If charged the student in question, whose name is being withheld in the media, may face jail time for up to 3 years and the equivalent of $6,000 in fines. The charge is obstructing business through fraud since he used his cell phone to post questions onto the internet during his exam under a fake alias name and people posted answers in response throughout the day during his test period.
After this case was reported, police investigated and determined that he had done the same for 3 other exams he took earlier in the month. Even if he is charged, and it has been reported as being unlikely, he could easily apply to other school and do the same thing since most universities don’t check students’ criminal records.
Okay, we all know how difficult college entrance exams and standardized tests are but how strict should the punishment for violating these rules be? Does the punishment fit the crime?
How this case will end is still unknown but it has raised various concerns, especially prominent is the question of whether universities are keeping up with the rapid transit of information available handily through modern technology. Many question whether top universities have adapted to the new opportunities for cheating and the availability of the internet and what schools plan to do to avert this problem in the future.
If this student is found to have cheated, the universities will disqualify him, they’ve said. Also, in response to this other universities have been beefing up their security measures and supervision.
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Jail time for cheating? Way way to harsh, he should be disqualified for a period of time and be allowed to try again later. No one should have their future stripped from them without a chance at redemption
ReplyDeleteSmartphones have definitely made cheating on tests a lot easier. I doubt universities will be able to control students' use of them... either way cheating is going to become a much more serious problem with how easy all this new technology makes it.
ReplyDeleteI had a student try to convince me to let him leave headphones in during a quiz. (Sorry--not gonna happen...) This is more extreme by far, though.
ReplyDeleteSimilar issues have been faced by secure government facilities, where taking pictures with phones can pretty easily compromise confidential data (whether intentional or unintentional).