Rant of the Week: Cheating

For the most part, I think I’ve dealt with differences between Cambodian and American culture pretty well. You know what they say though, “it’s hard to teach an old dog new tricks,” and I often need to remind myself of the maxim I give Cambodians when they find my own behavior confusing: it’s not wrong, just different. I’d like to say I’m a big enough person to look beyond all those differences, and despite the fact that I know the best policy is just to shrug, laugh and say, “only in the ‘bode!” , there are times when that’s much easier said than done. Who would have guessed the 12th Grade Exams might be my limit???

I could make a list of the countless things that seem rude, troublesome, or frustrating about Cambodia but, believe me, the other volunteers and I have vented enough to know that doesn’t really help. It doesn’t change those things, and it certainly doesn’t help me get over them beyond the momentary relief of knowing I’m not alone in these feelings. There is, however, one thing I just can’t deal with. Cheating.

It’s not rare to see teachers accepting bribes from their students, withholding information in class to ensure students attend their private (no need to add: lucrative) private sessions, or allowing students to copy from one another or their books. I’ve spent hours discussing this problem with my co-teachers, and countless additional hours trying to figure out how a culture that puts so much emphasis on not “loosing face” in front of one’s peers can allow such blatantly dishonorable behavior.

In my own classes, I’ve tried to enforce a strict “NO CHEATING” policy. My co-teachers humor me in this when I’m present, but do nothing of their own volition to support it. For example, during a test I caught two of my students copying from one another. I asked them to stop and when they refused, I walked up to their desks and tried to take their pens from them. They actually wouldn’t let go and attempted to wrestle the pens away from me. Yes, wrestle. Meanwhile, my co-teacher stood by watching this train wreck with no indication that he cared in the slightest. Dare I say he probably secretly thought it was funny? I know I would have, if it hadn't been me.

I’ve yelled, given zeros, appealed to reason, tried to rally the school director ... all to no avail. In fact, my co-teachers now discourage me from attending test days at all because this is clearly a lost cause in their minds and it only makes me upset. They tell me, “Cambodia is a developing country and no one cares,” or they laugh the way they always do when met with an uncomfortable confrontation.

This week was the 12th Grade Exams. That means no other classes were in session (ironically, to prevent cheating and outside disturbance). After 5 days of sitting around my house doing next to nothing, I jumped on the opportunity to help the English department grade the exams. Needless to say, I wasn’t asked to proctor any of these exams -- lest I should actually insist that the students do their own work.

This morning I arrived at the school promptly at 7:30 to begin grading. Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. Happy and snappy. Ready to roll. I sat down, got out my little red pen, and graded the first exam. Now for the second. The test answers were identical. Including the essay. I asked the teachers what I should do since it was so clear the students had cheated. They said I could decide. When I reminded them that I would give both students zeros, they countered, saying it was only 100% clear that the students had cheated on the essay section – and even that was contestable because they could have been copying from a book, in which case, it wasn’t the students’ fault for cheating, but the proctor's fault for not catching them. They all happily agreed I could take off one point from the essay portion, and went on with their own work. Gee, glad we got that settled.

Deep breaths, Kimmel, deep breaths. I swallowed my anger and moved on to the next exam ... but as I began to see more and more answer patterns emerging and realized that not a SINGLE student had written an original essay, which asked students to describe a funeral they’d attended, I felt like I was enabling the system. I kid you not: 53 tests in, and I had only seen four variations to the essay answer. What? Did they all attend the same funeral? Puh-lease. Great men from Edward Burke to the Caped Crusader would agree with me on this -- by standing by and grading the work as if nothing were wrong, I was indirectly supporting the problem. But what could I do? I tried to bring up the issue a few more times during the morning, hoping to reach some consensus about how to deal with the cheating, but each time I was met with the same excuses.

... When they asked me if I’d come back after lunch to continue helping, I politely declined.

Ask any K1s or K2s, and they’ll probably tell you a similar story. Even the Ministry of Education has admitted that cheating is both pervasive and problematic in Cambodia, yet no one will stand firmly against it. It makes me ask the dangerous question: how can I help a country that won’t help itself? As many of you know, this is a question I often struggle with. Yes, I see progress in my students. Yes, I know change has to start somewhere. Yes, some things are just different here. And yes, I realize falling into some existentialist slump about the whole thing doesn’t help anyone ... but that doesn’t make moments like these any easier to swallow.