TEENS: The big history exam is tomorrow and you're not really prepared. Would you cheat to pass this test? How about your friends? Would they cheat?
A University of Texas study found that over 40 percent of high school and college students admit to cheating in some form. The main reasons the students gave for cheating were: fear of failing, being too lazy to study, parental pressure to get good grades, and the fact that cheating is easy.
Some schools that operate on the "honor system" (teachers not in the room during exams, students permitted to take the exam out of the room) allow lazy or "ambitious" students to take unhealthy advantage of this trust.
Dwight Huber, chairman of the English Department at Amarillo (Texas) High School and a participant in the study, blamed the rise in classroom cheating partly on the way students are evaluated. He feels that as long as teachers give short-answer tests rather than essay questions, and grade by the number of facts they can memorize rather than by how well they can synthesize information, students will try to beat the system.
"The concept of cheating is based on the false assumption that the system is legitimate and there is something wrong with the individual who's doing the cheating," he said. "That's too easy an answer. We've got to start looking at the system."
As a former educator, I agree!
READ THE FOLLOWING LETTER FOR YOUR ANSWER
DR. WALLACE: I'm 17 and my boyfriend is 18 and we want to get married, and spend the rest of our lives together, but my parents are against it. My parents don't like Eddie because he has been busted several times for minor infractions, but recently he has become a better citizen. Since my parents are opposed to our marriage, Eddie and I are thinking about getting me pregnant so that my parents will encourage us to get married. What do you think? — Rachel, Santa Ana, Calif.
RACHEL: Read the following letter and learn from her mistake.
IT HAS A HORROR-STORY ENDING
DR. WALLACE: I'm a faithful reader of your column. I want girls who are thinking of doing what I did to re-evaluate their thoughts. Let's say I hope they learn from my experience.
Three years ago, I met the sweetest and nicest guy on the North American continent. He was 16 and I was 15. We fell in love immediately and after dating for just over a month, we were positive that we wanted to get married. But we knew that our parents would never allow us to marry at our young age. So we decided that I should get pregnant because that way they would surely allow it. I got pregnant and we were right — we got married on my 16th birthday and I had a beautiful baby girl six months later.
We had our way, but the story didn't have a Cinderella ending. Instead, it ended up as a horror-story.
My husband couldn't find work, so we moved in with my folks to save money. It didn't take long for Ken to start hanging around with his old buddies and many times he came home drunk and this caused a big argument with my dad.
Then three weeks after we were married, my sister saw Ken at a movie with his old girlfriend and things went downhill after that.
I'm almost 18 years old now, but I feel like I'm an old woman. I truly love my baby girl, but she is the only good thing that came from our unfortunate marriage. I am now divorced, have a part-time job, and live with my parents who are wonderful grandparents to my daughter.
As for my ex, he's still hanging around with his buddies, drinking and chasing after his old girlfriends. And he still calls me once in a while to see if I'd like to go out with him. I'm sure you know my answer. — Nameless, Somewhere in Indiana.
Dr. Robert Wallace welcomes questions from readers. Although he is unable to reply to all of them individually, he will answer as many as possible in this column. E-mail him at rwallace@thegreatestgift.com. To find out more about Dr. Robert Wallace and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.
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