Cheatin'

So I took the Art Hx midterm, which was not too bad except I couldn't for the life of me remember the names of any of the Renaissance Flemish artists and of course there were like half a dozen questions about them and their works of art. Drat.

But the most interesting thing about the test was that I sat there and watched another student cheat her way through the test. She kept her notebook on her desk with her notes sort of sticking out, and when she ran across a question she didn't know the answer to, she just opened her notes, found the answer, then wrote it down. This was obviously not the first time she'd done this. She had the procedure worked out pretty well. Wow. I wanted to poke her and call her a cheater, cheater, punkin' eater.

Okay, so what's the protocol when you witness a cheater? Do you squeal? Do you snitch? Do you become a tattletale? Or do you let it slide? I mean, I and most of the rest of the class at least put some effort into being prepared for the test. It wasn't meant to be an open book test, unless everybody else missed that little announcement. At least I earned the grade I got, whether it turns out to be good or bad.

Isn't there some moral message here? Or is it no big deal? Does her cheating really effect the rest of us in any way? I don't know. All I know is that it irked me for some reason. I've never cheated on a test. I manage to work 40+ hrs per week, go to school full time, and manage a family and still get on the President's List without cheating. Maybe I'm just an uptight old (okay, middle-aged?) lady, but if I can manage to study for the test with everything I've got going on, it shouldn't be that hard for a kid to do the same.

I just wonder if this little episode of cheating is symptomatic of something larger, or if it's all just my imagination? Just wondering.