Cheating is clearly a cultural thing. Yes, we definitely have cheating in American schools and universities, but it is nothing like in Russia. You see, in Russia, cheating doesn't carry much stigma, and even good students who know all the answers will look at their neighbors' papers "just to make sure." The bad students take cheating to a whole new level, and they are insanely creative about it. I know that my students can get creative and cheat on all my quizzes and exams, and actually I don't care all that much--they are the only ones they are cheating. If they really want to carve words into the pencil (and don't laugh--that's a real story that has happened here in the past), they are truly desperate--this is a non-academic school that exists to teach language. These cheaters are only depriving themselves of knowledge (and wasting money).

But I will combat--and aggressively--obvious cheating. For example, today I gave a quiz, and some of my teenagers were so blatantly cheating that it was laughable. One group of girls made absolutely no attempt to disguise their group thinking, so I just strolled up and took their quizzes. I told them--in Russian--that I though they were finished because they were talking. Oh the looks on their faces! At least I gave them the points they had already "earned;" next time I'll just give them a zero and make them come in and take a different version of the quiz in front of the secretary at the American Home, and she can be quite strict if she wants to.

It's strange though--the kids who cheat don't score any better than the ones who don't. Actually, there is one girl who is quite smart, but she is part of this brain trust that I busted today. And the funny thing is, she would have done a lot better if she stuck to her own answers. She crossed out several correct answers probably as a result of consulting with her girlfriends, and she almost failed the quiz as a result.

Maybe this whole cheating culture is rooted in the deeper Russian self-doubt and inclination toward group work. The girl who had the right answers and crossed them out probably saw that her friends thought something different than her and immediately doubted her answers. This, coupled with the traditional Russian distaste for overly self-confidant people, certainly casts cheating in a whole new light. Cheating is like insurance. As one of our Russian teachers put it, people cheat here not because they don't know the answers, not because they aren't smart, and not because they don't respect the teacher but because they want to make very sure that they make themselves and their group look even smarter than they are.

I must say, a year ago I certainly didn't think that I would be battling cheating Russian teenagers! Life's interesting like that.