• Xanis@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    Nah, cheating is fine, if used sparingly and under specific, niche circumstances, and in ways that don’t harm others. As an example: I was struggling with Calculus. Like basically getting my ass handed to me. I went to all the study sessions, saw the Professor in their office several times, found a math tutor, and fuck me the info just wasn’t sticking. I put in legitimate effort and it wasn’t working and I wasn’t about to let one class shit on years of hard work towards a degree. So: I cheated.

    We were allowed your typical little notecard. For the record, this is math. Make that shit open book, dear instructors. I know you all looking up near every formula yourself anyway. I digress. I slapped two notecards together and slapped a third into the fold. I had a very non-traditional schooling as a child so the rules as formulas changed were really getting me and I needed those and other reminders. Long as I had those I was fine. Still only squeaked by with a C.

    Cheating in many situations is a very reasonable morally unjustifiable thing to do. If you’re not actively fucking over someone that doesn’t deserve it, or causing no harm, I honestly see no problem.

    Thaaat saaaid, cough Thomas Edison cough, some cheating should be punished.

    • sexual_tomato@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      5 months ago

      Even though the school might call that cheating, I don’t really think it is.

      All of my engineering and math classes were open book, open notes. I got lucky in that all of my professors (except one (fuck you Dr. Aung)) designed exams such that they tested understanding, not memorization.

      And here I am, 10 years later, still able to solve most of these problems without looking at a textbook for reference other than tables and formulas, despite not having worked in the field for half that time.

      I got a mechanical engineering degree. Two the most useful classes I took were microeconomics and circuits 1.

      • Xanis@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        This is a part of what I was trying to say. What I did is considered cheating. Yet it is defined as such largely by those who place artificial, and sometimes extremely unfair, limitations in place. Many of which serve no real purpose. Yet often if it works in their favor such “cheating” becomes a convenience.

        In academia cheating is rightly frowned upon and often definable by the cheaters removal much of the time. Yet as a general rule I feel it has its place, and plenty of us use some form of it in our daily lives. Many of us are not particularly dishonest or openly practice deception with others, though we withhold truths amongst other mostly acceptable social whims. I’d bet though most of us have gone to the bathroom for too long at work. Chatted with a colleague. “Forgot” to reply to that email. Faked being sick. All defined in some way under the larger moniker of “cheating”.

        Not saying any of it is right or wrong specifically. Just laying justification for why I believe this.