Bringing cheating to an end

 

Dear Parents,

 

            I want to inform you of a problem that as been becoming increasingly more serious over the course of the past year and to ask for your cooperation in bringing it to an end.  This issue is cheating.  Many teachers at Bishop Carroll have become very concerned about the immense amount of cheating that seems to be taking place in the halls of BCCHS.   It seems that while many students consider cheating on tests to be wrong they unfortunately consider sharing answers on homework not to be as serious or even justifiable.   It seems that an attitude of justification exists among students in which many students do not see, or ignore, the seriousness of this activity.  This mindset must come to an end.  Teachers make many efforts to address cheating and impose strong penalties when they catch students engaging in this behavior.  However, most cheating happens where teachers are unable to monitor students.  Thus the only way to bring cheating to an end is to educate our children on its seriousness and encourage them to have the honesty and integrity to do their schoolwork on their own.

            Morally speaking it must be clear to our children that cheating is a sinful activity.   The eighth commandment reminds us not to “bear false witness”.  This commandment is concerned with truth and integrity in relation to our neighbor.  It should be obvious that cheating is a form of false witness, of lying and of deception.  Students who engage in cheating are presenting a false image of themselves that is intended to deceive the teacher.  This leads the teacher to believe that they understand material of which, in fact, they have little or no understanding. 

Cheating is an issue of character.  Why?  Cheating has to do with honesty and integrity in dealing with others.   It also has to do with the self-respect that is necessary to be true to yourself as well as to your neighbor.   What good is it to get a good grade if a student in fact is still ignorant of the subject?  It is a counterfeit grade that carries only the memory of a lie.

Cheating is also an issue of conscience.  Cheating can only occur if a student convinces him/herself that it is not too serious or that certain circumstances “justify” cheating.  Thus one’s conscience must necessarily be weakened in order to cheat.  If our students train their consciences in this manner now then that is the same way they will treat college and risk entering the working world at serious disadvantage.

Cheating is likewise an issue of trust.  The more cheating increases, the less a teacher is able to trust the student and the less a teacher is able gauge what a student may or may not understand.  If trust between the teacher and student becomes damaged then this relationship becomes characterized by skepticism and doubt and threatens the joy of education.

Ultimately speaking the only person being hurt by cheating is the student him/herself.  He/she remains ignorant of a subject and does not adequately learn fundamental concepts.  Consequently he/she is unable to understand more complex concepts as the class progresses.  This ultimately leads to frustration and personal failure. 

            In a homily I gave at an all school Mass I told the students that the only people who are responsible for the culture that exists at BCCHS are the students themselves.  We need to ask our children: have we developed a culture that accepts cheating?  Is this the culture we want?  How many of us get angry when politicians, authority figures or businessmen lie, cheat or bear false witness?  Are we not being hypocritical if we get angry with them but consider our own cheating on homework or tests as justifiable?  Are we not also bearing false witness?  Isn’t this the beginning of a road going in the wrong direction?

            Part of the mission of BCCHS is to form students as stewards of God’s gifts.  By cheating, our children are not using their own gifts and thus they are not being good stewards of the intelligence God has given them.  Cheating directly undermines this part of our formation.  Education is the primary purpose for BCCHS and it takes priority over all other activities except God and family.  Students must arrange their time and activity in such a way that it does not interfere with the successful completion of homework.  Much cheating can be avoided if we encourage our children to avoid procrastination as well as over-scheduling so that they have adequate time to thoroughly complete their homework and to learn the concepts being taught. 

Please monitor your children’s homework.  If they are not spending some time at home doing their homework then when, where and how are they getting it done?  If it is primarily being done at school then it is safe to bet that they are not spending adequate time or effort on their homework and the pressure to cheat greatly increases. 

As the year is coming to a close many students are becoming lax in homework and inattentive in the classroom.  Even though there are only a few weeks before summer break there is much more homework and many tests left to be done.  Please encourage your students to increase their efforts and improve their attitude at school.  Let us all work together to bring cheating to an end at BCCHS and to encourage our students to be true stewards of God’s gifts.

 Sincerely in Christ,

 

Rev. Christopher Jarrod  Lies

Chaplain, BCCHS

 

Parenting Generation Wh[Y]?

The final session of parenting Generation Wh[Y] will be held on April 26th, at 7:00pm in the BCCHS auditorium.  We will begin with Mass and conclude our discussion of the characteristics of the current generation of High School students.  We will also be showing the previous “Parenting Generation Wh[Y]?” session on video beginning at 6:00pm for those who were unable to attend.  Please consider joining us.