- Joined
- Mar 6, 2007
- Messages
- 25
- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 0
- Location
- Ontario Veterinary College
- Veterinary Student
I witnessed two students in my class cheating during our last pathology exam. This is not the first time that I have noticed them sharing answers during exams. Would you report the students that you saw cheating?
i would tell them to cut me in on their scheme....😀
but seriously u need to weigh out the consequences of ratting on them and keeping mum. i suspect if u were to tell on them u may gain a reputation for being a snitch and no one likes a snitch....
I would think veterinary students would be above that.. Otherwise, the outlook of this profession is sad.
i would tell them to cut me in on their scheme....😀
but seriously u need to weigh out the consequences of ratting on them and keeping mum. i suspect if u were to tell on them u may gain a reputation for being a snitch and no one likes a snitch....
Honestly I would rather lose a "friend" who is cheating and uphold the integrity of the veterinary profession than turn a blind eye to such childish antics. After all, if you condone it than you are just as guilty yourself and should be punished as such. IMHO.
Yes, I would report them. At our school it is mandatory to report honor code violations, and it is an honor code violation itself if you fail to report it. Our professors take the honor code very seriously and for most of our exams we are left either in the lecture hall by ourselves or we are able to take the exam in a study room or library. Personally, I love to take my exams in a private study room so that I can stay focused, and we have these options because of the honor code and its enforcement.
An option that we are given is to report violations anonymously. In that case, those that have violations reported against them don't get as drastic a punishment (as they have no way to back up the claims), but they are talked to by the Dean of Student Affairs.
It's not that simple. It's a very serious accusation that's hard to prove in the first place. I think it's a very unenviable position to catch someone flagrantly cheating, and a lot of people would rather mind their own business because of all the trouble it can cause to themselves if they snitch. We already had someone accuse another student of cheating in the middle of an exam, but the professor took no action because her claims could not be corroborated, and the accuser was made to look like she was lying because she was jealous of the alleged cheater's grades. Either story could be true - no one knows, but now both parties have had their reputations tarnished and no action was taken against either student. So I still stand at minding my own business unless it's really out of control.
Depends how bad they were cheating. If they cheat consistently on every exam and I knew they were planning it ahead of time and each studying different parts, I would probably tell student affairs. But, for example, we had a fire alarm go off in the middle of an exam this semester and I heard 2 people talking about answers before they went back in. I minded my own business because it's really their own prerogative if they want to risk getting kicked out of vet school for 1/2 of a point on a midterm (and yes, there were at least 3-4 professors standing outside with us).
Interesting question that's been buzzing around - what do you think is worse: the fire drill cheating I just described or using unprescribed adderall to study for an exam?
First of all, ethical dilemmas such as this should not take into account the damage you may do to your own reputation. As a side note, you shouldn't have to damage your own reputation in order to report the violation.
Second, when exactly do we define the situation as "out of control"? Pretty tough decision, so I think it is probably best to not tolerate any violations. You would hope that your colleagues would just not cheat, but when 100 people get put together, the chances of someone trying are relatively high.
As far as minding your own business, that is not how society works. It is certainly not how professionals should govern themselves. Ultimately, people should be held accountable for their actions by their peers. If we (hopefully me, since I am admittedly still in the application process) can't hold our peers responsible now, then how will we govern our profession in the future?
For example: As a scientist, it is imperative that I can trust the ethics of my colleagues. If they are fabricating or even simply manipulating data, they can seriously alter the course of my work, which is based on their false data. One false report can throw off a whole field and can very easily damage the integrity of ALL of the scientists in that field (in addition to damaging the reputation and integrity of science in general). This may seem like a drastic offshoot from a simple cheating in vet school scenario, but things escalate quickly.
Btw fabricating scientific data and publishing it is miles away from what I'm talking about here.
Maybe it's just me, but I'd rather someone fabricate scientific data and publish it, than cheat on exams just so they can pass and get their license. (Hey, we've all been taught you can't alway believe what you read!) With research, there will always be other people checking the information (and usually the completely bogus stuff is tossed before being published). Sorry, but as a DVM you aren't likely to have people checking your work, so you better know what you're doing.
For example: As a scientist, it is imperative that I can trust the ethics of my colleagues. If they are fabricating or even simply manipulating data, they can seriously alter the course of my work, which is based on their false data. One false report can throw off a whole field and can very easily damage the integrity of ALL of the scientists in that field (in addition to damaging the reputation and integrity of science in general). This may seem like a drastic offshoot from a simple cheating in vet school scenario, but things escalate quickly.
No offense, but have you done research? Or taken a class on research ethics? To a PhD scientist, fabricating scientific data and publishing it is MUCH MUCH worse than a vet student cheating to pass an exam and get their license. An entire lab of a dozen or more people can be fired or their names permanently tarnished by one person falsifying data from a published paper they are associated with, innocent or not. Not only that, when other well-meaning authors cite falsified data in their own papers, it just brings down a lot of innocent people. I'm certainly not saying that cheating on exams is right, but falsified or "cooked" data is arguably more harmful because it affects more people than just one vet. Deceitful as it is, if a future vet or doctor doesn't know the answer to something because they cheated or whatever, they could probably look it up in a textbook or literature review. But who and what writes textbooks and papers? Scientific data, that's what.
Back to the original topic, if you really feel uncomfortable reporting them directly, I would tell the professor that you've noticed some wandering eyes lately.
Yes, I agree that it's wrong and can affect a lot of people, but that's why material is supposed to be peer reviewed before publication (and yes, I realize not all falsified info will be caught) And if it's not peer reviewed, you shouldn't count it as a reliable source...at least that's what every prof I've ever had has said.)
Agreed, Bill59. During grad school, I took a research ethics class and it is very very easy to cook data or call data points outliers and exclude to fit your model, that sort of thing. There was another case of something like 15 papers a year coming out of one lab, until someone finally caught them falsifying data. I also remember the case of the vet research scientist from Korea with the human cloning/stem cell research and falsifying data just a few years ago. Wivet2011, I don't mean to sound adversarial (or bitchy for that matter), but have you done research yourself? It's not difficult to falsify data at all, but it is still more severe in my opinion than cheating on an exam to get your license. In an emergency situation, everyone's going to have an "oh crap! I totally forgot!" moment that can lead to unpleasant outcomes, cheaters or not. But the bedrock of scientific and medical knowledge is research and falsifying the facts has much more outreaching consequences.
But an aderall borrowed from a prescription holder to wake up the brain for an emergency surgery at 3am?

Personally, I would not discriminate between having an aderall prescription and using non-prescription aderall.
once in a while you think about it
Hey let them do what they got to do, really its only a test, you cant just cheat your way through vet school.... once in a while you think about it
Peace to The World
With Animal LOve.....
TuT
Hey let them do what they got to do, really its only a test, you cant just cheat your way through vet school.... once in a while you think about it
Peace to The World
With Animal LOve.....
TuT
The Reply session....wow. i completely disagree.
You may disagree at the moment because of ethics, however if you say you never thought about cheating, well my friend i must call you a fibber...
The reply session
with WhtsThFrequency...who is about to roll her eyes right out of her head at this point.
Thinking about cheating and actually DOING it are two completely different things, and you cannot pretend that they aren't. I don't give a rats behind if you cheat in pre-vet/undergrad. Undergrad is a joke. Most people in college are buffoons anyway. That's your own personal idiotic and ethically lacking decision.
But we are not "college students". We are in a doctoral-level program. This is professional school. This is medical school. You are becoming doctors not getting a rinky-dink GED or something. You don't cheat, period.
well said. i have decided to completely ignore all of kingtut's posts. not worth my time 😀