Harvard, cheating, and homework policy

There is an interesting article on Valerie Strauss’ Washington Post education blog about cheating at Harvard. The article highlights the fact that cheating is commonplace at Harvard University and that most students have cheated at least once during their college careers. Let’s look at the roots of cheating.

Why do we go to school? To learn? To perform? The more we focus on learning, the less likely we are to have cheating. Who are you cheating but yourself if your goal is to learn? If I want to become a proficient golfer, improving the lie of my ball may make me feel better but does not teach me to golf. If I don’t care about proficiency but have some other reason that I go out on the course (say, I’m a businessman whose goal is to make a sale, not play golf well), then I might improve my lie just to keep the game going.

If I think back to my college education, the one time I recall cheating in a way was on my fourth semester Spanish final exam. As well as I’ve done in school over the years, Spanish was a hurdle, not a subject I wanted to learn. I have always been particularly impaired learning foreign languages and I had to pass that course to earn my college degree. I was a math major in my undergraduate years. There was no way I would ever cheat in math.  It was where I excelled. I later switched to psychology, not quite as natural for me to learn, but my goal was still to acquire skills, not to earn the best grade. Cheating had no place for me.

In the early years, we actually teach children to cheat by putting them in positions where the stakes are high. We shame them for not doing well. And even more importantly, we shame their parents for their lack of measurable success.

Homework adds to this process in a large way. We put parents in an untenable position sending home mounds of homework and meting out large consequences for the work that does not get done. We read advice columns in every paper telling parents not to do the work for their children. But, what does a parent do when homework is dominating the house, the assignments don’t make sense, and the parent is afraid that the child will fail? Eventually, that otherwise moral parent does some or all of the work for the child.  

I don’t know that we’ll eradicate cheating once and for all, but we can certainly contribute to a more honest society by keeping the focus on learning, not just test performance. We can teach people to use good judgment when faced with difficult situations, and start that at home by supporting parents with reasonable homework rules. We want parents modeling the use of good judgment, not acting out of desperation because of demands they cannot control.

SPECIAL OFFER: THE HOMEWORK TRAP CAN BE DOWNLOADED FOR FREE, FROM SEPTEMBER 4 THROUGH SEPTEMBER 7 ON YOUR KINDLE. IF YOU HAVE A KINDLE, PLEASE TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS SPECIAL OFFER. PLEASE INFORM THE PRINCIPAL OF YOUR CHILD'S SCHOOL ABOUT THIS OFFER.


Visit The Homewor Trap website

Dr. Kenneth Goldberg, is the author of The Homework Trap: How to Save the Sanity of Parents, Teachers, and Students, published by Wyndmoor Press.