Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Cheaters Never Prosper

I took a test today. So did the rest of my math class. I did it without a calculator. I received a good grade on it. Most people received a good score for it. Unfortunately, not everyone who received a good score did it honestly.

I did my test, took it up to have it graded, and noticed something while I was up at the front. Not something I expected. Something I most certainly was going to investigate.

After I caught a glimpse of - what shall we name her? Ann sounds good- Ann cheating, I questioned myself. Ann likes to text message while she is in class. Even though she has been told to keep her phone off and put away. But anyway, surely Ann was texting instead of using the calc on her phone to do the math test. I watched her. Next question on the test. Punch some numbers into her phone/calc, which was hidden in her lap under the desk. Look at paper. Punch in more numbers. Write something on paper. Move on to the next question. Hmmmm, kinda hard to convince myself she isn't cheating.

I lean over to the chicka next to me. "Watch her a minute, and let me know if you see anything suspicious, will ya?" Chicka next to me gave me a questioning look, but nodded her head. A moment later, I heard Chicka next to me gasp. I looked at her and our eyes met. She didn't look happy.

I didn't want to make a scene, so I waited. I was planning on waiting until everyone was finished and left the classroom. As I sat there patiently waiting, I noticed Chicka behind me was staring at me. I calmly walk to Chicka behind me. We have a short- and quiet- discussions. After a few moments, she gave me the same look of shock and then anger I had received from Chicka next to me. I nodded and went back to my seat.

In order to occupy myself and look busy, I began going through my purse. Breath mints, keys, camera, pens, reading book. . . Wait a second- camera? Yes, I had my digital camera. What an interesting moment to have a camera. I turned the flash off, and snapped a picture of the floor. Nope, no flash. I waited for the opportune moment, stood up, snapped a non-flashing picture, and sat down. The only person that even noticed was Chicka behind me.

After Ann had her test graded and left the classroom, I went up to Mr Teacher. I asked Mr Teacher "Are we allowed to use a calculator on the test?" "No, of course not." "So what happens if one of your students is caught using a calculator on the test?" "Well, their test would be null." I nodded, and pulled out my camera. I showed him the picture of Ann with her phone/calc. He wasn't happy about having his favorite student caught cheating- and right in front of him, too. In his shocked state, he mumbled out "I'll talk to her." I picked up my belongings and headed out. He called to me "Thanks Marie." "Your welcome."

As I was leaving, I noticed the guy that sits behind Ann outside the classroom. No doubt he heard what was mentioned. And leaving the building, there was Ann, who heard me talking to Chicka behind me on the way out the door. And she wasn't smiling anymore.

I'm not sure what will happen here. I don't know if anything is even going to be done about it. I do know, however, that there will now be great animosity between me and Ann. She didn't like me before this. But I will tell you this. I didn't work my butt off to earn 100% on that test, just to watch someone else cheat their way out of it. I have million reasons why. But I only need one.

Cheaters never prosper. Not in my presence.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think you did the right thing. It's not fair to you or others in the class for that one person to get away with cheating.

If she is mad at you, don't take it personally. She really should be mad at herself. She's cheating herself by not learning the math.

*Marie* said...

One thing I didn't include above, was how ticked I am that her own friends didn't even say anything. Two of them knew about it- they were sitting right next to her. I didn't think to watch them to see if they were cheating too. I will next time. I'm not out to get anybody in trouble. But I'll be darned if I'm going to let this go on around me.

Veloxe said...

If you are going to cheat, at least do it right and don't get caught. Sheez. Kids these days, don't know nothing about anything!

Seriously though, that is epic win. Technology used to fight technology used for an evil purpose! It's like Robocop, cept in math class!

...

RoboTaru!

Anonymous said...

Well, she is going to be mad at you, but whatever. It's her loss for being a bimbo. Is that mean? I was actually shocked at the camera thing. that takes guts! Way awesome though. This was a good read!