Tuesday, February 26, 2008

My brush with academic dishonesty

Oh boy!

Tonight while taking a chemistry exam, I found my paper being jerked away and me being told to get into the hall. "NOW!" Actually, it wasn't me being yelled at, it was the girl behind me, but he meant me as well.

Oh my goodness. My heart was pounding and I could hear the blood rushing in my ears. What did I do? Did I look like I was cheating? How was that possible? My head was down the whole time, looking neither right nor left. My bottom lip started to tremble and I just knew I'd be blubbering in a matter of seconds.

Of course the murmur that ran across the room in a wave didn't help my flushed face or make me feel the least bit better. Humiliation with a generous sprinkle of fear best describes how I felt.

Evidently the girl sitting behind me was copying my paper over my shoulder. Where I had mechanisms and showed my work, she just had my answers.

According to Dr. T., there was some real neck-craning going on. I felt stupid. I was so intent on my test I didn't notice that some little dim-wit was cheating off my paper.

He laid down the law, gave me back my test to finish, and escorted her out of the building. I sure would hate to be wearing her shoes right about now.

I went back in and finished my test. My writing was so small by the time I was done any cheating would have to be done with binoculars.

I have always been too scared to cheat on an exam, not to mention it's just wrong.

I feel about cheating the same way I feel about eavesdropping. You may not necessarily get the right answer just like you might not like what you hear.

I never did cry, but I sure did feel like it.

4 comments:

Annie said...

Bless your heart! I can sympathize with the lip trembling. I would have been a blubbering fool before I ever got out of my chair!

Aunt Jo said...

I was so proud that I didn't start bawling.

I heard today that she's been expelled from the university. Ouch!

Unknown said...

Oh no, how scary!! You did good!

SchnauzerMom said...

I probably would have started crying after I got over the shock.