My Revenge (Cheating and Its Consequences)

Title: Cheating and Its Consequences

The title of this post, "My Revenge," is misleading because there is no revenge involved. Instead, I want to discuss a serious issue.

I am an instructor for courses in engineering and English majors, and this semester, I have more than 500 students distributed among 18 different classes. Unfortunately, some students attempt to cheat to get better grades than they deserve. I want to give these students a perspective to consider before going down this path, and hopefully convince them to do the right thing.

My argument is this: my class is easy to pass if you simply try. I give points for effort, not just getting the answers right, so if you complete the homework, you'll receive grades for class performance activities. The final exam is more challenging, but I don't try to trick students. I explain the exam format in advance, so they know what to study. With minimal effort, they can pass the course. Additionally, the passing grade is only 60%, so it's not that high.

Despite these facts, there are always some students who try to cheat. It takes a lot of time to gather evidence and build a case against these students, and many of them will get away with cheating. They may feel smart for fooling the system and passing without studying, but as a teacher, I try to be fair. If I catch someone cheating, I will punish them. However, I'm aware that many cheaters will never get caught.

The main point I want to make is that one day, these students will face a job interview. Most employers won't ask to see their grades, but if they're hiring someone with good English skills, they will conduct the interview in English, and cheating won't be an option.

Another important point is this: How much is your integrity worth? For those who cheat, it's just a few points on a test paper. They lose their integrity and reputation, and may never be trusted again. Trust is difficult to earn, but easy to lose.

I want to share a few points I read some time ago to help illustrate my view and demonstrate how important it is to be honest and have integrity.

► Point 1

► Point 2

Quoting from the article I have read: “I was in the East a few weeks ago, and I visited with a businessman, one of the most inspiring businessmen I have ever met. He told me of an experience he had had some time ago. He was the chief executive officer of a billion-dollar-a-year business. The company manufactured products of various qualities. The first-quality product was in the manufacturer’s name; the second-quality product was in the name of the customer. One of their customers, who did sixty million dollars’ worth of business a year, came to him a while ago and said, “I want a letter from you telling me that the second-grade product is just as good as the first-grade product.”

He replied, “But it isn’t as good.”

The customer said, “But it has the same ingredients.”

“The ingredients aren’t in the same quantity. It is not as good.”

“I want that letter or you’ll lose my business.” A sixty-million-dollar account. And this wonderful man said, “If that is what I have to do to keep your business, I don’t want it.”

Integrity! It exists in the world, but it exists in the hearts and the souls and the minds and the intellects of individuals. It doesn’t exist just in masses of individuals.

► Point 3

I had the experience one day of coming back to Salt Lake City on an airplane after a conference. A young man whom I had never seen sat in the seat in front of me. He recognized me, I suppose, from some of the pictures he had seen. He spoke to me and told me he was returning to his home in Detroit. He had graduated from Brigham Young University and had gone on to another school to get his MBA. He was a junior employee in the department in which he was employed at the Ford Motor Company. He had been chosen by his department head to represent the company at a very important meeting on the west coast. There were many men his senior in the department; they were furious that a junior man would be invited to go to such an important convention. It was a real plum professionally. The department head told one of them why he had chosen this young man. He said, “I know he will not embarrass the company. He won’t go out and get drunk. He’ll go out and take care of himself and represent us properly. That’s why I chose him.” You see, integrity can mean many things in the way of success in our lives.

► Point 4

Now I’d like to share with you a lesson that a young man has taught. This, to me, is one of the most touching lessons of integrity I have ever read. This is the true story of Elam Hill, director of physical education at Sequoia Junior High:

Story of Bobby Palacio

https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/victor-l-brown/make-honest-man/

Today I saw truth. For a moment I lived and breathed in the great presence of truth and felt its sweetness plunge deep into my soul. I am a coach in a junior high school. I work with five hundred boys each day. This has been my occupation for over twenty years. I enjoy it. Traditionally, I am supposed to be rugged, tough, crusty—yes, even a little severe at times. And yet underneath this exterior, feeling and understanding must exist if the job is to be done.

Today was test day in climbing the rope. We climb from a standing start to a point fifteen feet high. One of my tasks these past few weeks has been to train and teach the boys to negotiate this distance in as few seconds as possible. The school record for the event is 2.1 seconds. It has stood for three years. Today this record was broken. But this is not my story. How this record was broken is the important thing here, as it is so often in many an endeavor in life.

For three years Bobby Palacio, a fourteen-and-a-half-year-old ninth-grade Mexican boy, has trained and pointed and, I suspect, dreamed of breaking this record. It had been his consuming passion. It seemed his whole life depended upon owning this record. In his first of three attempts, Bobby climbed the rope in 2.1 seconds, tying the record. On the second try, the watch stopped at 2.0 seconds flat, a record. But as he descended the rope and the entire class gathered around to check the watch I knew I must ask Bobby a question. There was a slight doubt in my mind whether or not the board at the fifteen-foot height had been touched. If he missed, it was so very, very close, not more than a fraction of an inch, and only Bobby knew the answer.

As he walked toward me, expressionless, I said, “Bobby, did you touch?” If he had said yes, the record he had dreamed of since he was a skinny seventh grader and had worked for almost daily would be his, and he knew I would trust his word. With the class already cheering him for his performance, the slim, brown skinned boy shook his head negatively. And in this simple gesture, I witnessed a moment of greatness.

Coaches do not cry. Only babies cry, they say. But as I reached out to pat this boy on the shoulder, there was a small drop of water in each eye. And it was with effort through a tight throat that I told the class: “This boy has not set a record in the rope climb. No, he has set a much finer record for you and everyone to strive for. He has told the simple truth.” I turned to Bobby and said, “Bobby, I’m proud of you. You have just set a record many athletes never attain. Now, on your last try, I want you to jump a few inches higher on the takeoff. You’re going to break the record.”

After the other boys had finished their next turns and Bobby came up to the rope for his try, a strange stillness came over the gymnasium. Fifty boys and one coach were breathlessly set to help boost Bobby Palacio to a new record. He climbed the rope in 1.9 seconds—a school record, a city record, and perhaps close to a national record for a junior high school boy.

When the bell rang and I walked away, now misty-eyed, from this group of boys, I was thinking, “Bobby, little brown skin with your clear, bright, dark eyes and your straight, trim, lithe body—Bobby, at fourteen you are a better man than I. Thank you for climbing so very, very high today.” [Quoted from the California Teacher’s Journal]

Article by Marcelo Gameiro
Published 14 May 2023