upworthy

university

Education

Historic video shows betrayed professor turning classroom into the ultimate ethics experiment

The students must have been stunned.

via SubZero Cobra/YouTube

Professor Richard Quinn catches his students cheating.

A 2010 video of a business professor at the University of Central Florida standing up against cheating in his classroom has resurfaced on Instagram, and it’s worth sharing for those who’ve never heard the story. The professor’s stern warning to students about the dangers of cheating is so memorable that it’s been highlighted on the American Rhetoric historic speech database. It’s also notable for the unique approach he took to outing the cheaters: come forward and admit you cheated, or face dire consequences if we find out you did.

In November of 2010, Professor Richard Quinn addressed his students in a videotaped lecture, where he noted that the test scores "were a grade and a half higher than [they had] ever had run before,” he said. This led him to believe that someone had circulated the test among his 600 students. “This is, as some of you out there know, because some of you out there are also in possession of this, is the complete test bank for the midterm exam," Quinn said.

A test bank is a set of questions created by a textbook publisher for professors to use in creating quizzes, exams, and assessments.

What is the University of Central Florida cheating scandal?

(The entire speech is available at the end of the story.)

In his speech to his class Quinn lays it out simply: “During the course of Monday, the lab instructors basically took a look at the data, started receiving emails from students who were concerned and upset that classmates had been bragging to them, that they had advanced copies of the exam, and that they aced the exam because they had all the answers ahead of time."

Quinn then told the students that he knew about a third, or 200, of them had cheated, and gave a list to the dean’s office, claiming to be 95% certain. He also threw out all the scores, and a retest would be administered. "To say I'm disappointed is beyond comprehension," he said. "Physically ill, absolutely disgusted, disillusioned, trying to figure out what the last 20 years were all about."

Quinn gave the cheaters two options

“So, here's the deal. If you participated in this, you have a choice. You can sit back in silence and hope your name doesn't get caught in the net, which is very quickly closing around the participants; or you can, individually, quietly, one-by-one, anonymously if you wish, to the rest of your classmates, identify yourself to your lab instructor,” Quinn said." And, providing you complete a four-hour ethics course being offered by the folks over in Academic Affairs, any permanent record of this will be wiped from your transcripts. There'll be no further action taken.” But those who don’t turn themselves in and get caught face punishment, including expulsion, from Academic Affairs.

students in library, library studying, college students, university students, study hall A group of students studying.via Canva/Photos

Some students complained that they didn’t know they were cheating when fellow students provided them with the information. “If the professor neither sent nor mentioned it, and it went to only some of the students—not to the whole class list (and not from the professor or a teaching assistant)—I would think they should have questioned its legitimacy,” Teddi Fishman, director of the International Center for Academic Integrity at Clemson University, told UCF.

How did students react to Quinn's ultimatum?

After Quinn’s ultimatum, what did the students do? According to the University of Central Florida, around 200 students from Quinn’s class turned themselves in, admitting to cheating on the test—the same number that he predicted. Fifteen students, believed to have cheated, did not turn themselves in and faced disciplinary action from the Academic Affairs office.

The video is making its rounds again because of the great way that Quinn makes his case in front of his students. It’s like a procedural crime show you’d see on TV where a detective methodically figures out who the killer is, while staring them in the face. But on a deeper level, you can see the pain in his heart, the betrayal he felt from the people he was trying to help: his students. The video shows that he is an educator who cares deeply not only about how his students perform academically but also about who they grow to be as individuals.

- YouTube www.youtube.com


university
EducationTeachers
Wellness

A college professor's Thanksgiving message to students is bringing people to tears

Photo by 🇨🇭 Claudio Schwarz | @purzlbaum on Unsplash, leah girl/Twitter

One of the fun surprises when you get to college is learning that most college professors are not nearly as scary as your high school teachers made them out to be. Some are tough, for sure, and there are always a few a-holes thrown into the mix, but for the most part professors are smart, compassionate human beings who care about both the academic performance and the personal well-being of their students.

But some take it even a step farther.

A college student on Twitter shared a pre-Thanksgiving e-mail she and her classmates received from a professor, and it's just the best example of real human-kindness.

It reads:

"Good morning. I know this has been a difficult time for a lot of you—some of you have had Covid, some of you are currently in quarantine, and some of you may not be able to go home for Thanksgiving as you have family members who are socially distancing.

I don't want anyone to feel alone at Thanksgiving, or to miss out on a homecooked family dinner, so I want to invite you to share my Thanksgiving dinner. I've talked with my kids and we would be happy to make extra portions of everything and drop it by your apartment or residence (as long as it's within a 20 mile radius of ____.) Since we're all socially distancing we would leave it outside and not have physical contact with you.

I truly want you to take me up on this offer if you are in town. As I mentioned, my kids have been socially distancing and will make the food wearing masks to reduce the likelihood of anything being spread.

My youngest daughter is vegan so there'll be a vegan option. Check out the menu below.

If you are socially distancing with a roommate or significant other, I'd be happy to drop off two or even three portions."

It appears from the poster's bio that this professor is from the University of Iowa. After the tweet went viral, people began asking if there was a way that they could donate to help fun her generous effort. Then came the follow-up: "She emailed me back and said she 'truly does not want donations' but is blown away from the response. :)"

The post prompted others to share supportive and generous messages from their own professors, lending further credence to the idea that teachers are genuinely the best people on the planet.




Most of the responses, though, were people who said the email made them teary, as it's a much-needed example of the kinds of people the world needs more of.

But the truth is there are a lot of people like this out there. My own daughter is a college student and any time she's been dealing with mental health struggles, her professors have not just been accommodating, but actively and personally supportive. She's had teachers share their own experiences with her and made sure she knew she wasn't alone. She's an A-student, and when her anxiety has spiked, she's been given the time and grace she needed to work through her struggles without sacrificing her grades. She's learned that being responsible and being healthy are not mutually exclusive, and that compassion is a key component of learning.

So yes, thank goodness for kind and generous teachers who don't need to go above and beyond their work with students in the classroom but so often do so anyway. That kind of caring will be remembered far longer than any facts or figures and will go a long way toward building the better world we all want to live in.

From Your Site Articles
Related Articles Around the Web
WellnessHeroesEducation & Information
Equality

If you want an example of how NOT to do diversity, please see this university's tweets

@nuffsaidny/Twitter

Our society has come a long way when it comes to acknowledging and celebrating diversity in its many forms. At least we like to think we have.

The problem is that sometimes, instead of elevating historically marginalized people, leveling the playing field, or genuinely seeking different perspectives, "diversity" becomes a paper goal and yet another way to pay lip service to progress while actually inflicting harm.

Case in point: This tweet by the University of Missouri Athletics Department.

@brvand0/Twitter

As explained by The Riverfront Times:

"There seems to be a clear difference in the messages displayed between white and black student athletes. There was gymnast Chelsey Christensen — 'I am a future doctor"'— and swimmer/diver CJ Kovac — "'I am a future corporate financer.' Opposite them were two black student athletes, whose texts did not include the word 'future' or even mention their areas of study. Instead, runner Arielle Mack is shown stating only, 'I am an African American woman.'

Similarly, Chad Jones-Hicks — who appears to not be a student athlete, but rather a 'Ticket Office Assistant' according to Mizzou's website — is shown stating only, 'I value equality.'

I'm sorry, what?

The tweet was quickly called out for its…what do you even call this? Absurdity? Offensiveness? Bizarre lack of awareness of how racist and wrong putting those images and words together was?

Identifying the two white athletes by their future careers, but not the two black athletes, is a choice that can only be steeped in conscious or unconscious perceptions of race. I can't see any other explanation. What's baffling is how no one involved in the making or sharing of the images seemed to notice the problem.

RELATED: A teacher had her 8th graders write 'funny' captions under slavery-era photos. Seriously, WTF.

The school tried to apologize for their "mistake" and smooth things over by sharing a video of the athletes describing themselves. In the video, the words shared with their images are shown to be their own quotes—"I am an African American woman," for example—but those same athletes also shared their future career goals as well.

Why on earth would you pick these quotes to accompany the photos and not the same career-oriented ones shared with the white athletes? Why would you not put "I am a future physical therapist" instead of "I am an African American woman," when we can see her race quite clearly from the photo? Why would "I value equality" be at all a compelling identifier? Isn't that just a given?

Another image shared by Mizzou showed black athlete Caulin Graves with a banner said that, "I am a brother." Really? The vast majority of males on the planet are brothers, not to mention the allusion to the colloquial use of 'brother' in the black community. Graves' full quote in the video was "I am a brother, uncle, and best of all, I am a leader." Why on God's green earth would you choose "I am a brother" over "I am a leader"?

Writer and speaker Ally Henny, who frequently addresses issues of race in society, explained why the images drew immediate ire on her Facebook page.

She wrote:

"This story is what you get when you view black, brown, and indigenous bodies as a deviation from the norm and inherently political. This 'attempt' at equity and inclusion demonstrates how people at this institution in particular and white people in general have a lack of imagination when it comes to black athletes.

Black athletes are seen as people who bring their beloved institutions and teams money, but they have no real value beyond the physical labor they produce that brings their institution prestige.White athletes, in contrast, are perceived to have a future beyond college sports. They are 'future [fill in the blanks].'

Black athletes are there so people will think that their racist school in their racist little town isn't actually racist. Their majors don't matter. Their aspirations don't matter. Their futures don't matter. The only thing that matters is that NCAA money."

We clearly still have a ways to go on the racism front, folks.

RELATED: Using the 'dictionary definition of racism' defense is a sure sign you don't understand racism.

If you're looking for an example of how not to do a diversity announcement, this is it. It's also worth pointing out that diversity and inclusion shouldn't need a self-shout-out on Twitter anyway. An institution that manages to create an environment that truly enables and embraces diversity, and does so in a way that is meaningful and beneficial to those it seeks to include, will speak for itself. No slogans or hashtags needed.

And until such environments becomes the norm, campaigns such as this will keep missing the mark.

Equality
Most Shared

Here's the plan to erase student debt for more than 42 million Americans right now.

There are two things that most of us can reasonably agree on:

  1. That education is important and should be provided to any American that needs, wants, or otherwise shows interest in obtaining it.
  2. That paying for that education has become catastrophically difficult. And though it used to be that one could go to college, get a good job upon graduating, and then buy a nice house complete with a fenced-in backyard in which to raise 2.5 children, that's now a pipe dream many university students can't even afford to think about.

So what do we do? Some cities, including San Francisco, have already made their community colleges free for residents. But that's just one small step towards a future where education's affordable for everyone.

On Monday, presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren released a memo on how the college system could be altered to make it achievable for all.

Warren's proposing that more college be free and that federal Pell grants be expanded. She's also suggesting that student loan debts should be wiped out, ensuring that future generations get a leg up on their futures.

"As states have invested less per-student at community colleges and public four-year colleges, the schools themselves have raised tuition and fees to make up the gap," Warren wrote in a post on Medium.

"And rather than stepping in to hold states accountable, or to pick up more of the tab and keep costs reasonable, the federal government went with a third option: pushing families that can’t afford to pay the outrageous costs of higher education towards taking out loans."

The result, Warren points out is "a huge student loan debt burden that’s crushing millions of families and acting as an anchor on our economy."

"It’s reducing home ownership rates. It’s leading fewer people to start businesses. It’s forcing students to drop out of school before getting a degree. It’s a problem for all of us."

Here's what Warren's plan would look like.

Under her proposed policy, Warren would wipe out $50,000 worth of student loans for anyone who's annual household income is less than $100,000. Anyone with a household income of less than $250,000 would also receive substantial reductions.

Those whose incomes are higher than $250,000 would continue paying off student loans without changes. However, as Huffington Post notes, the proposed plan would help 42 million people in The United States. That's 95% of anyone who's attended or is currently attending college.

Warren's plan also includes a significant amount of money being invested in historically black colleges and universities, more diversity in two and four-year colleges, and an end to the government-helping fund for-profit colleges, which prey on economically disadvantaged communities.

The policy sounds great — more students attaining college degrees while being allowed more control over their financial futures — but it's going to be a tall order to implement right now.

Aside from hand-wringing concern trolls who are already out in full force on Twitter, demanding to know why anyone would go to a college they can't afford (while ignoring that higher education has become so expensive that even state schools are out of reach for many), there's the very real issue of convincing voters that the $1.25 trillion the program would cost over ten years is viable.

Warren believes it would be possible by raising the tax on families that earn more than $50 million a year, something that might also ruffle some feathers during the next election cycle.

Still — a population that's educated and not overwhelmed with debt? That sounds pretty good no matter who you voted for in the last election.

Most Shared
Trending Stories