I was thinking about cheating recently, and the kinds of cultures that encourage and prompt cheating versus cultures that promote honesty, integrity, transparency, and inclusion.
What kinds of cultures encourage and prompt cheating?
In schools when students, family members, and educators are afraid of repercussions if they share error, mistake, or unfortunate truths, you may find cheating. For example if a child felt that he/she was going to be punished in some way for not doing his/her homework, he/she may find a way to cheat to get that done. Or if a teacher could not keep up with a particular teaching requirement, he/she may not be truthful about it if he/she fears the repercussions of telling the truth. Parents who experience hard times, may feel the same. They may be uncomfortable with sharing the truth if they feel it's going to harm their child's opportunities or social relationships with teachers and the greater teaching/learning community.
So as educators, how do we create communities of trust, the kinds of communities that encourage honesty, transparency, inclusion, and collaborative problem solving. I think those communities begin with establishing honest, positive relationships amongst and between all members of the teaching/learning community. Mistruths and negativity can certainly create fertile ground for cheating rather than doing the right thing. I also believe that when we goal set and create vision and mission together in authentic, meaningful ways we lay a good path for positivity and collaboration rather than distance, cheating, and lies. Having a collaborative roadmap to use for our good work together helps.
This is true in the classroom too. We need to make the time as educators to create a positive path for honest, responsible, and positive teaching and learning with students. We need to create mission and vision with students, and meet often to review and revise the path. We have to expect good intentions from every student, and when things go awry, we have to make the time to analyze why that happened and how we can make it better. Too often we expect students to do the impossible--we ask them to complete assignments, show fortitude, and persevere without even understanding the roadblocks that stand in their way. Instead, we should work with students to identify the roadblocks, and then find ways to overcome those roadblocks with innovative programming, new tools, and optimal resources.
As I think more of this, cheating is a byproduct of poor culture, and it's imperative that we establish good culture in our classrooms, schools, systems, families, and communities. More to think about.
