[nfb-talk] cheating for students in junior/high schoolsandincollege?

[Michael Bullis]

This is a fascinating subject.  We were just talking in a seminar at BISM
today about the industrious ways all of us found to cheat.

Hidden notes, listening to the tone of voice, getting to deliver answers
orally for what should have been written assignments.  One fellow had a
permanent hall pass (because he was blind) and would leave campus whenever
he wanted to go hang out with the guys.  

"My Braillenote broke and I can't get my assignment in until tomorrow--or
next week."  The temptations were amazing.  Everyone "understood" when my
assignments were delivered differently than others, or late.  At the time it
didn't dawn on me that I was only cheating myself.  It took a few years for
that to sink in.  

I don't know how tests are administered these days by the FCC, but twenty
years ago when I passed my last test for the General class ham license, the
gal reading the questions really knew the answers and it showed in her
voice.  It happened that I also knew the answers, but, it did help me relax
a lot about my ability to pass the test.

None of us like tests and most of us put off homework.  The thing for us as
blind people is that we had a built-in excuse for doing it.  The thing we
don't get at the time is that when our peers see us getting away with things
they couldn't get away with they think, "He's less capable than I am so it's
ok."  
They don't think of us as normal people with a disability we've overcome.
They see us as a less capable person who needs lots of help.  It isn't a
view of us that's likely to develop meaningful friendships.  We find that we
sit in the cafeteria by ourselves because we're perceived as not quite
normal.

I'm not suggesting in any way that blind folks are bigger cheaters than
sighted folk.  I suspect human nature is pretty randomly distributed.  What
I am suggesting though, is that if everybody around you makes it easy and
comfortable to take the easy way out, do less than others, take more time,
Etc., the likelihood is that you'll do some of it.  In many cases we begin
to believe the lie we're telling ourselves and say, "I really am slower and
really didn't want to do my homework last night, Etc.  So, what starts out
innocently as "taking the easy way out", becomes a habit and then for some,
a lifestyle.

Mike Bullis
   

-----Original Message-----
From: nfb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nfb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Josh
Sent: Wednesday, December 13, 2006 7:38 PM
To: NFB Talk Mailing List
Cc: LuAnn Kennedy
Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] cheating for students in junior/high
schoolsandincollege?

I was taught right from wrong. But you wana know why I cheated? Because my
parents always expected me to get straight A's and maybe B's for grades. C's
and below were not acceptable. So I put my mind to work and came up with
ways to cheat.

Josh

----- Original Message -----
From: "Judy Jones" <nfbwatac at earthlink.net>
To: "NFB Talk Mailing List" <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Wednesday, December 13, 2006 6:54 PM
Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] cheating for students in junior/high schools
andincollege?


> Hi, Brandon,
>
> This is an interesting, and scary subject for us as parents to think 
> about, and trends today show that cheating is not only on the rise, 
> but many kids believe they have to in order to get ahead, that cutting 
> corners is okay.
>
> Plus, with all the info on the internet, plus text availability on 
> cell phones, information is almost too available.
>
> I believe any person, blind or sighted, can find a loophole somewhere, 
> or justify in their own minds why cheat, even if calling it by other 
> names makes the act not feel so bad.
>
> That's why it's so imperative to teach values--absolutes such as right 
> from wrong, high standards etc.
>
> Judy Jones
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Brandon McGinty" <brandon.mcginty at gmail.com>
> To: "NFB Talk Mailing List" <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Tuesday, December 12, 2006 5:29 PM
> Subject: [nfb-talk] cheating for students in junior/high schools and 
> incollege?
>
>
>> Hi All,
>> I'm new on the list.
>> I am writing a paper on cheating in school, and how the methods and 
>> level of difficulties differ from blind vs. sighted students.
>> For instance, how easy is it for a blind student to cheat on a test, 
>> with the loopholes he or she is given (taking the test home, due to 
>> time constraints, is one example.) Also, what should be done with a 
>> cheater once he or she is caught?
>> A talk, detension, suspension?
>> I'd love to here your thoughts, posative and negative.
>>
>>
>> Thanks Much,
>> Brandon McGinty
>>
>>
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>
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