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Dozens of students withdraw in Harvard cheating scandal
Reuters ^ | Feb 1, 2013 | Svea Herbst-Bayliss

Posted on 02/02/2013 8:23:23 AM PST by daniel1212

As many as 60 students have been forced to withdraw from Harvard University after cheating on a final exam last year in what has become the largest academic scandal to hit the Ivy League school in recent memory.

Michael Smith, Harvard's Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, sent an email on Friday saying that more than half of the students who faced the school's Administrative Board have been suspended for a time.

Roughly 125 undergraduates were involved in the scandal, which came to light at the end of the spring semester after a professor noticed similarities on a take-home exam

(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; News/Current Events; US: Massachusetts
KEYWORDS: cheating; education; harvard; liberal
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While this is termed "the largest academic scandal to hit the Ivy League school in recent memory," it is not the only one in recent memory.

From Business Insider | 08/31/2012 |:

More than 125 Harvard University undergraduates are being investigated for plagiarism and other academic misconduct surrounding final examinations, according to Bloomberg News.

The incident is the "most wide-spread cheating scandal" known to rock Harvard, school officials told Bloomberg News. - http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2924964/posts

In 2001, Harvard was focused upon as part of a controversy in which high, but allegedly unwarranted, GPA's (Grade Point Averages) were awarded. While in 1940 C-minus was the most common GPA at Harvard, and in 1955 only 15 percent of undergraduates had a GPA of B-plus or higher, in the year 2000, 50% in of all the grades given were As or A-minuses, with just six percent being C-pluses or lower. More than 90 percent of the class of 2001 had earned grade-point averages of B-minus or higher.

Observers point out that entering freshmen typically have straight-A averages in high school, SAT scores near 800 in all fields, and have demonstrated an unusual ability to engage in serious study. The days when Harvard included many "Gentleman C" students there for social activities are long gone.

In a Harvard Crimson article, noted conservative Harvard professor Harvey Mansfield contended that "Grade inflation got started … when professors raised the grades of students protesting the war in Vietnam..." "At that time, too, white professors, imbibing the spirit of the new policies of affirmative action, stopped giving low grades to black students, and to justify or conceal this, also stopped giving low grades to white students." The problem was essentially seen as the predominance of the notion of self-esteem, "in which the purpose of education is to make students feel capable and 'empowered,' and professors should hesitate to pass judgment on what students have learned." Such assertions resulted in no small controversy. - Ross Douthat, "The Truth About Harvard," The Atlantic Monthly March 2005 ; adapted from his book, Privilege: Harvard and the Education of the Ruling Class (http://www.conservapedia.com/Harvard_University#cite_note-17)

See also http://www.astorehouseofknowledge.info/w/Education_in_the_United_States

1 posted on 02/02/2013 8:23:32 AM PST by daniel1212
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To: daniel1212

I must be a real idiot because I went to state universities and didn’t cheat on exams.


2 posted on 02/02/2013 8:26:17 AM PST by vladimir998
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To: daniel1212

A lot of this is due to the fact that post-secondary education has moved away from developing a student’s love of learning and into awarding diplomas based on tests passed.


3 posted on 02/02/2013 8:26:55 AM PST by Jonty30 (What Islam and secularism have in common is that they are both death cults.)
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To: daniel1212

Yeah .... and their football team sucks too.


4 posted on 02/02/2013 8:27:02 AM PST by layman (Card Carrying Infidel)
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To: daniel1212

They should all claim they’re Indians. It worked for Paleface Lizzy Warren.


5 posted on 02/02/2013 8:29:54 AM PST by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer")
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To: daniel1212; massmike; SeekAndFind; metmom; boatbums; caww; presently no screen name; smvoice; ...
Besides the recent scandals above, how many students could pass (not me) if they had to obey HARVARD LAWS OF 1642

1. When any Schollar is able to Read Tully or such like classicall Latine Author ex tempore, and make and speake true Latin in verse and prose suo (ut aiunt) Marte, and decline perfectly the paradigmes of Nounes and verbes in the Greeke tongue, then may hee bee admitted into the College, nor shall any claime admission before such qualifications. [like modern SAT scores, such a requirement indicated the level of education one had received, and achieved. This served a practical purposes of course, as copies of Scripture and other classics were also still mostly in Greek.]

2. Every one shall consider the mayne End of his life and studyes, to know God and Jesus Christ which is Eternall life. Joh. 17.3. [Today, personal as well as intellectual ignorance of the Biblical Christ abounds among Harvard students.]

3. Seeing the Lord giveth wisdome, every one shall seriously by prayer in secret, seeke wisdome of him. prov. 2.2,3 etc. [Instead, Harvard today militates against such Biblical wisdom , and peity. Today, if any activity is done "in secret," it is fornication (1 out 4 women have an STD).

4. Every one shall so exercise himselfe in reading the Scriptures twice a day that they bee ready to give an account of their proficiency therein, both in theoreticall observations of Language and Logicke, and in practicall and spirituall truthes as their tutor shall require according to their severall abilities respectively, seeing the Entrance of the word giveth light etc. psal. 119, 130. [The goal here was to produce "able ministers of the New Testament" (2Cor. 3:6), "rightly dividing the word of truth" (2Tim. 2:15). Today, the Bible is almost wholly abandoned as the literal and authoritative Word of God, and the very deceptions Harvard was founded to prevent abound therein!]

5. In the publicke Church assembly they shall carefully shunne all gestures that shew any contempt or neglect of Gods ordinances and bee ready to give an account to their tutors of their profiting and to use the helpes of Storing themselves with knowledge, as their tutours shall direct them, and all Sophisters and Bachellors (until themselves make common place) shall publiquely repeate Sermons in the Hall whenver they are called forth. [Rather than this being the goal of Harvard, the inculcation of unBibical worldviews is fostered, and rare is the professor who would dare declare the Biblical gospel and morality, or the student who could or would do likewise.]

6. they shall eschew all prophanation of Gods holy name, attributes, word, ordinances, and times of worship, and study with Reverence and love carefully to reteine God and his truth in their minds. [This is of little to no concern in Harvard today, rather the "faith once delivered" (Jude v.3) is little esteemed, and if one comes into Harvard with such faith, he will be sorely challanged to keep it! Sports, college parties, etc., not Bible studies, are what students mostly flock to.]

7. they shall honour as their parents, Magistrates, Elders, tutours and aged persons, by beeing silent in their presence (except they bee called on to answer) not gainesaying shewing all those laudable expressions of honour and Reverence in their presence, that are in uses as bowing before them standing uncovered or the like. [Rather than promoting reverence toward authority, Harvard has joined the bulk of other "Intititutions of Higher Learning" in fostering rebellion toward those who represent just authority, under the guise of protesting injustice, and in such protests reveal their own dearth of wisdom which usually comes with age.

8. they shall be slow to speake, and eschew not onely oathes, Lies, and uncertaine Rumours, but likewise all idle, foolish, bitter scoffing, frothy wanton words and offensive gestures. [Today, if one would dare uphold Bible truth and morality at Harvard, such as reproves the like of irreverend Peter Gomes, he/she will see quickly how the above law has been abandonded].

6 posted on 02/02/2013 8:31:20 AM PST by daniel1212 (Come to the Lord Jesus as a contrite damned+destitute sinner, trust Him to save you, then live 4 Him)
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To: daniel1212

I thought cheating was a virtue with liberals. I thought that these people went to places like Harvard to learn the fine art of lying and cheating to promote the progressive agenda.


7 posted on 02/02/2013 8:31:20 AM PST by P-Marlowe (There can be no Victory without a fight and no battle without wounds.)
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To: P-Marlowe

They do....these are the ones who failed at their lessons.


8 posted on 02/02/2013 8:33:13 AM PST by goodnesswins (R.I.P. Doherty, Smith, Stevens, Woods.)
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To: daniel1212
. When any Schollar is able to Read Tully or such like classicall Latine Author ex tempore, and make and speake true Latin in verse and prose

Learning any language other than your own is enough work that there's no point in studying DEAD ones.

9 posted on 02/02/2013 8:36:37 AM PST by varmintman
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To: layman

Who cares about a school’s football team if you are there to learn?

The problem with our educational system is that it teaches majors which have no practical use (many not even teaching thinking skills), and there are too many extracurricular activities. Students pick schools which are country clubs, and leave with huge debts. Many cannot get jobs after four to six years of living disorganized, jet-lagged lives.

There is almost no religious presence on most campuses, and most of the social life harms the character and personal integrity of students.

The Harvard class is one which pre-law students would take, many intending on a career in politics; so it is only natural that they would start cheating early.


10 posted on 02/02/2013 8:37:17 AM PST by docbnj
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To: daniel1212

I don’t understand why one would bother to cheat at Harvard (it’s impossible to get less than a “B” in class without not showing up the entire semester and then shooting the professor) especially for an “intro to Congress” class.


11 posted on 02/02/2013 8:37:37 AM PST by Strategerist
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To: daniel1212
A few years ago I saw a student cheating during the midterm exam in one of the college courses I teach.

He was leaning over and copying answers from the young woman seated to his left.

I remember thinking, "Good Lord, don't cheat off of her! She's taking the course for the second time! She's flunked it once already."

"You should be cheating off of that guy. He's getting an A!"

12 posted on 02/02/2013 8:37:51 AM PST by billorites (freepo ergo sum)
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To: vladimir998

That is because you are not as smart as they, according to those who ascribe to the school of the devil who seeks to “climb up some other way:”

Harvard alumnus and author Ross Douthat attributed this problem partly to socioeconomic differences, and noted that “Harvard students are creatively lazy, gifted at working smarter rather than harder”, being brilliant largely in their tactics “to achieve a maximal GPA in return for minimal effort.” - http://www.conservapedia.com/Harvard_University#cite_ref-17


13 posted on 02/02/2013 8:38:15 AM PST by daniel1212 (Come to the Lord Jesus as a contrite damned+destitute sinner, trust Him to save you, then live 4 Him)
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To: goodnesswins

I guess if you actually are stupid enough to get caught cheating, then you have failed the cheating curriculum at Harvard.

Only those who can cheat without being so obvious at it that a third grader could figure it out are worthy of the Harvard diploma.


14 posted on 02/02/2013 8:42:52 AM PST by P-Marlowe (There can be no Victory without a fight and no battle without wounds.)
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To: P-Marlowe
I thought cheating was a virtue with liberals.

Cheating is.

Getting caught is not.

15 posted on 02/02/2013 8:46:52 AM PST by Izzy Dunne (Hello, I'm a TAGLINE virus. Please help me spread by copying me into YOUR tag line.)
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To: Strategerist

They expect integrity from students who take a class called

“Introduction to Congress”

They must be insane.


16 posted on 02/02/2013 8:49:49 AM PST by Venturer
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To: daniel1212

Oh, let’s be honest - you don’t go to Harvard or Yale for a good education: that can be had in almost any university. You go to those institutions because you want to get ahead, to develop the attitude and make the connections and carry the name that will lead to positions of wealth and power. Honesty and integrity are obviously no longer required in such positions in our society, so why should we expect honesty and integrity among those attracted to such institutions?


17 posted on 02/02/2013 8:51:02 AM PST by dagogo redux (A whiff of primitive spirits in the air, harbingers of an impending descent into the feral.)
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To: daniel1212
How is it possible to cheat on a take home exam? I thought that was the purpose.

Besides, I heard it was a course in Gov't Studies. How could there be any rigor in that body of teachings at Harvard?

18 posted on 02/02/2013 8:51:55 AM PST by Paladin2
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To: daniel1212

I have lost track of how many times in my life I have ready the headline about a Harvard cheating scandal.


19 posted on 02/02/2013 8:52:23 AM PST by Georgia Girl 2 (The only purpose of a pistol is to fight your way back to the rifle you should never have dropped.)
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To: billorites

You are going to love this story! There was a girl in one of my son’s classes that cheated during a midterm. Guess how the teacher knew? Well, not only were all the answers exactly the same BUT she actually wrote the other student’s name on top of her paper. Bwahahaha! What a maroon!


20 posted on 02/02/2013 8:53:36 AM PST by momtothree
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