I felt that one of the most controversial topics in Freakanomics was that teachers were cheating, and not the students. This was for me the most interesting part of the book because it was surprising to see that a lot of teachers do cheat. All my life, I thought that teachers would never cheat because they are considered role models and always advise students not to cheat. This chapter has helped me see what can happen and was does happen in other parts of our country.
I was thoroughly shocked when I read about how teachers would erase the student's answers and write in the correct ones. They mentioned that the reason most of the teachers cheat is to make the school look better. If they taught the kids well and made sure they were educated, then the teachers wouldn't have to cheat. Teachers always say that cheating is wrong and not allowed, but then they go off and do it! Also, when the student gets caught cheating, they receive a zero and that's it, but when a teacher cheats, they lose their job and is even sometimes mentioned in the news, which gives them a bad rep. If the teachers didn't cheat and the school received a low mark, that would surely be better that "the school with the cheating teachers"
It has also got me wondering that if it happened in Chicago schools, could it happen or is it happening in other major cities like New York, San Francisco, or even Boston. What if it was happening in a nearby city like Brockton? Who knows if its happening in Abington! You can truly never know until the teacher slips up and reveals that they are cheating.
Mike, I completely agree with your view on teacher cheating. When I first read about it in Freakonomics, I was really surprised, because every teacher who has instructed me so far in my schooling career has always kept the best interest of the students in mind. I never thought that a teacher could cheat, and alter a student’s answers on their test until reading about it in this book. What truly frustrated me was that, as stated on page 27, “…teacher cheating is rarely looked for, hardly ever detected, and just about never punished” and as you said, putting their job and reputation at risk. If the teacher put more time focusing on teaching their students rather than figuring out how to cheat, then they would likely not even have to change answers. I hadn’t really thought of teacher cheating outside of Chicago, and I think that was a great point for you to bring up.
ReplyDeleteMike and Alanna i agree as well. I found this very suprising as well because as Mike said we looks to teachers as role models and when a good number of them are cheating its very frustrating to me as a student. They are also only hurting the kids by doing this because then it looks as if the teachers taught everything and its known by the student when really they cheated to make themselves look better.
ReplyDeleteAs this was explained in Freakonomics it took my breath away and kept me engaged in the book.
This was personally my favorite chapter of the book because of, what you all have repeated, the fact that it is so ironic/shocking/surprising/frustrating that teachers would cheat to look better for their reputation (and get more money in some cases). I think the fact that it was such a shock is the reason I enjoyed it, it really kept me engaged like Sam said and opened my eyes to the open possibilities that the world is truly capable of.
ReplyDeleteI don't know how I would even react if I had learned that after a year of having one teacher, and doing great in the class, I would do less than average the next year with a different teacher because that first teacher cheated and 'pushed' me to get better grades. Its just such a bizarre thing to think about.