This week’s dilemma is as follows:
You’ve been studying medicine for nearly eight years, and now you’re in the final year of med school. You have one more written exam left to take, and it’s been kicking your arse. You know that it could be the difference between you passing or failing your final year.
One day, you’re walking out of school, when you come across some official looking papers on the ground. They are the answers to your upcoming exam.
What do you do? Do you study and memorize the answers, knowing that you probably wont get caught, or do you hand it in without even looking?
What would you do?
Venus Vaughn
May 1
8:43 am
After eight years? I’d add that puppy to my study guide and keep on truckin’.
I’d never believe I was fortuitous enough to get the *actual* questions and answers. But I’d figure those questions, or ones like them, are more likely to be featured and study even harder.
I’d also keep studying the rest of the material. Because I’m just not that lucky.
Emmy
May 1
8:48 am
I’d go back to my office and study harder. Graduating medical school doesn’t make one a doctor any more than passing nursing school makes one a nurse. If you don’t know enough to pass a test in one class, you’re not going to pass your boards, and still won’t be able to practice. And definitely wouldn’t make it past an internship, after which there’s another test, and then residency….it goes on. There’s never just one more test. A smart student would go to the library and get copies of past questions and answers and study those, since they’re legal and widely available and some of the questions might pop up on your exam.
I take practicing medicine seriously, because if you don’t know what the heck you’re doing, you’re going to kill someone.
Now if that were a poli sci test, or a math test for an accounting major or something that doesn’t involve other people’s lives…possibly.
Diana Castilleja
May 1
12:00 pm
I’d hand it in. It’s no more than finding a loaded wallet. I agree with Emmy. One test is still one test.
Diane V
May 1
1:57 pm
Definitely would return it to the professor.
You shouldn’t need to cheat after 8 years, besides the fact cheating is wrong. You got into medical school on your own merits, should graduate that way too.
By the way, in junior high, we had a science class where everyone worked at their own pace and took tests as needed. Unfortunately, a group of students had gotten ahold of the answers to the tests (multiple choice) and were just cruising along getting perfect scores. I went to the teachers and asked them to just switch around the correct answers (i.e. correct answer to question 1 on test 5 would now be B instead of A) and to not hand back the tests for 2 weeks to catch all the cheaters. I knew that the cheaters weren’t bothering to read the questions – just entering the letters to the “correct” answers on the test. Guess what, they caught 35 students cheating — pretty obvious when they got EVERY answer wrong on the revised tests.
MB (Leah)
May 1
3:06 pm
This is easy, hand it in.
The point of all those years of schooling is to actually know what the hell you are doing when someone is in your care. I’d want to know that I passed that test having the knowledge in my head from understanding it and really knowing it.
Besides, if I cheated, I’d always wonder if I could have passed without and that just wouldn’t sit will with my personal need to know that I could do it without cheating.
Now, if it were a stupid test to get a job with no special skills required, you bet, I’d cheat up the wazoo. š
anny cook
May 1
3:46 pm
This question is more about ethics and less about passing a test. If you have to cheat to accomplish your goals, then your ethics are pretty pitiful. Do I want a doctor who cheated to be my caretaker? Um, no.
I would turn it in.
Amarinda Jones
May 1
7:25 pm
When it comes to cheating on stuff I have a sliding scale of what is acceptable to me ā small things ā ok but things like this ā when it effects other people ā no ā Iād hand it in.
Fae
May 1
8:03 pm
I’m with the majority. If it were for something not life and death, I’d probably keep it and use it, but when you’re talking doctor? No way. I’d hope I’d have enough knowledge by that point to not need to cheat and if not…well, then I don’t deserve to be a doctor.
But if I were in college for, like, business management or something? I’d totes keep the cheat sheet. *nods*
Shiloh Walker
May 1
8:52 pm
Turn it in. Because if I can’t pass the test without cheating, I’ve got no right being a doctor, plain and simple.
wendy
May 1
9:16 pm
Yep, probably hand it back to the prof because I would have exam questions from previous years etc. Mind, if it was the first exam from the first semester—-ummmm.
Maili
May 2
7:35 am
Have to admit, I don’t know. Ideally, I would hand it in without looking because it’s the right thing to do, but would I really do it if I were actually in that situation? I honestly don’t know.
I used to believe that if I came across a money-loaded wallet, I might think, “Finder keeper!” and keep it.
On a decker, I found a handbag partly under a seat. Initially I thought, “A bomb? Fuck.” and decided that a bomber wouldn’t use a Miu Miu bag to blow the bus up. š
Anyroad, it was loaded with stuff – an iphone, cash, credit & debit cards (the silly bint actually wrote a PIN on back of each card), house keys, make-up bag, an electronic device I didn’t recognise (might be an electronic translator?) and some unused gig tickets. The bag itself was fucking gorgeous.
What did I do? Used the owner’s iPhone to call a person who shared her surname. After some sorting out, handed the bag over when I met with the owner later that day. Did she embrace me with joy? Heh, no. She was quite rude. Snatched the bag and quickly looked through her bag as if she was checking nothing was missing. While she did that, she sharply questioned about how I found her bag, etc. Once satisfied, she hailed a taxi and left without a word of thanks. š
Was surprised at myself, though. The bag was gorgeous. What a lost opportunity. ::weeps:: I suspect I will do it again if I came across another bag. Perhaps it’s because I secretly worry that my mum would beat the crap out of me when we meet in Heaven (or Hell).
But the test, I don’t know until I’m in that situation. Since I’m not a med student or similar, won’t ever have the chance to test myself. Thank God.
Seneca
May 2
12:53 pm
This one is easy. I would hand it in, but I would have peaked at the answers. I would also admit, while giving it back, that I looked.
Lorraine
May 3
1:49 am
Hand it in without peeking. Character and ethics matter most when no one is around to witness your behavior. Anyway, I love to climb on my high horse and I despise hypocrisy, so I would have no other option.
Throwmearope
May 5
1:47 am
I went to med school and never had that kind of luck. I actually flunked a couple of tests early on. Just had to do a whole lot better on the next test. One test does not a doctor make.
(Come to think of it, med school does not a doctor make. There’s a reason we call it practicing medicine.)