Passage 4
Cheating is nothing new. But today, educators and administrators are finding that instances of academic dishonesty on the part of students have become more frequent and are less likely to be punished than in the past. Cheating appears to have gained acceptance among good and poor students alike.
Why is student cheating on the rise? No one really knows. Some blame the trend on a general loosening to the fact that today’s youth are far more pragmatic than their more idealistic predecessors. Whereas in the late sixties and early seventies, students were filled with visions about changing the world, today’s students feel great pressure to conform and succeed. In interviews with students at high schools and colleges around the country, both young men and women said that cheating had become easy. Some suggested they did it out of spite for teachers they did not respect. Others looked at it as a game. Only if they were caught, some said, would they feel guilty. “People are competitive,” said a second-year college student named Anna, from Chicago. There’s an underlying fear. If you don’t do well, your life is going to be ruined. The pressure is not only from parents and friends but from yourself. To achieve. To succeed. It’s almost as though we have to outdo other people to achieve our own goals.
Edward Wynne, editor of a magazine, blames the rise in academic dishonesty on the schools. He claims that administrators and teachers have been too hesitant to take action. Dwight Huber, chairman of the English department at Amarillo sees the matter differently, blaming the rise in cheating on the way students are evaluated. “I would cheat if I felt I was being cheated,” Mr. Huber said. He feels that as long as teachers give short-answer tests rather than essay questions and rate students by the number of facts they can memorize rather than by how well they can synthesize information, students will try to beat the system. “The concept of cheating is based on the false assumption that the system is legitimate and there is something wrong with the individual who’s doing it,” he said. “That’s too easy an answer. We’ve got to start looking at the system.”
46. Educators are finding that students who cheat ______.
A. are more likely to be punished than before.
B. have poor academic records
C. can be academically weak or strong
D. use the information in later years.
47. Today’s youth are described as more pragmatic than their predecessors because ______.
A. they think more of themselves
B. they don’t have a global vision
C. the era of ideal has passed
D. they cheat more than their predecessors
48. Which of the following statements is NOT true?
A. Both good and poor students would accept cheating.
B. Administrators and teachers often take severe punishment on cheating.
C. Today’s students feel great pressure to do well.
D. Students of the 1960s and 1970s were filled with visions about changing the world.
49. What does “the system” (para. 3) refer to?
A. The education system.
B. The school system.
C. The system by which schools punish cheating.
D. The system by which students are evaluated.
50. Which of the following would Dwight Huber probably agree with?
A. The educational system is sound, and students must follow every rule.
B. Parents alone must take responsibility for the rise in student cheating.
C. There should be some change in the examination and rating system.
D. Students who cheat should be expelled from school.
