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    The digital ways kids cheat

    This Idaho school banned iPods after teachers suspected students used them to cheat ( …The low-tech days of cheaters writing answers on their hands are over, according to this round up of the new and digital ways kids are finding to cheat on tests by USA Today's Greg Toppo.

    Some companies sell tiny earbuds that let test-takers communicate with a helper outside the exam room. (In China, two students taking an English exam had to be hospitalized to get those earbuds removed.) In Orange County, Calif., a student was accused of changing high school transcripts by installing spyware into school computers to steal teachers' passwords.

    One of the most popular online videos on cheating shows students how to scan a soda label, remove all the nutritional information in a photo editing tool, and replace it with formulas or other facts. Students can print out the new label and reattach it to the soda bottle--and hope teachers don't notice when they're staring at the bottle during their exam.

    In a poll done by Common Sense Media, about 35 percent of students said they'd used their cell phones to cheat on a test. The site Teachopolis tells teachers they can prevent cheating by inspecting calculators to make sure that students haven't programmed notes in them and by banning cell phones. A 2008 study also recommended that teachers run anti-plagiarism software when grading papers, to make sure their students didn't copy and paste chunks of online material into their own essays.

    In 2006, Chinese authorities scrambled cell phone signals around their college entrance exam halls to make sure that no one who sneaked in a cell phone could use it to cheat.

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    1,060 comments

    • ram2006  •  Mt Prospect, Illinois  •  4 mths ago
      actually...these ways to cheat are getting old. if ppl cheat, doesn't matter. they'll just fall harder. Who cares.
    • Trammell  •  4 mths ago
      Just because some students use their phones and stuff it doesnt mean that they are dumb it just means that they didnt study or want a better grade. And I still see more people cheating by hand rather than by technology so I dont really think that is a real accurate statistic.
    • Aron  •  4 mths ago
      Yes this is true, but a lot of people do prefer to cheat without using there electronics also.
    • Irma  •  4 mths ago
      I believe cheaters are only hurting themselves and will find out when it is too late.
    • KIMBO  •  4 mths ago
      there is some students that do that but it dosent mean all the students do that it dosent mean students are dumb there just to lazy to do the things the right way.
    • Debanhy  •  4 mths ago
      wow...I guess it was bound to happen sometime sooner or later...but thats why a lot of students get bad grades in class because they are either to busy texting or looking at facebook on their phones to pay attention,or they are cheating by texting each other the answers,it not like someone is gonna text you how to do your job in the future!!!,you have to learn or else your gonna be serving the smart and rich o.o
    • Elias  •  New York, New York  •  4 mths ago
      Hey Darius, I watch Jersey Shore, I listen to Tyler The Creator almost everyday, and I'm getting 90's in all my classes. Pop Culture and Music isn't always what corrupts the mind.
    • Darius  •  New York, United States  •  5 mths ago
      Omg, really? We wonder why the vast majority of teenagers are so dumb these days. Jersey Shore, Keeping up With The Kardumb #$%$ Tyler The Creator. So much crap forced into their brains and no education.
      • Not a fan of BP 5 mths ago
        Blame it on TV and pop culture. How about the parents that don't participate in the kids education, yes education, not just shuttling them to sports events after school.
      • Aerold 5 mths ago
        I don't get it, What the F! is wrong with reading a book?, Yes it's winter break now and I'm still reading a book to get ready for next semester.

        -College Student
      • Ryan 5 mths ago
        Don't just assume students are failing due to television and pop culture. I am currently near the top of my class and I personally get offended when I watch the news and see the headlines "Snooki most loved hotty by teens" when I barely know who the hell Snooki is. Its degrading and down right offensive. Just because a few morons stand out in a crowd, don't assume the rest are like them.
    • Jackson  •  4 mths ago
      I think that students are getting more and more familiar with the advanced technology of today, making it easier for them to cheat, which means that teachers need to be on their guard and prevent things like cellphones from entering a classroom.
      -Jackson 4th period
    • GaSurgeon  •  Seattle, United States  •  5 mths ago
      You can easily compose a test that is "cheaterproof". If the exams were written in such a way to test APPLYING knowledge instead of regurgitating it, this would not be an issue.

      I had a college professor that allowed us to bring anything into the room- books, notes, calculators, computers, whatever. You had to think in order to answer the question- you could not look it up.

      These are lazy teachers writing crappy tests.
    • Manuel  •  4 mths ago
      I think that students get in trouble more for having them out rather cheating of them. I understand that students do tend to attempt to cheat of their phones by texting each other the answers even though thats stupid because a test is more about their knowledge about what they have learned and what they haven't about a certain lesson.
    • Kyle  •  Sunnyvale, United States  •  5 mths ago
      Politicians lie and cheat all the time.
      • FilipS 5 mths ago
        and that justifies cheating ?
      • Kyle 5 mths ago
        Sure, they're our role models. They prove that breaking the law can be profitable.
    • Anthony  •  Houston, Texas  •  4 mths ago
      some students use technology as an advantage because they feel like it or because they wanna pass or get a better grade that they already have..so i really dont think its called cheating because everyone uses technology as an advantage and they use it for jobs etc...so i think its normal but everyone has there own opinion.
    • Ian  •  Houston, Texas  •  4 mths ago
      Cheating seems to keep evolving. I'm not saying it's a good thing but it seems to keep taking turns to fight the system. it's pretty cool that places are finding ways to beat the cheating with stuff like the scrambling radio waves on phones and such.
      Ian Ray 3rd period
    • Dinka m  •  5 mths ago
      well when mummy and daddy are giving them everything and not teaching them to work in order to get their cell phones and ipads and designer clothes why should they believe that life is tough and they have to work hard? Americans live in a 'entitlement' mentality and its because parent give them things they cant afford and when teachers police etc discipline them they jump to file law suits and this is why immigrans are taking over the US - because they work harder than Americans

      the other thing is to do what Africa and Asia do - give them essay type questions where they have to learn to write properly spell correctly and make correct sentences
      • Pale horse 5 mths ago
        someding dat ewe mus do awso??
        essay?
      • Sarah 5 mths ago
        Not to brag or anything, but my parents give me pretty much everything: my car, insurance, gas, clothes, etc. I have never had to work a day in my life. However, I do know that I have to work hard to get what I want, now and in the future. I study extremely hard, go above and beyond expectations on all of my schoolwork, and I have all A's. When I get a job and have a career, I will work my butt off for it. You can't generalize and say that kids cheat because their parents are giving them everything. Kids cheat because they're kids.
    • noe  •  4 mths ago
      i think that this is a good way that the students that dont know how to do the work get a good grade
    • kike  •  Houston, Texas  •  4 mths ago
      mmmm the students that cheat is because they don't care school they just want to get the high school diploma,,lazy people
    • jose  •  Houston, Texas  •  4 mths ago
      Its unbelievable how people can cheat now lol..
    • Jack  •  4 mths ago
      Its unbelievable how people can cheat now.
    • Vicky  •  4 mths ago
      Teachers should make better tests just as technology is advancing tests should be advanced too.
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