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Comment by pdenya | Hacker News Reader

It's incredible how high the punishments for cheating are. 1 year suspension for collaborating on a take home test?

You can cheat on a final at Harvard and not be expelled?

I also found this surprising. While penalties at some schools may seem extreme I think expulsion, immediate failure of the class, etc are perfectly reasonable consequences. Catching a student cheating isn't very easy, its shockingly common, and it takes a toll on the rest of the student body that doesn't cheat.

I consistently notified teachers when I saw blatant occurrences of cheating. The last thing I want is for my Alma Mater to be producing an unethical alumni body that waters down the value of my degree and GPA.

The article mentions the blurred line between collaborating and cheating. Seems like this is the former since it requires analysis rather than just comparing matching answers.

But the point is... does the line even exist? Why should a line that does not produce optimal results exist? Wouldn't you be able to come up with a better articulated answer to a question if you see the responses of all your peers first? The problem is well then we can't grade you because we can't separate you from your peers. But then why go to school in the first place? To get affirmation or to learn?

Clearly, the punishments aren't high enough if half of a course weighs their options and decides to cheat anyway. And compared to most universities a 1 year suspension for cheating on an exam seems very lenient.

I know a guy who was suspended for a year for lifting a few sentences from a previous paper he had written, and using them in a different paper for a different course, without attributing himself.

It looks like that's the worst possible punishment, I doubt anyone will get that.

They should be thanking their lucky stars they aren't at Virginia.

So don't cheat.

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