Schenectady Synecdoche: Teachers who cheat

March 17, 2006

Teachers who cheat

Teachers' ethics are important—not because our civilization will otherwise crumble, but because education will otherwise be undermined. So I hold authentic pedagogy as an ethical issue for teachers, and thus I regard outsourced instruction as potentially unethical—whether that outsourced instruction is machine scoring of essays (see the conclusion to the CCCC position statement, the section on "A Current Challenge: Electronic Rating"); automated "originality" checking instead of teaching writing from sources; or proprietary tutoring instead of institutionally-sponsored and -embedded instruction. There are all kinds of labor issues involved, but those issues can in turn raise questions about administrative or institutional ethics. Higher education can't be automated, because in that automation the co-construction of knowledge disappears. All that's left is the acquisition and observation of quantified procedures, e.g., copying no more than 8 consecutive words from a source without quoting and citing. So outsourced instruction is for me potentially an ethical issue.

That's somewhat abstract, given that it depends on a certain vision of what the educational enterprise should be. That vision is not a universally shared one. More about that some other time.

But for the moment, I'd like to point to a very straightforward ethical issue: teachers' claiming credentials they did not earn. Again I'm sure there are serious labor issues that should be addressed. What are these teachers' working conditions, and how reasonable and well supported are the pressures to gain further credentials? But the choice to forge educational credentials is a choice, an ethical choice, and a conscious choice.

Posted by senioritis at March 17, 2006 04:44 PM

Comments

What about professor’s that poorly prepare for class? That seems to be the biggest problem I’ve encountered at your institution. As a student, I would estimate about 1 in 8 professor perform poorly. Unlike other industries these are rarely those that lack experience but those with the most experience.

The student (or as I like to term the relationship: “the customer”) suffers from this poor service. The problem is that poorly prepared, disinterested professors are seldom identified; at least from the student perspective. Due to a number of reasons the student is far less likely to complain than in other customer / service provider relationships.

Like any other industry not providing adequate service may not be apparent at first but rest assured the professor’s and the college’s reputation does suffer.

Posted by: Anonymous at March 28, 2006 01:22 AM