I, 16F, am taking a honors chemistry class and the teacher is new. The teacher tends to put difficult questions on exams that weren’t connected to what is being taught in class and what is on study guides. This causes a lot of stress and confusion in the class, and as a result, students report the teacher to guidance. The issue, however, is that guidance can’t do anything about it because the class average on these tests are high, removing any visible concerns. The reason for why the average is high is because about a quarter of the class cheats on the tests (which also includes midterms) and do not get caught because the teacher, who is new, doesn’t notice. This makes it highly unfair to the rest of the class and to the people who spends countless hours studying and reviewing. So, I reported the issue to my counselor. The counselor somehow had an idea of who was doing it (so did I) and named people that they thought were involved in cheating. I didn’t want these people, who are very popular, knowing that I was snitching, so I initially wasn’t going tell the counselor who specifically was cheating. However, because she named the people who were cheating and asked if it was those people, I told her that she was right, essentially snitching on these people. Now I’m worried that I will be connected back to this if they get in trouble and my grade will hate me because the cheaters are popular. Am I the asshole for doing this, or are the cheaters the asshole?
NTA. not only if their conduct a clear violation of academic standards, it’s negatively affecting those who do not cheat on the tests.
If the cheating wasn’t affecting you, I might have a different answer, but as it stands it sounds like it is so NTA. Maybe the teacher rethinks the approach to those questions and everyone wins.
INFO: how were they cheating?
NTA – cheaters never prosper and it is completely unfair to the students that are studying for the test. Even if your grade finds out it was you then just remember you only have 2ish years left with them and their opinion doesn’t matter.
NTA without a lower grade overall the administration can’t talk to the teacher.
By cheating they weren’t learning the material, were making things harder on the whole class and learning that cheating is the correct thing to do in life.
Just don’t own it if they confront you but you should be fine otherwise.
NTA I agree with this. I also think the guidance counselor shouldn’t have brought up the names, this puts you in an awkward position – which is what brought you here. However, the fact they already guessed who it was tells me it wouldn’t be too suspicious for the teacher to confront them, since they seem to be the type to cheat anyways. But that’s just an assumption
It depends on your school & culture, whether you’ll be protected or whether it’ll get bad. I support you and I hope you have a good school that protects you.
In this case your intention was to try and solve a problem for everyone, and these people were hindering you and the class from a real actionable solution for everyone.
You also didn’t snitch on them. Sounds like they got caught and your verified information. You did the best you could.
NTA
NTA. At the risk of sounding like a wingbag, you only cheat yourself if you’re cheating on a test. Especially in an honors class. If it was home ec – who cares. Honors classes are for those that want to excel and have a better looking resume for college.
NTA – Their cheating can have a direct, negative impact on you. Your class ranking can have a direct impact on college admissions, scholarships, etc. The cheaters can lower your class ranking by artificially inflating their grades above yours. It’s not a victimless crime.
INFO: You said you “have an idea” of who is doing it. Are you 100% sure?
The only thing that might make you an AH is if someone gets into trouble without having done anything because of information you provided and the administration took action without verifying.
That hypothesis aside, NTA.
Usually I would say mind your business, but in this case it was your business since they were making it harder for the honest students to build a case about the difficult tests. Also, if it’s an honors class, in particular, you are all competing against each other for top GPA rankings, which can affect scholarships, college admissions, and graduation honors. Do what you need to do NTA. I also doubt it will come back on you since the counselor already knew who it was.
The guidance counselor should meet with the teacher and devise a trap.
One teacher devised a test where the first two questions were identical but the subsequent questions were in a different order. It was multiple choice with a separate answer sheet.
Another teacher created questions that looked the same but had an additional negation which made the answers opposite.
Regardless it is the teacher who should ‘catch’ the kids – not the guidance counselor. You should then be in the clear & if not confidently deny telling the teacher anything.
NTA
If you read your academic code, it may even say you must come forward if you know of cheating .