There are lots of ways to cheat on a test. Two of the following are real ways kids got caught cheating, and the third we made up. Think you know which one is the dishonest one? The answer is at the end of the post.
A.
A 17-year-old high school senior in Beaverton, Oregon, was expelled after midterm examinations this year when his teacher caught him with an answer key to his AP History exam. The student (unnamed in press reports because he’s a minor) was nowhere the school, and not actually taking the test when the cheating occurred. How was he found out? His AP History teacher was his mother, and she caught him stealing the answer key out of her briefcase. She turned him into the school, who expelled him. (He’s appealing the ruling…with the help of his father.)
B.
In Maryland, some schools are experimenting with administering standardized tests online. For the English assessment earlier this year, two 10th-graders were caught using social media to canvass for results. They simply logged on to their accounts on Twitter via the computer’s Internet access, and asked their followers for answers to tests. They were caught by experimental software programmed to scan social media for phrases used on the test.
C.
In the Indian school system, students have to pass their 10th grade examinations…or they’re out of school, and out of an opportunity that could help many students bring their families out of poverty. It’s such a high-pressure situation that cheating to ensure success is rampant. Earlier this month, more than 600 students were expelled when teachers learned their parents’ were helping them cheat. The parents had slipped answers on paper scraps to students…by scaling school buildings and passing in answers through the window. More than 600 students were expelled because of the scandal.
Want more things that seem true but aren’t true? Then check out Uncle John’s Fake Facts. (Really!)