‘Cheating During College’; an Article
For Student Consideration and Thought
(Editor's Note: For new stu
dents iind (dd It Is well to lx:
uwnre that cheating does exist
at this University and universi
ties throughout the nation. Wil
liam Graham Eole, chairman of
the department of religion and
dean of freshmen at Williams
College, wrote this article for
the .May 14, I960, Issue of The
Nation. We reprint It In part
hem for your serious considera
tion.)
My WILLIAM GRAHAM COLE
The groves of Academe across
the country are currently be
ing tossed about by a tempest
of impressive force. The trou
ble began with the revelation
that the television quiz shows
were rigged; the Integrity of
one celebrated egghead was the
first casualty of a storm which
has grown steadily to virtual
hurricane proportions.
Today the evidence is wide
spread that cheating goes on in
colleges and universities in all
parts of the nation. And it isn't
only routine tests and examina
tions that arc Involved; in
genious entrepreneurs are doing
a lively business ghost-writing
termpapers and even F*h.D. the
ses. We have long been accus
tomed to the fact that political
figures read speeches written
by others, but there is a general
conviction that a man's sheep
skin credentials should be his
own.
The diploma certifying one’s
academic achievement, whether
ns a Bachelor of Arts or as a
Doctor of Philosophy, has been
traditionally regarded as a prize
won by blood, sweat and mid
night oil. If the cost can now be
translated into ingeniously de
signed crib-notes, skillfully fur
tive peeks, or- even cold cash,
then, indeed, the question may
he raised: what is higher edu
cation worth?
The situation demands some
caution, however, for no one
can be certain how recent is
the phenomenon of academic
dishonesty, nor how much more
prevalent it is today than in
previous eras. Clearly there is
more cheating today, but equal
ly clearly there are more
schools, more students and more
tests. The question is one of
proportion. In any case, little is
gained by a rush to the wailing
wall, however emotionally purg
ing that may be.
What is called for rather is a
sober attempt to analyze the
sources of the problem and to
discover some viable solutions.
First of the factors that re
quire a long, long look is the
heavy emphasis placed through
out American education on
grades. Admission to college
and university today requires,
more than ever before, a rec
ord liberally sprinkled with As
and Bs. The graduate schools,
becoming increasingly selective,
also place a high premium on
the marks received in college. ,
This means that as the student
climbs the academic stairway,
he finds at each successive level
a sign reading "Reserved for
those with good grades.” Thus,
if he is not content to aban
don his ascent, he must produce
his passport.
But why must he cheat? Why
should he not earn his marks
by hard work ? Of course, the
answer is that many do, perhaps
even the majority. But there is
evidently a sizable minority who
take the easier, less virtuous
way, and when some do and get
away with it, the incentive to
hard work is perceptibly weak
ened. Besides, it is the final
mark received in the course,
not what one has learned, that is
really important.
Why should It not be pos
sible for American education -to
adopt the tutorial system so
long effective In Britain, where
the teacher works together with
the student preparing for an
examination which someone else
will give? The examination is
of the comprehensive type, vir
tually impervious to cheating. It
is not a trap for the student
to reveal how little he knows. It
is rather an opportunity for him
to show what he can do.
Mere rote mastery of facts
will get him nowhere. He is
asked to display his ability to
reason, to relate, to react. It
is the sort of examination which
is fun for any student worthy
of name. It would be perfectly
possible to give such a test
"open-book" fashion, allowing
the examinees to bring into the
room any materials they like,
since the material would be of
little use anyway.
This is the boat way to deal
with cheating to make it im
practical by making it undesir
able to the student himself. At
this point, it should be said in
fairness to at least segments
of American education that
many teachers are regularly
giving "open-book” exams, and
almost invariably students find
them a stimulating challenge.
But a change in grading sys
tem, in type of examination, in
student-teacher relationship, is
mere mechanical manipulation.
More fundamental is the stu
dent's attitude toward educa
tion itself. American education,
by and largo, produces a maxi
mum of passivity; students do
not so much learn anything as
they are taught something.
There is precious little corre
lation that is obvious to them
between what is going on in the
classroom and in the market
place where they intend to spend
the rest of their lives. We need
far more independent study in
our colleges and far more con
tact with the workaday world
than we now have.
I am not suggesting vocation
alisrn in any sense of that word.
I do, however, mean to point
strongly to the need for a con
tinuous dialogue between the
university and the world at
large, a dialogue which now
consists of two independent and
deaf-eared monologues.
If students can be encour
aged to pursue their own re
search out of sheer curiosity,
for the mere joy of learning,
and then be asked to relate
what they are doing to the larg
er commonwealth of mankind,
in which they share citizenship,
then cheating on the campus
will wither and die, because the
waters which now keep it alive
will have dried up.
Old Man ...
(Continued from page 2)
a Rood scat than to catch the
biR tuna.
It was the Kingston Trio of
hall games but the old man
thought only of how getting a
good seat was like death in the
afternoon.
He would get a good seat the
next Saturday, though. He knew
now how to do it. And he would
even bring the little newspaper
boy with him and they would
both get good seats on the
marker of the 50 yards.
He knew he would get a good
seat because he had decided that
while fraternities cannot be de
stroyed, they can always be
pledged.
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(Continued ]eom page 1)
standings were made on almost
all the cards. Students should
disregard thus class standing
number.
Both upper and lower class ad
visors will be available for con
sultation all day Wednesday,
Thursday and Friday, and stu
dents are advised to plan a full
year curriculum at this time.
HKN’IORS and graduate stu
dents who plan to receive degrees
in June of 1961 should check
shortly after registration at the
Graduate Requirements Window
in the Registrar's Office and fill
out the formal application for de
gree.
Schell to speak
over KGW-TV
Oregon student body president
Steve Schell will be one of the
student leaders who will discuss
the “College for Oregon’s Fu
ture” program on television Oc
tober 1.
Schell will appear on the pro
gram with Dick Seideman. Ore
gon State student body president,
and Dale Ward, Portland State
president. Moderator of the pro
gram will be Justice Ted Good
win of the State Supreme Court.
Schell will be ia Portland Mon
day night to tape the program
for broadcast over KGW-TV on
October 1.
^On Camp® A™
(Author of “I Wat a Teen-age Itwarf’ “The Many
Le/vet of DfJ/ie Gillie”, etc.)
ONCE MORE UNTO THE BREACH, DEAR
FRIENDS
Today, if I am a liWle misty, who can blame me? For today I
begin my seventh year of writing columns for the makers of
Marlboro Cigarettes.
Seven years! Can it be possible? It seems only yesterday I
walked into the Marlboro offices, my knickers freshly pressed,
my cowlick wetted down, my oilcloth pencil box clutched in
my tiny hand. “Sirs,” I said to the makers of Marlboro—as
handsome an aggregation of men as you will find in a month
of Sundays, as agreeable as the cigarettes they make—mild j et
hearty, robust yet gentle, flip-top yet soft pack—“Sirs,” I
said to this assemblage of honest tobacconists, “I have come to
write a column for Marlboro Cigarettes in college newspapers
across the length and breadth of this great free land of America.”
We shook hands then—silently, not trusting ourselves to
speak—and one of the makers whipped out a harmonica and we
sang sea chanties and bobbed for apples and plaj’ed “Run,
Sheep, Run,” and smoked good Marlboro Cigarettes until the
campfire had turned to embers.
“What will j’ou write about in j’our column?” asked one of
the makers whose name is Trueblood Strongheart.
“About the burning issues that occupy the lively minds of
college America,” I replied. “About such vital questions as:
Should the Student Council have the power to levy taxes?
Should proctors be armed? Should coeds go out for football?”
“And will you say a kind word from time to time about
Marlboro Cigarettes,” asked one of the makers whose name is
Honor Bright.
“Why, bless you, sirs,” I replied, chuckling silverly, “there
is no other kind of word except a kind word to say about
Marlboro Cigarettes—the filter cigarette with the unfiltered
taste—that happy combination of delicious tobacco and ex
clusive selectrate filter—that loyal companion in fair weather or
foul —that joy of the purest my serene.”
1 here was another round of handshakes then and the makers
squeezed my shoulders and I squeezed theirs and then we each
squeezed our own. And then I hied me to my typewriter and
began the first of seven years of columning for the makers of
Marlboro Cigarettes.
And today as I find mvself once more at my tvjiewriter, once
more ready to begin a new series of columns, perhaps it would
be well to explain my writing methods. 1 use the term “writing
methods” advisedly because I am, above all things a methodical
writer. I do not wait for the muse; I work every single day of
the year, Sundays and holidays included. I set myself a daily
quota and 1 don't let anything prevent me from achieving it.
My quota, to be sure, is not terribly difficult to attain (it is,
in fact, one word per day) but the important thing is that I do
it firry single dag. This may seem to you a grueling schedule
but you must remember that some days are relatively easy
for example, the days-on which I write “the” or “a”. On these,
days 1 can usually finish my work by noon and can devote the
rest of the day to happy pursuits like bird-walking, monopoly,
and smoking Marlboro Cigarettes.
© 1960 Max Shuhnan
* * *
The makers of Marlboro are happy to bring you another
year of Max Shulman's free-wheeling, uncensored column
—and are also happy to bring Marlboro Cigarettes, and for
non-filter smokers—mild, tlavorful Philip Morris.