YOU ARE HERE: LAT HomeCollectionsStudents

Letters: Cheaters everywhere

July 20, 2012

Re "Cheating students cheat themselves," Opinion, July 17

Cheating students can be found all over the world today, and it's not due only to poor role models.

Many years ago, when I was teaching middle school math in an American school in Kuwait, cheating was rampant. Students believed that helping friends was obligatory, and they didn't consider the idea of passing along answers before or during a test as cheating.

The only way I was able to combat cheating in my four pre-algebra classes was to write different tests for each class and watch the students closely as they worked.

Did any students try to cheat? Yes, but I caught them. Was it more work for me? Yes, but then I knew who truly needed help and could better address the learning needs of the students.

Valerie Belt

Pacific Palisades

Victor Dorff acknowledges that cheating is a cultural problem and that, until we stop asking our kids to cover for us when we don't want to talk to someone, "pretend" they are a different age to save money or sneak into an extra show without paying, how can we expect them to acquire honesty?

Besides the biblical mandate, the best defense against cheating is and always has been this: What if the kid next to you cheating on his tests ends up being your doctor?

Connie Veldkamp

San Clemente


Los Angeles Times Articles