Cheating Yourself

I helped a student with Civics. He had made an 80 on his mastery test and was trying to improve to a 100. The topic was the Declaration of Independence. I pulled up the tutorial and asked him what the Declaration was. He said he didn't know. My head started to hurt. I asked him what the 4th of July was about. He said, doesn't it have something to do with the Chinese? My head fully exploded. He's in the 7th grade and doesn't know about the Declaration or why we celebrate the 4th of July? And he supposedly just took this tutorial and mastery test before he came to me for help. After I went over the tutorial with him, he learned something, although he was bored while I was going over the information.

Here is the problem with virtual school and any alternative virtually based school program. The students are left to do independent study, and without appropriate supervision, they watch the tutorial but do not listen. They take the test and mark the answers they get wrong. Retake the tests and mark the answers they still got wrong. They take the tests again, changing their answers until they are all correct. They take the tests at home and look up the answers on Google, or they have their parents give them the answers. We, as teachers, must be more observant to make sure they are paying attention to the tutorials and learning something.

There is an adage, “If you aren’t cheating, you’re cheating yourself.” No! If you are cheating. You are cheating yourself. Your cheating yourself out of learning. Out of knowledge. You ARE cheating yourself.