Comments on: Cheating in China — It’s an Epidemic http://www.teachabroadchina.com/cheating-in-china-its-an-epidemic/ A Comprehensive Guide for Teachers Living and Working in China Mon, 08 Sep 2008 13:18:55 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6 By: Chen http://www.teachabroadchina.com/cheating-in-china-its-an-epidemic/#comment-4863 Chen Sat, 16 Aug 2008 12:03:54 +0000 http://www.teachabroadchina.com/cheating-in-china-its-an-epidemic/#comment-4863 @Robert Vance 1. Nothing is perfect in China including college entrance exams, The authories make college entrance exams so hard to cheat that whose who cheated throughout their high school years are just cheating themselves. 2.I don't believe the "as much as they could" part of story. If what you say is true (what's wrong with today's students?),as I mentioned before, they deceive themselves as well as others, and they will certainly be out in the college entrance exams. We even have a saying for that: "自欺欺人", see? we are not totally immoral. 3. I have to say this is more a problem of our education system. Imagining your professor ask you to hand in an essay in one or two days, what will you do? Professors do that to have students read more articles. Again if any one publish plagiarized essay on high standard mags etc and has been found out, he/she will have to find a new career anytime soon. @Robert Vance
1. Nothing is perfect in China including college entrance exams, The authories make college entrance exams so hard to cheat that whose who cheated throughout their high school years are just cheating themselves.

2.I don’t believe the “as much as they could” part of story. If what you say is true (what’s wrong with today’s students?),as I mentioned before, they deceive themselves as well as others, and they will certainly be out in the college entrance exams. We even have a saying for that: “自欺欺人”, see? we are not totally immoral.

3. I have to say this is more a problem of our education system. Imagining your professor ask you to hand in an essay in one or two days, what will you do? Professors do that to have students read more articles. Again if any one publish plagiarized essay on high standard mags etc and has been found out, he/she will have to find a new career anytime soon.

]]> By: Robert Vance http://www.teachabroadchina.com/cheating-in-china-its-an-epidemic/#comment-4857 Robert Vance Sat, 16 Aug 2008 07:47:21 +0000 http://www.teachabroadchina.com/cheating-in-china-its-an-epidemic/#comment-4857 @Chen, 1. If there wasn't a problem with cheating on college entrance exams, the government would not have to send police to intimidate the students. 2. I have talked to scores of students throughout China. I would say that at least 95% admitted to cheating as much as they could throughout high school. If that's not an epidemic, I don't know what is... 3. Copying words from the internet and creating an essay with them is plagiarism which is another form of cheating. Ask around...I haven't been able to find one college student who hasn't plagiarized multiple times... @Chen,

1. If there wasn’t a problem with cheating on college entrance exams, the government would not have to send police to intimidate the students.

2. I have talked to scores of students throughout China. I would say that at least 95% admitted to cheating as much as they could throughout high school. If that’s not an epidemic, I don’t know what is…

3. Copying words from the internet and creating an essay with them is plagiarism which is another form of cheating. Ask around…I haven’t been able to find one college student who hasn’t plagiarized multiple times…

]]> By: Chen http://www.teachabroadchina.com/cheating-in-china-its-an-epidemic/#comment-4851 Chen Sat, 16 Aug 2008 03:41:08 +0000 http://www.teachabroadchina.com/cheating-in-china-its-an-epidemic/#comment-4851 well, what can I say? You mentioned it's simply too hard to cheat in big exams, that's because authorities are trying very hard to prevent people from cheating and not only in academic area. There is still differences between people say they would cheat (given whatever hypothesis you set for them), and they actually do it. If cheating is an epidemic in China, it just haven't broken out yet. While you focus on people willing to cheat, I must point out the truth that nobody want to make way to local newspaper for cheating in entrance exams and only a few people actually rely on cheating for survival, and they are not likely to go any further once found out. well, what can I say? You mentioned it’s simply too hard to cheat in big exams, that’s because authorities are trying very hard to prevent people from cheating and not only in academic area. There is still differences between people say they would cheat (given whatever hypothesis you set for them), and they actually do it. If cheating is an epidemic in China, it just haven’t broken out yet.
While you focus on people willing to cheat, I must point out the truth that nobody want to make way to local newspaper for cheating in entrance exams and only a few people actually rely on cheating for survival, and they are not likely to go any further once found out.

]]> By: Robert Vance http://www.teachabroadchina.com/cheating-in-china-its-an-epidemic/#comment-4845 Robert Vance Sat, 16 Aug 2008 01:19:08 +0000 http://www.teachabroadchina.com/cheating-in-china-its-an-epidemic/#comment-4845 @Chen, The main reason why Chinese students are not cheating on big exams is because it is simply too hard. It is well documented that Chinese police are often sent to testing areas in China to make sure that students are not trying to "pull a fast one." Again, most of the students who I talk to here tell me that they would cheat on the big exams if they could. It's just simply too hard... I wish I could dismiss people's comments here as exaggeration but this is one issue that I have talked to too many people about. I am always surprised by the feedback that I receive because it is almost always the same; cheating is ok... @Chen,

The main reason why Chinese students are not cheating on big exams is because it is simply too hard. It is well documented that Chinese police are often sent to testing areas in China to make sure that students are not trying to “pull a fast one.” Again, most of the students who I talk to here tell me that they would cheat on the big exams if they could. It’s just simply too hard…

I wish I could dismiss people’s comments here as exaggeration but this is one issue that I have talked to too many people about. I am always surprised by the feedback that I receive because it is almost always the same; cheating is ok…

]]> By: Chen http://www.teachabroadchina.com/cheating-in-china-its-an-epidemic/#comment-4828 Chen Fri, 15 Aug 2008 18:37:52 +0000 http://www.teachabroadchina.com/cheating-in-china-its-an-epidemic/#comment-4828 I have to agree that "Cheating is not necessarily seen in China as a moral issue", but "it is a matter of survival" is not true for all Chinese. For students I know, no more than 5% regard "it is a matter of survival", I have never cheated in final & entrance exams back in school time. I even don't remember last time I cheated in a small quizz. Some of your student may argume with you that cheating is OK, but do they really do that in big exams? ask them. You write: She told me that cheating is often the only way to succeed academically in this overpopulated country. You clearly don't understand Chinese way of expressing. when Chinese get intimate with someone, they sometimes tell things a little bit exaggerated. The student is trying to convey her fear or lack of confidence of taking whatever exam awaits her. What you should do as her teacher is to encourage her through this mentally exhausting exam preparing process. You can prove me wrong, I may be too old to speak for students any more. I have to agree that “Cheating is not necessarily seen in China as a moral issue”, but “it is a matter of survival” is not true for all Chinese. For students I know, no more than 5% regard “it is a matter of survival”, I have never cheated in final & entrance exams back in school time. I even don’t remember last time I cheated in a small quizz. Some of your student may argume with you that cheating is OK, but do they really do that in big exams? ask them.
You write:
She told me that cheating is often the only way to succeed academically in this overpopulated country.
You clearly don’t understand Chinese way of expressing. when Chinese get intimate with someone, they sometimes tell things a little bit exaggerated. The student is trying to convey her fear or lack of confidence of taking whatever exam awaits her. What you should do as her teacher is to encourage her through this mentally exhausting exam preparing process.
You can prove me wrong, I may be too old to speak for students any more.

]]> By: Women's Olympic Gymnastics and China's Culture of Cheating http://www.teachabroadchina.com/cheating-in-china-its-an-epidemic/#comment-4777 Women's Olympic Gymnastics and China's Culture of Cheating Fri, 15 Aug 2008 03:11:15 +0000 http://www.teachabroadchina.com/cheating-in-china-its-an-epidemic/#comment-4777 [...] at cheating and they will tell you so unabashedly. Some months ago, I wrote an article entitled Cheating in China — It’s an Epidemic in which I explained how cheating is viewed as a way to survive in China. I have had dozens [...] [...] at cheating and they will tell you so unabashedly. Some months ago, I wrote an article entitled Cheating in China — It’s an Epidemic in which I explained how cheating is viewed as a way to survive in China. I have had dozens [...]

]]> By: Cheating in China http://www.teachabroadchina.com/cheating-in-china-its-an-epidemic/#comment-91 Cheating in China Thu, 27 Mar 2008 09:37:23 +0000 http://www.teachabroadchina.com/cheating-in-china-its-an-epidemic/#comment-91 [...] Print off this article about cheating in China and ask your students to read through it together. Talk about some of the new vocabulary words and [...] [...] Print off this article about cheating in China and ask your students to read through it together. Talk about some of the new vocabulary words and [...]

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