<story><title>Chinese students and families fight for the right to cheat their exams</title><url>http://www.smh.com.au/world/chinese-students-and-families-fight-for-the-right-to-cheat-their-exams-20130621-2oo6o.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>istorical</author><text>I&amp;#x27;m a spring 2013 undergraduate in CS, and this goes on in America just as it does in China. (the entire process is a charade.) I will admit it without hesitation.&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s incredibly interesting that not a single party in the process sees actual knowledge as the value gained. Everyone sees the piece of paper as the value: the box that&amp;#x27;s checked. How long can such an illusion continue? Your guess is as good as mine. At the end of the day though, you either learn what you need to learn or you don&amp;#x27;t. Industry isn&amp;#x27;t too terrible at calling out those who can&amp;#x27;t produce value, but can only cross their t&amp;#x27;s and dot their i&amp;#x27;s.&lt;p&gt;EDIT: I should definitely draw a distinction between the magnitude of cheating&amp;#x2F;carelessness described in the article and what I encountered at an American university. The article describes a situation that is much worse.</text></item><item><author>spikels</author><text>Cargo Cult Education - Schools are built, students attend, teachers lecture, assignments turned in, tests taken and degrees granted. Everyone gets what they want: politicians, students, staff and parents. Yet nothing needs to be taught and nothing needs to be learned.&lt;p&gt;Doesn&amp;#x27;t this go on a lot more often then we want to admit?</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>glesica</author><text>This has most to do with the student. If the student wishes to acquire knowledge, most American universities can provide the student with a great deal of knowledge. If you are not at such a university (unlikely, though some schools are significantly weaker in some disciplines than other schools, so YMMV), then such a university is generally just a transfer application away (protip: admissions standards are different for transfer applicants, it is &lt;i&gt;generally&lt;/i&gt;, though not universally, easier to get into a more prestigious school as a transfer, having already shown an aptitude for college work).&lt;p&gt;No student at an American university can honestly claim not to have learned anything and yet be blameless for not having learned anything.&lt;p&gt;I will admit that many students are not ready to attend college at the age of 18. I think we should do more to allow students the freedom to take some time to explore their options and possibly even take a year or two off of school before deciding whether or not to attend college, where to attend college, and what to study once there.</text></comment>
<story><title>Chinese students and families fight for the right to cheat their exams</title><url>http://www.smh.com.au/world/chinese-students-and-families-fight-for-the-right-to-cheat-their-exams-20130621-2oo6o.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>istorical</author><text>I&amp;#x27;m a spring 2013 undergraduate in CS, and this goes on in America just as it does in China. (the entire process is a charade.) I will admit it without hesitation.&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s incredibly interesting that not a single party in the process sees actual knowledge as the value gained. Everyone sees the piece of paper as the value: the box that&amp;#x27;s checked. How long can such an illusion continue? Your guess is as good as mine. At the end of the day though, you either learn what you need to learn or you don&amp;#x27;t. Industry isn&amp;#x27;t too terrible at calling out those who can&amp;#x27;t produce value, but can only cross their t&amp;#x27;s and dot their i&amp;#x27;s.&lt;p&gt;EDIT: I should definitely draw a distinction between the magnitude of cheating&amp;#x2F;carelessness described in the article and what I encountered at an American university. The article describes a situation that is much worse.</text></item><item><author>spikels</author><text>Cargo Cult Education - Schools are built, students attend, teachers lecture, assignments turned in, tests taken and degrees granted. Everyone gets what they want: politicians, students, staff and parents. Yet nothing needs to be taught and nothing needs to be learned.&lt;p&gt;Doesn&amp;#x27;t this go on a lot more often then we want to admit?</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>gems</author><text>&amp;quot;I&amp;#x27;m a spring 2013 undergraduate in CS, and this goes on in America just as it does in China. (the entire process is a charade.) I will admit it without hesitation.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;www.de.ufpe.br&amp;#x2F;~toom&amp;#x2F;my-articles&amp;#x2F;engeduc&amp;#x2F;ARUSSIAN.PDF&lt;p&gt;The article is about a Russian mathematician who starts teaching in American universities. The same thing already happens in America with these &amp;#x27;business calculus&amp;#x27; courses.</text></comment>