In the latest example of cheating on high-stakes standardized tests, administrators, teachers and students in at least 19 Massachusetts schools violated the rules when taking statewide exams last spring, according to a Boston Magazine article to be published on Tuesday.
One paragraph began: "The single biggest most obvious example of cheating in the history of soccer took place in Stade De France on November 18th 2009 during the Ireland versus France playoff for qualification to the 2010 World Cup" When you consider the economic impact of missing out on South Africa, it has not been a good few hours for the FAI.
At St . Regis Falls Central Schoolin Franklin County, for example, a verified case of cheating on math tests in 2005-6 led to the suspension of a teacher for one week with pay, a pledge of additional proctors and additional training to faculty members.
A boy hiding a Bluetooth headset inside his turban and a gunman holding back invigilators with a pistol were two of the more shocking examples of cheats employing new tactics during India's exam season.
Examples of cheats would be going to town on a bag of greasy potato chips, or, staying in bed all day with a tub of ice cream.
Examples of student cheating range from copying another's homework, plagiarizing a take-home final exam or using a cell phone to photograph exam questions.
(My favorite example of cheating, by the way, is the boy who ate the cream filling inside the Oreo cookie without eating the actual cookie. I often wonder where that kid is now).
Cohen's enthusiasm for the subject is conspicuously morbid but disturbingly infectious, and his anecdotal footnotes, incredible illustrations and tangential explanations of, for example, the various ways of cheating in a fencing match make for a singularly interesting read.
