvious, but teachers don’t really notice. They just think you are listening to music,” says Ryan.
“Except for maybe the young teachers, I don’t think the older teachers know much about iPods or any new technology,” adds Joie Johnston, 16.
According to the Josephson Institute of Ethics, 60 percent of kids admit to cheating on tests. More than 60 percent say they have copied someone else’s homework.
“I’ve never done my homework assignment this year -- not once. It’s a true story,” says 17-year-old Gordon Brown.
Cheating with an iPod may be growing, but it’s not widespread -- yet. One reason is because not everyone has the latest iPod features. Secondly, cheating takes work.
Nick Lopresti, 18, says it’s just too much trouble. “If you are going to be wasting your time finding out how to get answers on an iPod, you might as well just study.”
Blake Whitener, 16, says there are easier ways to cheat. “I’d rather just go in and copy off of someone else.”
Experts say parents should make sure their kids understand that cheating has consequences.
For example, says 18-year-old Marquis Reese, “I heard of some kid who was taking the SATs and his sister recently passed it. She texted him the answers or something, and he got expelled.”
Amber Rany, 16, says the biggest deterrent is her own conscious. “It makes you feel guilty. It makes me feel guilty when I cheat.”
What We Need To Know
- Just because cheating is easy and often prevalent does not make it right. Make it clear to your children that cheating is ethically wrong. (Hal Thorsrud, Ph.D., philosophy)
- Instill good values in your children. When teens are on their own in the world and away from parents, that’s when they do most of their mischief, including cheating, lying, shoplifting, etc. Make sure your children can supervise their own conscience, and that they have a proper internal sense of justice. (Tim Jordan, MD, behavioral pediatrician)
- When your children make mistakes, be calm and ask questions. How did you feel when you made that decision? Why do you think it didn’t feel good? When did it start not feeling good? Why did you ignore that feeling? How do you feel now that you ignored it? (Tim Jordan, MD, behavioral pediatrician)
Resources
- “Turn It In” Plagiarism Prevention Program
- Josephson Institute of Ethics
- National Education Association
