Matching Tracksuits

Though I was previously warned about it in Peace Corps teacher training sessions (and it was probably even mentioned in “cross cultural” sessions), I was shocked at the level of cheating among students in Polish schools. Simply put, ninety-nine percent of students here will cheat in any and all perceived opportunities. They will whisper to each other; they will attempt to peak in their books; they will write on desks before a test; they will hide cheat-sheets in more places than you can possibly imagine; they will write on their hands, arms, and legs; they will copy their homework from each other — and that’s just the stuff I’ve caught them doing.

It is, though, a cultural difference. They don’t even see it as cheating, but more as “helping.” Intellectual honesty is, in my experience here, hard to come by. Cheating begins in elementary school and continues through university and into the workplace.

Two examples show the tolerance Poles seem to have for cheating:

• A friend was working on a development project in the north of Poland some years ago. Individual cities wishing to participate in the project had to submit budget proposals. One town copied another’s proposal.
• A high-ranking minister (I believe in the Ministry of Education, if memory serves) admitted to having plagiarized his doctoral dissertation some years earlier. It was deemed “excessive” punishment to revoke his doctoral degree, though I can’t remember what ultimate punishment was.

It’s no wonder, then, that students cheat. It seems to be in the blood.But how do they do it?

To begin with, they talk. Literally, if I turn my back for one moment a murmur spreads across the classroom. But I usually watch them like a cliche hawk (no reading books whihle they’re taking a test here . . .), so they have to resort to written methods.

The most common method (aside from writing on hands) is to make cheat sheets what are then hidden in shirt sleeves, taped to the knee (if it’s a girl wearing a skirt), taped to the inside of clothing, or numerous other places.

Another place students like to use these little “aids” is in conjunction with a pen. A little unbelievable, but here’s the proof:

There’s two methods: the cruder form is simply to take the small, virtually illegible sheet on the outside of a pen. The more sophisticated way is to put it inside a pen with a clear casing.

Whenever I happen to find these, I keep them — so there’s at least a minimal consequence to cheating: loss of a z?oty.

Despite my best efforts, I can’t seem to stop this. I might have better luck trying to get my friends to give up smoking and drinking. It doesn’t matter than I have a zero-toleration policy, that I remind students of beforeevery test or quiz. Students know that there’s no questions asked, no arguing tolerated, and begging is ignored — they cheat in any form and I fail them for the assignment.

And still they cheat.

Usually I’m remorseless about failing them. After all, I’ve warned them repeatedly. But sometimes a usually hard-working, generally honest student (in other words, someone I really like) cheats. And that’s when it’s difficult to fail them. But I do, explaining my desire not to show favoritism and be fair at all costs.