You see a student next to you cheating on an exam.

Vous voyez un étudiant à côté de vous tricher à un examen.

  • Confront them after the exam.
  • Depending on how badly they were cheating I would either inform a proctor afterward or ignore it
  • I do nothing, but I think that they shouldn't do that.
  • Ignore.
  • I just keep taking my test
  • I probably would just ignore the student.
  • I say nothing.
  • I tell classmates and then maybe the professor.
  • I tell the professor after the exam.
  • I would consider informing an instructor once I had finished, but I would likely do nothing.
  • I would do nothing.
  • I would let the professor know later in a private setting.
  • I wouldn't say anything.
  • I would probably just ignore it and mind my own business.
  • I would probably not report it because I don't want to focus on other people more than on myself as I take the test.
  • I would think much less of them after seeing them cheating, but I would probably not speak up about it.
  • nothing
  • probably say nothing
  • Report it privately after the exam
  • This is not my business.
  • .
  • c'est clairement sont problème
  • C'est son problème, je ne m'en mêle pas
  • c'est son problème, tant pis pour lui
  • C'est son problème.
  • Cela ne me regarde pas sauf si il le fait sur moi.
  • Ce n’est pas mon problème
  • j'applique la loi du silence
  • je le laisse faire
  • Je ne dis rien mais je n'en pense pas moins
  • je ne fais pas attention aux autres
  • Je ne fais rien
  • je ne fais rien
  • Je ne fais rien
  • Je ne fais rien même si je n'apprécie pas cet étudiant.
  • Je ne m'en préoccuperais pas.
  • Je ne me préoccupe pas de ce que font les autres.
  • Je reste concentré sur ma copie.
  • je vais rien faire
  • L’union fait la force

Discussion

Fort heureusement, la tricherie est quelque chose de mal vue du côté américain comme du côté français. De plus la réaction des étudiants semble être la même lorsqu’ils sont confrontés à ce type de situation, c’est à dire l’ignorer et rester concentré sur son travail.

On remarque que du côté des étudiants de l’ENSEIRB, les élèves considèrent que ce problème ne les concernent pas et décident de ne pas s’en mêler. On retrouve la même réaction dans certaines réponses des étudiants de MIT, mais certains d’entre eux décident quand même d’avertir le professeur, mais en privé après l’examen. Est-ce important selon vous de dénoncer un tel acte ? Est-ce pour protéger celui qui se fait copier ou plutôt un moyen de punir celui qui copie ?

I agree with Julien that the the majority of both MIT and ENSEIRB students would ignore another student cheating, but there are some at MIT who would tell the instructor and judge the cheating student for their actions. Perhaps what explains the difference is the last comment on the ENSEIRB side, “L’union fait la force.” Unity seems to be a central thread for the ENSEIRB students, but not as much for the MIT students. As we have established, individualism is highly valued in the U. S., so if someone sees another student cheating, they might see this as a threat to their individualism because the cheating student is gaining an unfair advantage to succeed.
To answer Julien’s question about why some decide to tell a professor, I think the motivation might be different for each person. If I had to predict what the motivation usually is, I would say it’s to make sure that everyone in the class is getting a fair chance in the test setting. Perhaps this is a naive way to think, I’m not sure. On the ENSEIRB side, there doesn’t seem to be any notion of confronting the person cheating or telling someone. How would your peers react if you reported cheating?

I would agree with Julia that it is very interesting to see how no one in the ENSEIRB side would tell the professer or really mention it at all. I think that the idea of unity is a very valid point which relates all the way back to the “individualism” discussion. I also think that on the MIT side many people wrote what they think they should say rather than what they may actually do. I think this is a common trend on all of the prompts this time which I think is very interesting and may mean that even less people would actually say anything to a professor.

I think the discussion raises some interesting points. Many MIT students would inform a professor of cheating, despite the fact that it won’t directly benefit them. In some cases, this might be due to a personal code of ethics, but it may also just be about ensuring that other students do not do better. Regardless, it is clear that plenty of MIT students find that another student cheating affects them, either morally or academically. ENSEIRB students, do you feel that letting a student cheat has a negative effect on you? If so, is there a reason why you would still allow it?

I think the difference in the reactions of both sides stems from the difference of students’ upbringings. In the U. S., there’s a formalized notion of “honor code” and people follow it because breaking the honor code has severe consequences, such as getting kicked out of school/college, getting the incident recorded on your educational record, etc. Even though we’re all are told that cheating is bad and we shouldn’t do it, I don’t think France or other countries have such a formalized way of enforcing it. For example, in Turkey if someone gets caught cheating by the proctor, they’d probably just get a zero on the exam or some minor punishment, nothing too serious. Also, no classmate would report you to the professor because they would be labeled as the ‘snitch’ (mouchard). I wonder French also has a similar view of peopling reporting someone else cheating. Also it’s funny to see that someone thinks “l’union fait la force” in the sense that everyone will get better grades if they cheat together. This kind of alludes to the notion of ‘fraternité’.

In response to Julien, I agree that many students would ignore a student cheating, but MIT students may be more likely to report this to a professor. I agree with Julia that the motivation is likely to be different for every individual, but I think it is rarely in order to protect the person who has been copied from. I think most people in the US who would report someone do so because they feel that it isn’t fair that someone in the class had an unfair advantage, and that cheating is morally wrong. In addition, some students may feel that the cheating affects them, if enough people do it that it changes the curve for a class.

I’m interested to know - many of the French students said that they would do nothing. Even though you would do nothing, would you still respect the student that cheated, or would you think less of them?

From the responses to the previous questionnaires, it is evident that French culture values politeness and etiquette greatly. I wonder if the idea of minding one’s own business is considered the more polite and socially acceptable way of handling a situation in France, rather than stirring up more trouble by reporting.
Regarding Julia’s comment about unity, one would think that, with the concept of unity in mind, more ENSEIRB students would report the cheating as cheating negatively affects everyone. From my experiences attending school in China, in which the idea of unity and community are actively stressed, reporting any instance of cheating or unfairness is highly encouraged as a means of punishing those who may threaten the overall image and wellbeing of the group. Thus, minding one’s own business seems like it would be more of an American thing, in which privacy and individuality are more emphasized.

To also answer Julien’s question, I think when people report cheating, it is more to punish the person who copied than to protect them. Some people want to make sure that others don’t have “the upper hand” or an unfair advantage as some other people also said. They might also be worried that the cheating could have a negative impact on their own grades. Do l’ENSEIRB students think that someone else cheating affects them in any way?

I agree with Julia that students in the U. S. may report cheating because they see it as gaining an unfair advantage, but I think that at MIT, we have a strong culture of collaboration and understand that not one person will have all the answers. While I was not especially surprised by the number of people on the MIT side who said they would tell a professor, I could also see it being even fewer because at a young age, we were conditioned to see being a ‘tattletale’ as a bad thing by our peers. Is there a word like ‘tattletale’ in French, and, if so, does it have the same negative connotation?

I was in a class once where a large number of people weren’t exactly cheating, but due to mistakes on the professor’s part had seen all the exam questions and solutions without the knowledge of the professor. Not everyone had seen them. This has probably colored my opinion of the issue, because in this instance the problem was widespread enough to likely change the grading curve – the exam’s distribution basically had two peaks. In such situations, someone else cheating does become my problem – it’ll directly affect my grade. I wouldn’t think less of someone for cheating, and I probably wouldn’t name names, but I would tell the professor I thought cheating had occurred. Is it common to grade on a curve in France, or are grade cutoffs determined ahead of time? That might be why so many ENSEIRB students didn’t feel cheating affected them.

I like the point that Emma brought up about grading curves. Grading on a curve is very common in the U. S., such that some percentage of the class will get an A, B, etc. Thus, another student doing better means that you do worse, after the grades have been curved. I would be curious to know if this is a common occurrence in French universities. If so, would you not be upset if you knew someone was lowering your grade dishonestly? I think this is part of why MIT students have such a serious reaction.

Going off of Emma and Collin’s observations, I think grading on a curve makes students more competitive. Although I do think the primary reason is the honor systems, competition could motivate some students to report cheating.

Je suis d’accord avec Pierre mais on remarque cependant que certains élèves du MIT dénonceront l’acte qui est de tricher, ils iront le signaler soit à un profresseur/surveilleur soit le signaler directement à la personne concernée pour le confronter.
Alors que les élèves de l’Enseirb Matmeca sont majoritairement dans une attitude d’ignorance.

It was interesting to note that some ENSEIRB students said that it’s someone else’s problem and so I think Emma’s explanation is valid in explaining why, at least at MIT, it could be our problem as well. Like Emma and Collin, I’d also be curious to know if French tests were graded off of a curve or not.

I think what Julia mentioned is very interesting and true in the case of MIT students, that because we highly value individualism, we see cheating as an invasion of the individualism of the person the cheater is cheating from. While I would most likely not report anything, if I were to it would be for the person who the cheater was cheating from because it is an invasion of intellectual property and very unfair to them, in my opinion. How do the ENSEIRB students feel towards the student who is being copied off from versus the student who is cheating? Maybe the differences in how we view these players in the situation influences the ways in which we respond to it?

I’m also curious to know whether people’s responses would be impacted by the “type” of cheating. For example, Julien mentioned protecting either the person who has been copied off of or punishing the cheater - but when I imagine cheating on tests, and cheating at MIT, I think copying rarely comes to my mind. I imagined people gaining access to the tests, or illicitly using their notes or something of that manner. Would the type of cheating, and how widespread it is change people’s responses?

Pour repondre au premier commentaire de Wendy, je ne pense pas que je jugerais quelqu’un qui tricherait. Certes, sur le moment, son acte pourrait en pénaliser certains, mais dans le futur, le seul à être pénalisé sera lui même. Il sera dans l’incapacité d’exercer certains acquis qu’il aurait eu s’il avait été sérieu dans son passé.
Le dénoncer s’il triche n’arrangerait pas la situation car, cela ne m’apporterait rien personnellement. De plus, il verrait ça comme une sanction et pas comme une aide. Je pense que la meilleure solution serait de discuter avec la personne concernée, et de lui expliquer qu’agir de la sorte pourrait avoir de mauvaises conséquences pour son bien être dans le futur. Le message serait de cette manière mieux intégré de sa part selon moi.

Encore heureux que la responsabilité individuelle existe, pour ma part si quelqu’un prend la décision de tricher, ça ne me regarde pas car je pense qu’un jour ou l’autre cette décision lui sera fatale.

Je pense que la raison pour laquelle aucun étudiant de l’ENSEIRB ne désigne le tricheur c’est parce que dans notre école les résultats qu’obtiennent les autres n’ont aucune répercussion sur le résultats des autres. De plus, prendre la décision est aussi un risque.

Il est vrai que en soi, la responsabilité de tricher revient au tricheur et c’est lui qui s’expose en commettant cette fraude même si le dénoncer pourrait lui rendre service. Je le laisserais faire et tant pis pour lui.