Over the summer, I had some work to do for AP Language and Composition. It was simple enough; all I had to do was read two books and answer a few free-response essays online. It was set up like an open conversation where students could see the work that their peers had submitted. The purpose of this was so that students could get inspiration for their work. However, I watched in shock as some of my fellow AP students copied one another’s answers, cheating on an assignment that we were given an months to complete.
I have noticed that AP students are often given leeway and trust that students in normal classes don’t get. I’ve seen some of my peers in AP classes get away with almost everything they cheat on while my peers in normal classes frequently have their academic integrity questioned. Because AP and Honors students are assumed to be “good students,” their cheating is often overlooked.
AP students are usually pressured to do well by parents, teachers and desire to get into their dream colleges. This pressure creates a sort of desperation for good grades. Many of the AP students in my classes are willing to do anything to get an A. This includes cheating, copying homework, finding copies of tests online and even outright plagiarism. Morals and honesty take a backseat to the AP student’s need for good grades and high test scores.
To find out what some teachers thought, I went and asked the AP U.S. History teacher Ms. Sue Noice, who also teaches normal U.S. History classes.
“I think they get under our radar,” Ms. Noice said. “They cheat because they have higher stakes but they don’t realize that it hurts them. I think it ultimately comes down to their values and who they are as a person.”
Even so, there are still AP teachers who put a little more faith in their AP students than the students in their normal classes. This faith may come from the fact that the AP program was designed to challenge students who are enthusiastic about learning and seek more knowledge on certain subjects.
“I tend to have trust in my students until they give me a reason not to,” AP Physics 1 teacher Mr. Kevin Slattery said. “I want to believe that they are good people.”
Both doubt and trust, if taken to extremes, would do more harm than good. Constant suspicion would not serve to help the situation, but I think teachers should generally be a little more wary about the integrity of some of their AP students.