My son wants to live in another country because he says corruption is endemic here,” says Ron (not his real name). “We want him to work in our family business but he says he wants to be in New Zealand where the system works. We cannot stop him. Why are we so prone to corruption? You teach in college, so what do you tell your students about this?”
My reply:
Societal corruption is not something I discuss in class, though students bring up the issue, usually in a resigned or indignant way. But we take the time to discuss the college equivalent of corruption, which is cheating.
What I tell my students is that if they cheat during exams, they cheat themselves and also their parents who are working hard to ensure that they have a good education. Character is doing the right thing even if no one is looking, I add.
BUSINESS
BUSINESS
BUSINESS
Majority of them will never cheat, I say, but the few who do make it harder for everyone, since teachers have to more strongly counteract those who try to game the system.
I also don’t make it easy for students to cheat. In online learning, routine quizzes for easily-cribbed answers are minimized in favor of oral exams through Zoom.
