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E-mailFiras Mohammad Ali
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Recently, there have been a series of discussions at the University of Damascus about the phenomenon of students cheating on exams. New rules and methods have been put in place by the administrators of the university to prevent this widespread cheating. Yet the new measures taken by the school have little chance of success if they are not in some way supported by the student body.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Recently, there have been a series of discussions at the University of Damascus about the phenomenon of students cheating on exams. New rules and methods have been put in place by the administrators of the university to prevent this widespread cheating. Yet the new measures taken by the school have little chance of success if they are not in some way supported by the student body.
In order to discover how students at the University of Damascus feel about cheating on exams, we conducted a simple questionnaire on the subject. Students were asked to respond to the question “Do you support cheating in the exams?” by checking a box beside the words yes or no. They were then invited to write comments below the box.
This questionnaire was delivered to 420 male and female students from the University. The students came from five different departments: 150 were students of the Faculty of Literature, 100 came from the Faculties of Medicine and Pharmacy, 100 from the Faculty of Education, 50 from the Faculty of Law and Sharia and 20 from the Faculty of Economics. Of the students surveyed, a total of 83% (349 students) responded positively to the statement that they supported cheating. Interestingly, there was a distinct gender difference in responses, with 280 male students (92% of male respondents) answering positively and only 69 female students (59% of female respondents) answering positively.
Many students chose to add comments, feeling the need to justify their support for cheating. They cited the system as unfair. Nonetheless, their comments revealed a deep discomfort with the practice.
Hasan M., a second year English language student, had one of the strongest comments in support of cheating. “I am for cheating in the exams as long as our education system and curricula are complicated and not understandable in any way. As long as some professors ask infeasible questions, students will inevitably resort to cheating. And as long as most students are working and do not have enough time to study, they will resort to cheat.” Su’ad H., a student in the Faculty of Journalism and Media, echoed Hasan with enthusiasm. “Regardless of the other views that exist, I’m for cheating in exams. The right is on the student’s side, and no one can deny that!”
Others agree with Hasan, but demonstrated a greater awareness of the negative aspects of cheating than Su’ad. Some worried about the cyclical nature of a curricula that encourages cheating. “A student who is accustomed to fraud and corruption will probably obtain a PhD and become a professor at the University,” Daoud K. explained. “He will exercise control over his students and forget that he became a professor by cheating. And so only rogues and other cheaters will graduate from his class.”
Hussam A., a student in the Faculty of Economics, supported the idea of cheating but worried that students had forgotten about learning in their quest for good grades. “The sad thing is that the goal of the students who cheat in the exams is to get good marks. This means that they are no longer interested in understanding whatever they are studying. I know some electrical engineers who obtained their degrees by cheating, and they do not even know how to install a primary power point!”
We followed up the short questionnaire with some students, asking them about whether they themselves had cheated, or if they had seen other students cheating. Even though most students had asserted that they supported cheating, few were willing to admit to it openly. Shaheen D., in the Faculty of Education, told us, “Frankly, in the last semester, I did not need to cheat because I only had three subjects, and I was able to succeed in the exams by studying.” Usama I., a student of the English language, admitted that he has cheated, on occasion. “Sometimes I try to cheat in some subjects, especially if the questions are difficult. I am confident that the biggest cheater at the college is the one who usually gets the best marks, while the shy student who doesn’t have light and fast hands is the one with the lowest marks. As for the reasons to cheat … I think the student is often drive by injustice, which pushes him to revenge.” Yet Usama was quick to add, “of course I do not excuse fraud.”
The 17% of students who disapproved of cheating offered arguments against the practice. The best argument was made by Asala T., in the Faculty of Geography. “Cheating is cheating,” Asala wrote, “regardless of the circumstances and reasons. A student usually justifies his cheating because of the existence of corruption among lecturers and because of the difficulty of the curricula. I think that cheating is the first seed of corruption.”
Others struck a more self-righteous tone rather than articulating any coherent argument against teaching. “I am 100% against cheating, and God is my witness that I did not try to cheat in any subject,” Shirin M., a student of philosophy, asserted. “In one last exam, I withdrew from the subject because I forgot an important question. I want high marks because the subject is easy, and I could have cheated because the control was not tough, but I preferred to repeat the subject and simply withdraw from the exam.”
Many of the students who described themselves as against cheating, however, were not as firm as Asala and Shirin. Mahmoud H., a colleague of Asala in the Faculty of Geography, declared that he was against cheating as “a matter of principle, and I do not support cheating except in critical situations!” He did not, however, define what a critical situation was that would permit a student to cheat.
Abdullah W. seemed to base his refusal to cheat not on a principle, but on the changed circumstances of his education. “Since I moved from the open education to the Islamic one, I have forgotten what it is to cheat in an exam. First, because teaching methods here are clearer, better organized, and easier to understand and absorb. Second, because the religious morals of the students are very strong. And third, cheating is not technically feasible, because the seats are far from each other and because of the presence of students from other specializations. This hinders the process of cheating.” His answer is an interesting one, seeming to imply that he had cheated before he moved to studying religion.
Yet even students who disapprove of cheating sometimes find themselves either doing so or surrounded by peers who cheat. Amer M., a student in the Faculty of Law and Sharia, admitted, “When I go to the exam, I never have the intention of cheating. But difficult questions lead me to cheat. Sometimes we receive questions which are hard to answer. Even if the book is in front of you at that time, you cannot find an answer in it even if you search for it!” Similarly, Kawa A., a stupid of the Arabic language, described seeing one of his fellow exam-takers cheating. “I was taking part in an exam and sitting in the first row, where I saw a student putting a book between his legs and turning the pages by the help of his foot! I was really shocked and I could not imagine myself in such a position.”
The student Kawa A. observed was not alone in searching for unique ways to cheat on exams. Many students take advantage of modern technology to cheat. Cell phones are particularly popular. Students, especially veiled female students who can more easily hide the technology, use Bluetooth headsets and put their phones on silent mode. Using the phones, they get copies of the questions, students outside the exam find answers, and then they call the student taking the exam and feed the student answers question by question.
The university has, accordingly, banned cell phones in the exam room. Heavy penalties have been put in place for students who are caught cheating. Students risk being suspended from courses or even expelled from the university. A recent incident led to several expulsions, after the university caught a cheating ring in the act during exams.
With authorities on the look-out for cheating via cell phones, students have resorted to other means. Some female students use proxies to take their exams; young men will dress themselves in long robes, veils and burqas, and take the exam in the students’ names. If caught, this leads to expulsion, but some get away with it. Hind A., a student of Sociology, reported to us just such an experience. “When we were in the exam, I realized that the person who was hiding under the black dress, black headscarf and black gloves was not a religious woman but rather a man who was pretending to be a woman. I was afraid to tell anyone about him, because I did not know what would happen to me after the exam. I always also afraid this student might cause me trouble, so I remained silent, and no one knew about it.”
Others make use of the restrooms or the mosque to exchange answers during the exam. The University of Damascus finally had to ban students from going to the mosque for prayer or the toilets during exams, because of rampant cheating.
The underlying problem here is the atmosphere in which learning takes place. Students are not brought up to see learning as something that can benefit them, but only as something that they must get through. Students see graduating from the university as akin to escaping military life. Their only goal is to obtain their certificates, by any means necessary. If cheating helps them get through university faster, or with better grades, then the ends are seen to justify the means. The solution, then, is not merely stricter rules against cheating. The problem must be attacked at the source, and the perception of learning and education changed, if attitudes toward cheating are to be changed. And changing attitudes is the most important step towards ending the practice.
Some of the names of our contributors have been changed to protect their identity. The names of people interviewed have also been changed. The opinions expressed in our regional pieces reflect the beliefs of their writers, and do not necessarily reflect the beliefs or opinions of the Tharwa Foundation and its members.
