I once had an electrical engineering exam and had the textbook brazenly lying open on my desk and trying to find something. The teacher made his rounds through the class, me assuming that he just hadn't noticed. After the third round when he walked by he put his hands on the book and said "If you haven't found it by now you might as well stop".
That's it, no repercussion.
That's something I will remember for the rest of my life. I do believe that people will always try to find an easier solution for a problem, that does not mean the punishment has to be too excessive.
If you notice that cheating attempts get out of hand take correctional steps before hand, by for example taking them in shifts to increase space between the students, and interrupt cheating attempts when they happen.
Just using draconian measures to try and make everyone behave is a lazy solution for a social problem.
No. This is how some cheaters actually think. Nothing matters as long as they don't face consequences. They always have some excuse, and if this one doesn't work that one does. It doesn't matter what the excuse is as long as it works for them and they don't have to face up to the fact that they are doing something wrong.
Then there's just the ones who know they are cheating and are just okay with it. That's your grade A evil there which comes in two varieties: The ones who pretend they don't know, and the ones who do it openly.
So you have your cheaters who do it openly.
The ones who lie about cheating.
And the ones who have lied to themselves.
I don't think the message I wanted to send was received as intended.
I am not for allowing students to cheat, I would not have endorsed that for my students either. But I have had lots of professors and teacher colleagues who did a good job dealing with this without simply increasing the punishment until the intended result is reached.
Excessive cheating is not the problem itself but the symptom of an underlying rot in the system. Trying to increase the penalties is only treating the symptom not the cause.
A joke in what way? I am not familiar with US exam standards but I stand by my opinion that there are better ways to deal with cheating than harsh disciplinary measures.
That's also the way I preferred it with my students.
That's it, no repercussion.
That's something I will remember for the rest of my life. I do believe that people will always try to find an easier solution for a problem, that does not mean the punishment has to be too excessive.
If you notice that cheating attempts get out of hand take correctional steps before hand, by for example taking them in shifts to increase space between the students, and interrupt cheating attempts when they happen.
Just using draconian measures to try and make everyone behave is a lazy solution for a social problem.