How To Stop Chinese Cheating
Last year I read an article which reported on pervasive cheating in China by applicants to American colleges, but I had no answer to the problem and so postponed blogging about it:
Forbes, College Apps Cheating Scandal Is A Learning Moment For China
“Why do students cheat on U.S. college applications?” asks a Western teacher in China.
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A research report in 2010 by Zinch China, an online social networking and research business that matches Chinese students with colleges and scholarships, reveals pervasive cheating on US college apps in China, driven in part by hyper-competitive parents and aggressive agents. 90% of recommendation letters are fake; 70% of essays are not written by the applicant; and 50% of high school transcripts are falsified. Chinese applicants typically cheat in five major categories: recommendation letters, essays, high school transcripts, financial aid applications, and awards.
Of course, Chinese students cheat in Chinese schools as well, not just on American college applications. To fight the problem, Chinese authorities have resorted to jamming cellphone signals during exam time:
Techdirt, China To Scramble Phone Signals To Prevent Student Cheating
There have been plenty of stories about kids in schools cheating by using mobile phones. While it's illegal to use jammers in the US, apparently there's no such concern in China. As students get ready for the big college entrance exams next week, apparently the plan is to scramble mobile phone signals around exam halls in an effort to prevent cheating.
Caption for photo at top of this post: "The principal of this middle school in Wuhan, Hubei province, ordered the students to sit their exam outdoors on the playground in order to prevent cheating from taking place."
Interestingly, while innocently surfing for "the benefits of nude schools" I found the following photo of a supposed class in China that has found a real solution to the problem of students cheating (click on image for large NSFW view):
