Anonymous wrote:Lots of cheating in Sidwell US, much worse since Covid

The cheating in Sidwell’s Chemistry 1A class (current sophomores) has been terrible this year!

Anonymous wrote:As my kid at a very competitive public high school explained, everyone was doing it, and the workload was so burdensome, and the pressure was so great to take many AP classes, that not to do it would’ve put them in terrible place for college admissions. So that’s the state of education in America today.

The inflated grades are hurting them, one way or another.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As my kid at a very competitive public high school explained, everyone was doing it, and the workload was so burdensome, and the pressure was so great to take many AP classes, that not to do it would’ve put them in terrible place for college admissions. So that’s the state of education in America today.

When proctors don’t proctor and allow students to cheat on AP exams it speaks volumes about their priorities. It’s all about the class ranking to help feed admissions stats.

But to clarify, it wasn’t even about the AP exams. It was regular classroom quizzes and tests, assignments and essays.

Anonymous wrote:As my kid at a very competitive public high school explained, everyone was doing it, and the workload was so burdensome, and the pressure was so great to take many AP classes, that not to do it would’ve put them in terrible place for college admissions. So that’s the state of education in America today.

When proctors don’t proctor and allow students to cheat on AP exams it speaks volumes about their priorities. It’s all about the class ranking to help feed admissions stats.

Yes it's not possible to use a detector. Id be wary of any administration that tried to use one to make disciplinary decisions.

Anonymous wrote:IDK. At DD's school, they run everything through some sort of AI system to see if cheating is happening. Even if two kids work together on an essay answer, it catches the similarities.

Kids always outsmart the detectors.

They have chatGPT write something, then they tell it to add some typos, then they look for certain words that AI loves to use and replace with a synonym, then they run it through the same detector the teacher use…and like magic the detector says it’s 90%+ written by a human.

The detectors have their own issues. Someone put bible passages through them and all said the Bible was probably 100% AI. The Bible uses a bunch of random words that AI likes to use.

As my kid at a very competitive public high school explained, everyone was doing it, and the workload was so burdensome, and the pressure was so great to take many AP classes, that not to do it would’ve put them in terrible place for college admissions. So that’s the state of education in America today.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lots of cheating in Sidwell US, much worse since Covid

So much cheating at DS’s US too, also noticed increase since Covid. No honor code. The non-cheating students and teachers are frustrated by the lack of support from administration. Blatant sophisticated group cheating with multiple reports and no follow through or repercussions from administrators. Seems like cheating is blatant in college too, so maybe this is a way to prep them for their future “success.”

I’m bummed to hear it continues in college. My DS tells me he is seeing a lot of it this year (junior).

Anonymous wrote:Lots of cheating in Sidwell US, much worse since Covid

So much cheating at DS’s US too, also noticed increase since Covid. No honor code. The non-cheating students and teachers are frustrated by the lack of support from administration. Blatant sophisticated group cheating with multiple reports and no follow through or repercussions from administrators. Seems like cheating is blatant in college too, so maybe this is a way to prep them for their future “success.”

So what are the consequences for using ChatGPT or cheating? Are they real or just a slap on the wrist?

Lots of cheating in Sidwell US, much worse since Covid

IDK. At DD's school, they run everything through some sort of AI system to see if cheating is happening. Even if two kids work together on an essay answer, it catches the similarities.

The cheating due to ChatGPT is out of control. The technology has moved so fast that schools are either clueless or too slow to adjust.

It’s very common. ChatGTP and others. I don’t know a rate, but I knew a lot of parents of students who suffered consequences of this last year when my kid was a senior.

How prevalent is cheating at your independent high school? My DS told me 10% of his freshman class had been caught this year—including students who are held up as leaders in the class by the administrators and teachers. I know we live in a high pressure world but this seems insane to me.