In Liberia, we spy. We don’t cheat.

In Liberia, cheating on homework, a quiz, or an exam is not known as cheating.  Instead, I am constantly reminding my students not to be spying.  It sounds funny, I know, but now, I am so used to it, and I had to think for a while what we call this idea in America!  The idea of what constitutes spying is vastly different from anything else I had heard in my life, and my students and I quickly came to the same understanding about what I consider spying in my classroom.

When I give my students a quiz (of which they have two per marking period), I have to write the problems on the chalkboard and they then copy them down.  As I said earlier, I have the luxury of printing my final exams, which makes my life much easier, but not every volunteer has it that way.  While I’m giving them the quiz, I am reminding them of my rules.  For me, spying is indicated by the following happenings:  talking, looking at their friend’s paper, looking around the room, looking down into their lap (many have tried to hide cheat sheets in the pleats of their skirts, etc.), or opening up their copy book.  It sounds straightforward, right?  Wrong.  They still want to argue with me when I catch them spying. 

My penalty for spying?  I take your quiz and you get a zero.  On a final exam, I will put an X on your paper and take off 10% of the grade you have earned.  You get two X’s, I take off 20%, and so on.  Some students still don’t learn.  One of my favorite spying stories has to do with the twelfth grade physics final I was proctoring for our principal.  I had marked one student’s paper with an X for spying, and at the end of the final, he came up to me, wanting to discuss why I had marked his paper.  I told him I had seen him talking with his friend, so I marked both of their papers; talking was not acceptable during the exam.  “But Miss Moore,” he said, “if I don’t know the answer to the question, can’t I ask my friend for a small idea on it?”  No, anonymous student, you can’t.  That is spying. 

One of my favorite students in 10^th Grade D, Comfort, has my policy on spying down to an art.  As I am reminding them of my rules before a quiz or a final, she is always saying it with me.  Though I hate it when students mock me, Comfort saying “Keep your eyes on your own paper” in what she thinks is my voice is still hilarious.  Whatever helps her remember my rules, I guess.