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From: adm@cbneb.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.flame
Subject: Re: Some rather disturbing figures
Message-ID: <1343@cbneb.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 20-Sep-84 11:24:11 EDT
Article-I.D.: cbneb.1343
Posted: Thu Sep 20 11:24:11 1984
Date-Received: Tue, 25-Sep-84 07:14:53 EDT
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Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories, Columbus, OHIO
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Nf-From: cbnap!cmv    Sep 20 10:16:00 1984

reprinted from Mr. Moriarty's article...

/* ---------- */
Only %40 of the students polled thought cheating was wrong in courses; nearly
20% thought it was neccesary to get through courses, and get high college
entrance marks!!

I find this very frightening; not only from the standpoint of a devaluation
of the principle of getting an *education* from school, but from the kind of
student one is going to find on the job market, eventually.  I don't know
about you, but I don't want to hire somebody who had to copy answers from
his friend's project to pass Operating Systems Theory!
/* ---------- */

This is frightening from the point of view that school educations *give* you
the knowledge to work in the real world and that if you can't/don't pass
the tests the instructor gives you in your Operating Systems class, then you
don't have the knowledge to work with Operating Systems.

I disagree that this view is correct. In fact, I know of a lot of people that
don't/can't do well on tests that teachers give out, yet have "learned" a lot
of the stuff presented in the class. The reason I think, those interviewed think
that way is because learning and passing tests are 2 distinct aspects of 
"schooling" that one needs to be proficient at to do well in school. Some
people think it's more important to "learn" than to "pass tests". Combine this
with the high emphasis this society puts on grades, and the way some courses
are taught and this becomes frightening with respect to the school system and
not the kids ideals.

Short Story for those interested:

Taking a freshman physics course at Purdue, I recieved 35% on the first test.
When the curve for this exam was posted, this turned out to be a "C". This
was typical of many tests for that course not only for our group of freshman,
but it had been true for years before I got there, and not only for that
course, but others as well (although somewhat less dramatic). I've also talked
with other students from other schools and this, by no means, is limited to
Purdue but is an affliction that hits many school (most of them I hear about
are big name schools, but that could be just because they are more visible).
In my mind, their is no excuse for this. No matter what can be said about the
students not working hard enough (etc.) with scores this dramatic some blame
*must* be put on the administration. Is it that the kids aren't learning the
material, or are the tests bad? Hard to tell I guess, but in a situation such
as that, I would feel the same way about cheating as those interviewed did!

		Sometimes I'm just clearing my throat...


                Craig Votava
                AT&T Bell Laboratories, Columbus

                ...ihnp4!cbnap!cmv