Student Sarah Dimick S Response

Since take home exams rely on all students being honest and submitting to the rules of the exam, how ethical is giving a take home exam, particularly one which has restrictions on it (ex. closed book, limited time period, etc.)? Does this in some way discourage ethical behavior by "punishing" those who follow the rules if their classmates do not?

Student Sarah Dimick’s response:

I think we would all agree it’s completely unethical to cheat on a take home exam. Using a textbook during a closed note exam or allowing yourself longer than the allotted time period is plainly wrong. However, it certainly happens.

I don’t think we can logically claim that the professor’s decision to give a take home exam is unethical because of the possibility that some students may cheat. The way the exams are intended to work, they should be a fair test of everyone’s knowledge while still allowing students some flexibility in travel plans and the amount of study time they want beforehand. The ethical blame does not lie with the professors who assign them, but with the students who fail to comply with the rules. If we go about life trying to eliminate all situations in which people could potentially cheat, we’d have an incredibly regulated society with very few freedoms. For example, there’s the possibility that students could plagiarize part of a paper, but we don’t force everyone to write papers under the watchful eyes of their professors.

That said, the problem of academic dishonesty still exists, and it’s definitely something that professors should consider. The issue of take home exams really becomes a complicated one when the exams are graded on a curve instead of a set grading scale. If a student is competing solely against themselves on a set grading scale, then the dishonesty of one of their classmates will not affect their personal grade. Hopefully the dishonest student’s conscience would plague them considerably, but it’s still a personal issue. In the case of a grading curve however, dishonesty on a take home exam would have detrimental effects on the honest majority of the class. Professors grading on a curve need to consider the effects of academic dishonesty more than professors grading on a set scale. The decision to give a curved take home exam might not be unethical on the professor’s part, but it might not be exactly wise either.

Many other schools, including our neighbors across the river, operate on an academic honor code. Professors leave the room while students take exams and the students then sign a sheet at the end of the exam stating that they did not cheat on the exam themselves and did not see anyone else cheating. If they do not sign the sheet, they are called before an academic standing committee composed of peers, and the issue is dealt with. This might be an appropriate way to deal with take home exams, in that students could sign a sheet at the end of their exam stating that they did not exceed the time limit or use their notes. While it wouldn’t hold them accountable for each other’s honesty, it would help to raise consciousness about the significance of fair testing.

I like to think that Carleton students value their education enough not to deface it by academic dishonesty. The more time I spend here, I realize that this happens usually in really subtle and probably unconscious ways, such as asking a friend who took a class you are currently enrolled in last term how hard the final was, or whether it had a lot of essay questions. While it might not be a direct exchange of classified information, it might impact how much you study, and therefore how well you do on the exam. You have knowledge that the whole class wasn’t able to hear, and therefore are at an unfair advantage. There are so few moral issues in life that are black and white, but academic honesty is a clear situation, and I hope that we respect the incredible education we’ve been given here enough not to taint it for the sake of a petty grade. It is very rare in life that we have the opportunity to learn in a community of such intelligent peers, and take home exams will work only if we are able to maintain trust between each other.