The latest on the war against cheating

Now, anyone who has been to college (in India or US) knows that there is a continuous tussle between “the system” and the students. Cheating at exams is a common problem, and in a unique case of competitive evolution, both parties find newer ways to beat the other side.

Here’s a fantastic article in the NYTimes that talks about the latest ammo purchased by the colleges to beat the cheats. Fascinating stuff, really.

As the eternal temptation of students to cheat has gone high-tech — not just on exams, but also by cutting and pasting from the Internet and sharing of homework online like music files — educators have responded with their own efforts to crack down.

As an extreme example of life-time learning, one student tried the Ghajini approach to cheating:

As for Central Florida’s testing center, one of its most recent cheating cases had nothing to do with the Internet, cellphones or anything tech. A heavily tattooed student was found with notes written on his arm. He had blended them into his body art.