Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!rutgers!seismo!ll-xn!cit-vax!trent From: trent@cit-vax.UUCP Newsgroups: comp.edu Subject: Re: Cheating on Programming Assignments Message-ID: <2420@cit-vax.Caltech.Edu> Date: Wed, 22-Apr-87 04:28:17 EST Article-I.D.: cit-vax.2420 Posted: Wed Apr 22 04:28:17 1987 Date-Received: Fri, 24-Apr-87 01:39:38 EST References: <250@rruxa.UUCP> <11370002@hpldorp.HP.COM> <4385@princeton.Princeton.EDU> Reply-To: trent@cit-vax.UUCP (Ray Trent) Organization: California Institute of Technology Lines: 32 Summary: another view, and a Feynman anecdote. In article <4385@princeton.Princeton.EDU> mc@notecnirp.UUCP (Mara Chibnik) writes: >Not really. We're interested in determining standards that we can impose on >other people whose notions of personal integrity might differ from our own. >Suppose we fail to make perfectly clear what lines we draw: at what point can >we say that someone else has clearly overstepped generally accepted bounds? At last it comes out. (I expected it all along) Cheating is doing something your prof tells you not to do. 1/2 :-) The generic assumption around here is that collaboration, either with other students or with books, is allowed. If the prof doesn't want this to go on, this is made clear at the beginning of the term. The students abide by the prof's strictures. An anecdote: one physics final a long time ago contained the line, "you may use , Feynman, and your class notes" (for those of you that don't know, there is a set of 3 books written by Richard Feynman that are standard elementary physics references) Anyway, one student went up to Richard Feynman himself and asked for help on one of the problems. Feynman was amused, and gave him help. The physics department complained to the Board of Control. The verdict was that the student had acted within the rules. (now these physics finals say, "...Feynman (the book, not the person)...") The moral? If you don't want certain behavior in students, tell them, or don't complain when you see such behavior. (of course, I really believe our honor system) -- ../ray\.. (trent@csvax.caltech.edu, rat@caltech.bitnet, ...seismo!cit-vax!trent)