Helen Ramirez / Roundup
In a class of about 30 students, a student leans over to give the classmate in front of him the answers using the “back poking method.”
Poke one time for ‘A,’ two times for ‘B,’ three times for ‘C’ and four times for ‘D.’
Adam Mendez, 19, witnessed this situation in his class at Pierce College last semester.
The cheating policy at Pierce College states: “An instructor cannot automatically give a student an ‘F’ for the entire course where the student is only known to have cheated or plagiarized with respect to one of several assignments that count toward the final grade.”
Yet some students like Mendez and Matthew Farias, both Pierce sophomores, thought if someone was caught cheating they could fail the entire class.
“The policy sounds fair. But they should fail the class after they have been caught cheating a few times,” Mendez said.
Farias also thinks there is fairness in the policy.
“The first time, sure, you fail the material,” said Farias. “But the next time it should be worse.”
According to David Follosco, dean of Student Services, students understand the severity of cheating after their first warning. Follosco has been working in Student Services for three years and has not suspended anyone for cheating.
Suspension occurs the second time the student is caught cheating. The suspension usually lasts 10 days, which count as excused absences after the professor of the cheater is notified.
“Giving them the excused 10-day suspension results in the cheater learning nothing,” Farias said.
Ryan Gaitan, a 20-year-old film major, feels a 10-day suspension of excused absences is a 10-day cheater vacation.
“They get caught and they receive a 10-day vacation when they should really receive a mark on their record or a penalty from class,” he said.
Follosco verified a cheating student’s misconduct is recorded on a disciplinary file. No information from this file can be disclosed to any faculty or students and the file can be discussed only with the student’s approval.
Follosco is the only one able to possess the “cheater list.”
Gaitan agrees that the students’ information should remain private, but he also feels professors have a right to know if they have a cheating student in their classroom so they can be more cautious.
Bibi Castaneda, a 19-year-old nursing major, was the prey of a cheater in one of her spring semester classes.
“He actually tried to get my attention,” she said. “He went ‘psst’ and kept glancing. Tried asking for answers, but I purposely told him the wrong answers. I figured I’d do him a favor (rather) than risk getting the dean involved.”
Castaneda has a dim view of cheaters.
“Cheating just shows how immature and lazy you are,” she said. “It’s unfair to me and other people who are working hard for their grade.”
Castaneda said her anthropology teacher, Karen Lipman, told her class the cheating policy was strictly enforced in her class.
“I have a zero-tolerance policy toward cheating or any kind of academic dishonesty,” Lipman said. “I think that talking about it at the beginning of the semester does seem to have a positive effect.”
“I feel terrible as a human being when a student cheats,” Lipman said.
To cheaters, Lipman advised, “Don’t do it, of course. If you need extra help, ask for it. There’s always a better solution.”
“Only cheaters take shortcuts,” Gaitan said. “Champions take the true path to success.”
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