Student Choices: My Homework or Our Homework?

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At the Center

Wednesday, Apr. 29, 2009

Part of a collection of ethics cases for college students being developed by the Ethics Center, this story asks when collaboration becomes cheating:

Kyle and Aaron are roommates taking a calculus class together this term. Their professor encourages collaboration on homework. Because Kyle finds calculus much easier than does Aaron, Kyle almost always ends up doing the work first, poring over the complex problems before they meet. Aaron then relies on Kyle to explain the problem to him, showing him the approach and the homework he plans to hand in. Kyle now feels that Aaron is taking advantage of him.

Should Kyle demand that Aaron do more of the work, even if it takes him twice as long? If Aaron doesn’t do his share of the homework, should Kyle stop their joint homework, or even tell the professor that the way it worked out, Aaron just copied Kyle’s homework for each class?

Posted by Miriam Schulman

Comments

Denice said on Sep 23, 2009: Is there a difference between cheating and irresponsibility?
Stanley said on Oct 14, 2009: SHAME =)
que te importa said on Oct 20, 2009: idiotas
tomuchfortv said on Oct 26, 2009: he should do homework one day and his roommate another
Mary said on Oct 29, 2009: kyle should ask Aaron which bit of the homework he doesnt understand, then help Aaron. and Aaron should do his own homework, cause if someone else does your work for you, you will never understand the subject.
Austin Gaddis said on Nov 20, 2009: Homework is a way for the state to issue its bio-political hands on us and control our epistemology of life. The capitalist framework is the only thing holding up this idea of homework, since the capitalist system only wants white-happy-go-lucky-businessmen they will never let us learn anything that they would find harming to this capitalist self image of a worker. The time in which Aaron is not doing his homework he should be reading Zizek, Foucault, Heidegger, etc. or at least attempt to think in a non-systematic way that the system makes us thing. Kyle should not make Aaron do the homework because he would be helping the exploitive system.
Kevin said on Nov 25, 2009: I feel that Kyle is a very good study and learning partner. I say "carry on sharing knowledge, Kyle." As to Aaron, "Make sure you learn and understand the solutions,and then try to solve the problems yourself. Refer to Kyle when you're 'stuck' and not able to proceed with the solution. If Aaron finally make it on his own, that's what education is about, sharing of knowledge. Cheers.
occasionallyhelpful said on Jan 5, 2010: Whether you are capitalist, socialist, or communist, you are a burden to everyone and everything around you if you choose to simply sit around and read. College, as well as the idea of homework, is meant to prepare people to be productive members of society, which means creating your own material instead of reading or copying the work of others. If you are capitalist, you then go out and sell your new material for personal profit. If you are socialist or communist, you go out and share your new material, and then you sit around and wait for the collective profits of your society to trickle down to you. Unfortunately, though, if your society is not profitable, then you do not receive money from your "system". Kyle should at the very most be giving Aaron help with the concepts in his homework through examples, not simply babying Aaron through each individual problem. Coddling Aaron defeats the purpose of his even going through the motions of the homework.
Neah Malue said on Feb 8, 2010: I believe when the prof talks about colaboration, it means studing togeter to help the weaker one. When the work is done by Kyle in isolation and copied by Aaron, it is no longer colaboration but cheating.
Sherry said on Apr 8, 2010: As a teacher, a way I can help this issue be resolved is to not count homework as part of the grade in class. It can be impossible to tell if students do the work independently or with help from friends, internet, parents, etc. Homework should be practice of concepts: so cheating only hurts the person who doesn't know the material when the test comes around. Only in a test environment can you tell what one individual has mastered. So if homework's only worth was to practice and clarify misconceptions, maybe students would use it to LEARN instead of complete it as all costs.
Andrew said on May 23, 2010: You can see that Aaron is not only a dolt in the math thing, but is a crummy friend. He brings nothing to his relationship with Kyle, and for that reason Kyle should dump him. I am impressed that the professor is bad at her job and dumps the burden of instruction on students and calls it collaboration. Isn't that how it always works though, either we find the way to understand material in spite of bad instructors or we find friends to help us. I was always bad at the friend thing, so I did the best I could with the math thing. At least I wasn't as stupid as Aaron and thought I could keep leaching off of people and expect them to keep smiling!
mylz said on Jun 29, 2010: for the students to do their homework themselves, the teacher should explain the asignment clearly before giving it to his/ her students.in this manner, cheating would be minimized.
kellibusiethics said on Aug 29, 2010: What Aaron is trying to do is helpful not only to Kyle but also to himself. In this case Aaron is clearly being taken advantage of by Kyle, an alternative to cheating would be seeking help or tutoring from an outside source. It is not shameful to ask for guidance on something you haven't mastered, although getting it from someone who is not fully acknowledging the situation for what it is "tutoring" could present a conflict. Easy Solution: Let Kyle find the assistance he needs without Aaron fueling his unmastered achievements.
Robert HillII said on Sep 14, 2010: Kyle should help Aaron to best of his ability but if Aaron keep being lazy and not try to learn to comprehend than the answers easy. Tell Aaron he need another partner and there no hard feeling. When someone is being use they either let it keep going hoping it will stop , or let that person go do his thing on his own. Basically if your not going to put no effort to it you need to be cut off and fend for yourself.
Roger Ingrum said on Feb 2, 2011: he should tell his roommate if you want me to do your part of the homework then you have to pay
slayer... said on Feb 5, 2011: i like your answer roger... hahaha

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At the Center

Student Choices: My Homework or Our Homework?

Wednesday, Apr. 29, 2009

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