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Algeria Shuts Off Entire Country's Internet To Stop Students From Cheating (gizmodo.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the extreme-measures dept.

Algeria has begun instituting nationwide internet blackouts to prevent students from leaking high school diploma exams online. Gizmodo reports: The country will turn off mobile and landline internet service across the country for an hour at a time during the exam period, which started on Wednesday and runs through June 25. The 11 blackouts are scheduled for an hour after each exam begins. In 2016, exam questions were reportedly leaked online and authorities were dissatisfied with a less stringent attempt to limit social media during the 2017 exams. The sweeping shutdown will also block Facebook for the entirety of the exam period, Education Minister Nouria Benghabrit told Algerian newspaper Annahar, according to the BBC. Benghabrit reportedly said they are "not comfortable" with their choice to shut down all internet service, but that they "should not passively stand in front of such a possible leak." Metal detectors are reportedly being used to make sure that no one brings any internet-enabled devices into the exam halls. Surveillance cameras and phone jammers are also being used at the locations where the exams are being printed.

66 of 123 comments (clear)

  1. Not just Algeria by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    They do this crap all over the middle east. Always wondered what would happen if the student population gets organized/determined enough to cheat that they set up an underground wireless network (if that term even makes sense)?

    1. Re:Not just Algeria by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Always wondered what would happen if the student population gets organized/determined enough to cheat that they set up an underground wireless network (if that term even makes sense)?

      What you're looking for is this:

      A mobile ad hoc network (MANET), also known as wireless ad hoc network or ad hoc wireless network, is a continuously self-configuring, infrastructure-less network of mobile devices connected wirelessly.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

      Have fun and enjoy!

      --
      Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
    2. Re:Not just Algeria by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

      set up an underground wireless network (if that term even makes sense)

      Sure it does. It's called underground wires.

      --
      #DeleteFacebook
    3. Re:Not just Algeria by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Well part of the problem can be fixed by just writing multiple tests

      That does NOT fix the problem.

      This is the problem:
      1. Exams are passed out.
      2. Cheater snaps a photo of the exam and transmits it.
      3. Parents or other collaborators receive the photo, quickly work the problems and transmit back the answers.

      This is done in near realtime. They will not get every question right, but will get enough to give the cheater an edge.

      So in many countries, do parents actually help their kids cheat? Yes. Yes they do.

      It is not just a cultural difference. It is also the importance of the test. In America, if you do well on the SAT you may to an Ivy League school. If you slightly less well, you will still go to a good state university. The next tier will start at a community college, and maybe transfer later to a four year college. Others may go to vocational colleges, etc.

      But in many other countries, a single exam is an educational death sentence. If you don't make the cutoff you are put on a different track, with little hope of recovering later. In countries with either high rates of female infanticide and/or customary polygamy, this means little chance for males to marry and have children.

    4. Re: Not just Algeria by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Don't forget ham is haram in islamic countries.

    5. Re:Not just Algeria by AHuxley · · Score: 1

      Russian sat phone with big data plan for the day?

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    6. Re:Not just Algeria by AmiMoJo · · Score: 2, Informative

      They aren't so much worried about cheating in exam rooms; that's easy to fix, just take away mobile phones. They are worried about students taking an exam and then posting the questions and answers on social media afterwards. Not all students sit the exams at the exact same time so the ones taking them later could benefit from prior knowledge of the test content.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    7. Re:Not just Algeria by tehcyder · · Score: 2

      Well part of the problem can be fixed by just writing multiple tests

      That does NOT fix the problem.

      This is the problem: 1. Exams are passed out. 2. Cheater snaps a photo of the exam and transmits it. 3. Parents or other collaborators receive the photo, quickly work the problems and transmit back the answers.

      This is done in near realtime. They will not get every question right, but will get enough to give the cheater an edge.

      So in many countries, do parents actually help their kids cheat? Yes. Yes they do.

      It is not just a cultural difference. It is also the importance of the test. In America, if you do well on the SAT you may to an Ivy League school. If you slightly less well, you will still go to a good state university. The next tier will start at a community college, and maybe transfer later to a four year college. Others may go to vocational colleges, etc.

      But in many other countries, a single exam is an educational death sentence. If you don't make the cutoff you are put on a different track, with little hope of recovering later. In countries with either high rates of female infanticide and/or customary polygamy, this means little chance for males to marry and have children.

      This used to be the case in the UK where you took the "Eleven Plus" exam and it decided whether you went to a good (Grammar) or rubbish (Secondary Modern) school. If you had a bad day or were a late developer, you were hugely handicapped at the age of 11 by being dumped in a school designed to basically keep you busy until you left at 15 and got an unskilled manual job.

      Unless you were truly exceptional, if you went to a Secondary Modern, you basically weren't ever going to University.

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
    8. Re:Not just Algeria by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      When I was in school back in the dark ages, we just weren't allowed to have anything on our desks other than a pencil. For math, we could have a graphing calculator, but the teacher was generally walking around the class so even using a cheat-sheet on it was pretty risky. I don't see why kids need their phone out while taking an exam. Just make everyone put their phones away and fail anyone who gets it out.

      Shutting off the internet for the whole country is extremely ridiculous.

    9. Re:Not just Algeria by Serif · · Score: 1

      Dark ages... graphing calculator... Hmmm

      Well, back *before* the dark ages we had a pencil and a book of log tables, and we thought ourselves lucky.

      Now get off my lawn! :)

    10. Re:Not just Algeria by PPH · · Score: 2

      For math, we could have a graphing calculator,

      Visit some tech boards. One of the popular posting topics is 'How can I take the guts of a prohibited calculator model and stuff them inside a featureless calculator housing?'

      I swear, some people put enough effort into this sort of thing that they could have earned an engineering degree.

      --
      Have gnu, will travel.
    11. Re:Not just Algeria by jm007 · · Score: 1

      nice comment, actually adds to the discussion

      kinda caught me off guard considering the tone of all the comments before it lol

    12. Re:Not just Algeria by farble1670 · · Score: 1

      They aren't so much worried about cheating in exam rooms; that's easy to fix, just take away mobile phones. They are worried about students taking an exam and then posting the questions and answers on social media afterwards. Not all students sit the exams at the exact same time so the ones taking them later could benefit from prior knowledge of the test content.

      If that's true, isn't it solved by restricting mobile / camera devices, and ensuring that each student that is given a test returns a test?

      Or by having all students take the test at the same time? Or having several versions of the test for a few well-defined testing time slots?

      Sure neither of those are easy, but it has to be easier and less disruptive than hitting the internet's off button. Maybe it's just too corrupt to ensure these things.

    13. Re:Not just Algeria by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      Not cameras, from memory. What book and what charterers are on the literature exam etc.

      Most countries get around that by having a selection of papers, and having all students sit one paper on one day and then discarding it.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    14. Re:Not just Algeria by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 1

      A camera, battery, and transmitter can also fit into a partially hollowed out pencil.

      Answers can be transmitted back using a receiver and piezoelectric vibrator in the cheater's shoe.

  2. And the nerds in the USA by AHuxley · · Score: 1

    thought an internet shut down would only be for natural disasters and security emergencies.
    Recall the "Assignment of National Security and Emergency Preparedness Communications Functions" and the way the US internet would be "regulated".
    https://www.cnet.com/news/obam... (July 10, 2012) (not an EU link)

    --
    Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
  3. Re:AC Shuts Entire Internet Off to Get 1st Post by Chris+Mattern · · Score: 1

    And fails anyways.

  4. Because students don't cheat ... by ScentCone · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Because students don't cheat, the internet cheats!

    The problem is broken culture, not internet access.

    --
    Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
    1. Re: Because students don't cheat ... by ScentCone · · Score: 1

      Nope. The problem is tools that are misused

      Right. By people. Who choose to do so.

      --
      Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
    2. Re:Because students don't cheat ... by qaz123 · · Score: 1

      That doesn't mean that they should not try fighting it with shutting of the internet

    3. Re:Because students don't cheat ... by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      Because students don't cheat, the internet cheats! The problem is broken culture, not internet access.

      Indeed it is. But it is far easier to cut off communication than it is to fix cheating. Or do you propose we let parents and friends come in and talk to students during exams too and just base it on the honour system?

      Pretty much every country has some form of communication blackout for people under exam conditions. This is just a slightly more extreme version.

    4. Re: Because students don't cheat ... by ScentCone · · Score: 1

      And without the tool...they don't do it because they can't.

      And it's really hard to cut someone's throat without a sharp implement. I'll bet you own knives. Are those kitchen knives causing you to go out and murder? No? Do you have any idea how absurd you sound?

      I see you're using some sort of internet-connected computer or other device to type out your comments here. Do you realize that it's just a matter of time before you use that device to commit identity theft, rip people off, and read up on how to make bombs, and then go out and actually use those bombs to kill people? You'd better get rid of the inanimate device to prevent yourself from doing those things. Right? Yeah.

      --
      Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
    5. Re: Because students don't cheat ... by qaz123 · · Score: 1

      The probability of him using his computer for a crime is much lower that the probability of students using their smartphones for cheating during an exam

    6. Re: Because students don't cheat ... by ScentCone · · Score: 1

      The probability of him using his computer for a crime is much lower that the probability of students using their smartphones for cheating during an exam

      So if your culture is raising an entire generation of untrustworthy kids willing to lie and cheat, just search bags and hold phones at the door of the classroom while exams are being administered. Shut down the entire nation's internet access? Insanity. The implication is that even the teachers/proctors administering the exams can't be trusted, at a nation-wide level. That has nothing to do with the internet.

      --
      Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
    7. Re: Because students don't cheat ... by volmtech · · Score: 1

      From TFA "In 2016, exam questions were reportedly leaked online and authorities were dissatisfied with a less stringent attempt to limit social media during the 2017 exams." Students are not cheating during the exam, some are posting the questions after they have taken the test so future test takers can cheat.

  5. They should be required to down a few shots by RhettLivingston · · Score: 1

    ... that way those that happen to have great memories can't cheat by accessing them.

    1. Re: They should be required to down a few shots by RhettLivingston · · Score: 1

      I have though I had not thought of that reference. It is really born from having a different memory. I am very bad at rote memorizing though I have great memory of what I would describe as the essence of things. It is both a gift and a handicap. Computers reduce the handicap side of it.

      To truly equate my view to the story you have to twist the story a bit. The story posited a society condemned to sameness by reduction in variations we were born with. I think that we are committing a similar error in creating a society that limits our usage of the tools that are also our birthright - we are toolmakers.

      In opposing augmentation we condemn humanity to what it is born with instead of what could be. I personally believe we should throw open the doors to whatever augmentation attempts people would like to try. It is ridiculous for our contests to prohibit the usage of the technology we have achieved. It is part of who we are and are becoming. Let whoever wants stay behind, but don't penalize the explorers.

    2. Re: They should be required to down a few shots by Ocker3 · · Score: 1

      Googling "Harrison Bergeron burning" produces no results

    3. Re: They should be required to down a few shots by rtb61 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      You forget capitalism is competition. You might as well say, I want everything that will advantage me and disadvantage everyone else, so I always win. All things being equal you compete with someone for the same job and you are both sufficiently good enough, you suffer a handicap which does give them employment advantage, they do not, well bye bye you.

      All contests are artificial and governed by rules, you just want the rules changed to favour you but so does everyone else and the biggest cunts in the world today are exactly those people who changed the rules to favour their psychopathy. Don't pretend fairness in the rules of competition in capitalism, capitalism by nature is psychopathic, the rules are artificial and your capital worth is worth more than other people's lives a unlimited number of other people's lives.

      I can push further with my mind, I feel no need to make a pig of my self, have more than everyone else, a rich mind is it's own reward, shame about your handicap.

      --
      Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
    4. Re: They should be required to down a few shots by SvnLyrBrto · · Score: 1

      Also it's not a book, as the AC claims; just a short story. But hey... "alternative facts" and all that.

      --
      Imagine all the people...
    5. Re: They should be required to down a few shots by Obfuscant · · Score: 1

      I think that we are committing a similar error in creating a society that limits our usage of the tools that are also our birthright - we are toolmakers.

      The Internet is a birthright? Using a smartphone to access information during a test is a birthright?

      Tests should not be about your ability to look things up using your smartphone. Tests are about your understanding of the material and being able to use it -- YOU using that understanding, not your roommate being able to use his understanding.

      Tests are also not "our society", they are a tiny microcosm of an academic environment. Limiting tool use during a test is not "creating a society" in any way. Outside that test environment, "society" is free to use the tools. It's just before you get credit for demonstrating an understanding of some material you need to actually demonstrate the understanding.

      I have a specific anecdote I use when this kind of issue comes up. I taught a chemistry class, and a quiz I was giving asked for the concentration of hydrogen ions in a weak acid solution. The concepts being tested are "weak acid", pKa and solving quadratic equations. The answer the student wrote down was "1.000". (Hint: 1 mole/L H+ is NOT weak.) He misused the calculator and did not understand the material well enough to identify patent nonsense when he got it out. In this class, it was funny as hell. If he's a design engineer for a bridge and he uses nonsense answers in the design people can get killed.

      That said, turning off the Internet for everyone is a stupid and bad thing and won't solve the problem.

    6. Re: They should be required to down a few shots by Obfuscant · · Score: 1

      You forget capitalism is competition.

      And socialism is not? Forcing people to accept "equal" is not the same as removing all desire to compete. Unfortunately, in socialistic societies the competition winners are usually the rulers.

      capitalism by nature is psychopathic,

      Bullshit. You might be able to argue it is sociopathic, but you'd fail there, too.

      I can push further with my mind,

      Uhh.....

    7. Re: They should be required to down a few shots by RhettLivingston · · Score: 1

      Tests should be about doing things correctly and efficiently using every tool at your disposal. I grant you that asking someone else for the answer shouldn't be allowed. But using a calculator, dictionary, etc is a skill that should be encouraged. We give too much advantage to those with great memory, or fast calculation capability and little intelligence (because their memory is so great and they haven't been required to use their intelligence or their calculation ability is so fast that they haven't had to abstract the shorter means of getting to the solution).

      A toolmaker who doesn't know how to use their tools because they've been denied that learning process is not effective. You can have all the knowledge in the world and not be successful if you don't know how to efficiently apply it or haven't learned that all human knowledge is an abstraction of the full truth and thus to be taken with a grain of salt. People who "remember" instead of "understand" are the hardest to bring forward when science proves the old knowledge wrong and introduces a new one.

    8. Re: They should be required to down a few shots by RhettLivingston · · Score: 1

      I always viewed exams as a measurement of myself against perfection, not as a measurement of myself against others. The exam score is for me alone. If I cheat, I've done nothing except deny myself the knowledge of where I am at and where I need to improve. Even when I "knew" the answer on an exam, I felt it was wrong if I couldn't explain it. I have an instinct for the right answer that can get in the way of finding whether I really know the material. So, sometimes I find it difficult not to cheat. I have left answers blank at times when I knew them but couldn't explain them.

      The loss is the student's loss and choice. They may get away with the fraud for a while, but their lack of skill will show. They have cheated themselves out of the life they could have had. Even if they manage to cheat their whole lives, I can't imagine that at some level they don't know how disgusting they are.

      I feel no pity for people who cheat. But, far more critically, I do not believe that any amount of rules and structure will actually change the rot at their core if they are at high school levels and still cheating. Reaching your greatest potential is far more important than achieving a fake contest win.

    9. Re: They should be required to down a few shots by RhettLivingston · · Score: 1

      God please no! The hardest exam I ever had was in a solid state electronics class that was open book, bring your calculator (this was in the 80s when that was unusual), and use however much time you could stay there without falling asleep or consuming food. I took about 30 books into the exam, was one of the first to leave at about six hours into the six problem exam, and received a 26 out of 100 for my efforts - the highest score in the class.

      If I took that exam with full internet access today, I do not believe it would be of any help. The problems required showing work that was greater than ten tight-packed pages each.

      In general, I always found open book tests to be the scariest.

      This does point out that perhaps the problem they are trying to solve by eliminating internet access is one created by their laziness as reflected in a test designed for automatic grading and could be alleviated by bringing back written problem solving and essay questions rather than shutting down the country's internet.

    10. Re: They should be required to down a few shots by Obfuscant · · Score: 1

      Tests should be about doing things correctly and efficiently using every tool at your disposal.

      Patently absurd. You are ignoring the purpose for the tests.

      I grant you that asking someone else for the answer shouldn't be allowed.

      You've just contradicted yourself. "My roommate who is a chemistry major" certainly fits the definition of "tool at my disposal", doesn't he? He's a good source of answers about chemistry, and is quite willing to answer when I ask ("at my disposal", so to speak.)

      But using a calculator, dictionary, etc is a skill that should be encouraged.

      OF COURSE, EXCEPT on a test that covers how to do basic math, spelling, etc. And YOU KNOW we are not talking about using such tools for tests that cover other material, we're talking about using things like smart phones to look up answers online. Looking up answers to specific questions online is directly analogous to "asking someone else for the answer."

      A toolmaker who doesn't know how to use their tools because they've been denied that learning process is not effective.

      This is absurd. The time for learning how to use a calculator to determine the square root of 3 is AFTER you've learned what a square root is and how to do one on your own, and after you've demonstrated that skill on a test intended to evaluate that skill. Letting people show that they know how to press "3" and "sqrt" on a calculator proves nothing about their understanding of what a square root is or why it might be of value. Now, it is pretty hard to fuck up that calculation so you can be reasonably assured your calculator is showing the right answer, but I've had people fuck up a simple division problem on a calculator to come up with a pathetically ridiculous answer -- and they write that answer down as if God told it to them and it couldn't be wrong. The calculator told them. It must be right. Why should I think about the answer and if it makes sense?

      You can have all the knowledge in the world and not be successful if you don't know how to efficiently apply it

      How to efficiently AND CORRECTLY apply it. You can find 1000 generic, wrong answers to your specific problem online, and if you don't know how to CORRECTLY apply the concepts being tested you are going to use the wrong answer.

      I have an anecdote to demonstrate that, too. Two years before I wound up teaching the class with the student who failed at dividing two numbers, I actually took the class. For weakly dissociating solutions there is an approximation you can use so you don't have to do the full quadratic solution. You have to know WHEN that approximation is valid, however, to get the right answer. On a quiz, I recognized that the approximation was not valid and used the full process. The TA used the shortcut. He marked my answer wrong, and then had to admit in class that he had come up with the wrong answer. Was knowing what buttons to press on the calculator to get his result the important thing, or was understanding when and how to apply that approximation the goal of the learning?

      all human knowledge is an abstraction of the full truth and thus to be taken with a grain of salt.

      Spoken like a true social scientist.

      If I write a test with the question "if I apply the same amount of thermal energy to two items with different heat capacities, which one gets warmer?" I'm not looking for someone to look up the equation and run two different cases through it, I'm looking for a basic understanding of what heat capacity is. If you go look that up online, you don't show that you have that understanding, and if you need to look it up you DO NOT. You did not master the material.

      People who "remember" instead of "understand" are the hardest to bring forward when science proves the old knowledge wrong and introduces a new one.

      You have just prove

  6. Sounds like a job for a Faraday Cage by Jeremi · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Why shut down the entire country's internet, when you can just wrap the testing location in wire?

    Of course, anyone with an electronic device could still just have his cheat-sheet cached on it locally...

    --


    I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.
    1. Re:Sounds like a job for a Faraday Cage by Ocker3 · · Score: 1

      Or just have your parents scale the outside of the building to whisper answers (Seriously, this happened).

    2. Re:Sounds like a job for a Faraday Cage by hcs_$reboot · · Score: 1

      Between wire-wrap all schools in the country and a mere button to push, the government chose.

      --
      Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
    3. Re:Sounds like a job for a Faraday Cage by mchall · · Score: 1

      Or prohibit personal electronic devices in the testing area. That is the standard for the CPA exam in CA. Simple calculators are supplied to each examinee by the proctors. No advanced electronic devices are allowed. If you don't already know the math then a simple calculator isn't going to help you.

  7. Taking tests on hacking, so many ways to cheat by raymorris · · Score: 2

    I have a degree in cybersecurity. I try very hard to be honest, but while preparing for a proctored test where I'm being tested on my knowledge of ways to bypass security, some thoughts certainly occurred to me. :)

  8. Just fail them all by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Kids, this is why we can't have nice things

    Actually, it turns out that on the real modern world having the ability to quickly find the needed information online is useful and not everyone can do it.

    Maybe they should make the test harder and just expect kids to use any resource available to them because that's how life does work. Do the "fair" academic test only for kids who don't have the resources, aka fail miserably at the open ended one.

    That way Algeria will not be the country producing that programmer on your team who always asks you how to do something and you're like, did you even TRY yo search online? Cause I can find that in 2 seconds

    1. Re:Just fail them all by Obfuscant · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Maybe they should make the test harder and just expect kids to use any resource available to them because that's how life does work.

      Would you want to live in an apartment building designed by a construction engineer who passed his engineering license exams by having his roommate give him the answers to the test, or one who understands the concepts of load bearing this and stress limit that? You know, one who can tell that the answer he gets from Wikipedia about how to design where you sleep at night isn't right?

      like, did you even TRY yo search online?

      Would you like him to be the programmer on your team who implements an O(N^2) sort in your app because that's the first one he found online, instead of understanding the problem and using an O(N) algorithm, or understanding even more and deciding it is appropriate to use an O(1) "sort" by keeping a sorted, linked-list of the data instead of sorting each time? Do YOU want to have to tell the client that the app you wrote for him is miserably slow in real life applications because he's got too much data and your programmer was a cut-and-paste-from-the-net expert who didn't understand how to make it fast enough from the beginning?

  9. Re:Internet lumberjack by spiritplumber · · Score: 1

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

    --
    Liberty - Security - Laziness - Pick any two.
  10. Sounds like a job for Faraday Cage by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

    And if Faraday Cage is not available, you can try to get Nicolas Cage.

    --
    #DeleteFacebook
    1. Re:Sounds like a job for Faraday Cage by lister+king+of+smeg · · Score: 1

      And if Faraday Cage is not available, you can try to get Nicolas Cage.

      yeah he will do anything...
      https://youtu.be/eExfV_xKaiM?t...

      --
      ---Saying gnome 3 is better than windows 8 not so much a compliment as it is damning with light praise.
  11. I don't understand. by BitterOak · · Score: 1

    Students take exams in the U.S.A. as well, and I don't think the American government has ever shut down the entire Internet to prevent cheating. Why does Algeria have so much more trouble dealing with cheating than America? Can Algeria learn anything from the American model?

    --
    If I can be modded down for being a troll, can I be modded up for being an orc, or a balrog?
    1. Re:I don't understand. by hcs_$reboot · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Why does Algeria have so much more trouble dealing with cheating than America? Can Algeria learn anything from the American model?

      You're implying US students don't cheat, or cheat much less than Algerian students. Which is likely wrong.

      --
      Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
    2. Re:I don't understand. by tlhIngan · · Score: 5, Informative

      Students take exams in the U.S.A. as well, and I don't think the American government has ever shut down the entire Internet to prevent cheating. Why does Algeria have so much more trouble dealing with cheating than America? Can Algeria learn anything from the American model?

      That's probably because these educational systems are based on the British model, where you have literally a Mother of All Exams to take, and how you do on those exams dictates your path in life. Basically every student will write the exam at the same time on the same day (heaven forbid you get ill or sick, though I'm sure you can take an alternate if you really are sick). But these exams are it - do well, you can look forward to an overseas scholarship to some prestigious college or university anywhere - the UK, US, etc. Do really well and it'll be a full meal deal. Do less well and it'll be a local college or university, then trade school, then well, whatever else.

      Honestly, it's a rather disgusting system, and in Asia, from China to India and Singapore and others, it leads to some seriously messed up kids - suicides become the #1 reason for death. Doesn't help that parents generally insist on the foreign scholarship or kicked out of the house. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if the death rate among teens due to suicides will start to approach that of the US from guns.

      Thus, it's no big surprise that the alternative to killing yourself is to cheat. And cheating devices have grown in sophistication and complexity (and generally are under $200), from smartwatches that hold gigabytes of text and images, micro radio transmitters and receivers, ultra tiny cellphones, etc.

      The American system generally has a lot more compassion and in general, you don't have one big exam to determine your future, you may have the SATs and ACTs and other standardized tests, but in general, the kids figure out their path in life - if they want to study overseas, they work for it, else they have to go local. Or some just go trade school and be done with it.

      There's still an incentive to cheat, but honestly, the push and motivation to cheat is a lot less - cheating on your SATs and ACTs may get you in the door at your dream university, but in general, you probably wouldn't hack it. You're not trying to compete for your parent's (and relatives!) love, a roof over your head, etc. Not surprisingly, the teenage suicide rate is far lower.

      For all its faults, the American system at least lets the kids choose their path and gives them opportunity to succeed, rather than boil down their entire learning into a single number that decides their fate.

      In the US, you cheat to get better grades. Elsewhere, you cheat just to survive, live, or avoid getting kicked out of the house.

    3. Re:I don't understand. by qaz123 · · Score: 2

      The American model would not work in these countries because of corruption. Also, they would cheat on those "SATs ACTs" too.

    4. Re:I don't understand. by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      They did learn from the American model. They learnt that exams are important and can have an affect on their life. They learnt that in America people aren't allowed to talk during exams. The learnt that supervisors are generally quite poor at spotting cheating mid test, and they learnt that mobile devices can be used for communication. That's what the students learnt.

      Now what did the government learn? The government learnt that it has power over airwaves. It also learnt that its country is not dependent on flow of information like the USA. And it also learnt that if everyone sits the test at exactly the same time you can defeat an entire category of cheats simply by turning off the internet.

      I think in the USA either students or governments have simply stopped trying to outsmart the other.

    5. Re:I don't understand. by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      "Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if the death rate among teens due to suicides will start to approach that of the US from guns."

      Most teenage gun deaths ARE suicides. Kids in the USA are killing themselves, too. There are twice as many gun suicides as homicides here.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    6. Re:I don't understand. by PPH · · Score: 1

      You're implying US students don't cheat

      Good point. The difference with the American system is that we (the USA) have a very robust economy. And can afford to carry the cheats and morons in businesses for the rest of their lives.

      Note that in some professions, where individual performance is critical, like the medical profession, there are systems of internships in place to weed out the low performers.

      --
      Have gnu, will travel.
    7. Re:I don't understand. by luther349 · · Score: 1

      in the us you can dropout get your ged and still go to local collage and trade school. as you said the doors are never closed.

    8. Re:I don't understand. by Obfuscant · · Score: 1

      You're implying US students don't cheat,

      No, he's explicitly saying that the US doesn't take such drastic measures to deal with the ones that do. The "US" deals with it better, and it can't "deal with it better" if the implication is that it never happens, now can it? There's nothing in that statement that implies US students don't cheat or even cheat less. We just don't shut off Internet for the entire country every time there is a test.

  12. Good for them. Glad they are taking it seriously by Maxo-Texas · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Cheaters suck.

    They ruin things for everyone who is and can actually do the task legitimately.

    Doesn't matter if it's body building (where they now look more like ball shaped aliens than body builders), sports (where they die years too early and break reacords set by people who were not cheating), or screw up the reputation of their education system when they go to a new job and do terribly.

    Glad Algeria is taking education seriously. It's foundational and critical.

    --
    She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
  13. Whats the point of the test then by wolfheart111 · · Score: 2

    If every answer can be had in a matter of seconds on a phone.

    --
    [($)]
    1. Re:Whats the point of the test then by hcs_$reboot · · Score: 1

      1. send a pic of the problem to your elder brother at home
      2. play tetris
      3. write down the solution that your brother has completed

      --
      Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
  14. Re:Good for them. Glad they are taking it seriousl by Maxo-Texas · · Score: 1, Redundant

    I find it ludicrous that a comment saying cheaters are bad would be modded down.

    What's the world coming to.

    Cheaters are bad.

    They ruin things for everyone who is and can actually do the task legitimately.

    Doesn't matter if it's body building (where they now look more like ball shaped aliens than body builders), sports (where they die years too early and break records set by people who were not cheating), or screw up the reputation of their education system when they go to a new job and do terribly.

    Glad Algeria is taking education seriously. It's foundational and critical.

    --
    She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
  15. Re:Oh right... by qaz123 · · Score: 1

    The internet makes much easier.

  16. well then by cascadingstylesheet · · Score: 1

    This is impressive, in a ham-fisted way ...

  17. Re: AC Shuts Entire Internet Off to Get 1st Post by jm007 · · Score: 1

    your explanation of the failure is a failure

  18. Re:Good for them. Glad they are taking it seriousl by citylivin · · Score: 1

    On the other hand, everyone cheats at something. Some examples of cheating (if you want to interpret it loosely):

    - Speeding.
    - queue jumping by the elderly
    - Making money without working (investments and being rich already)
    - exaggerating your skills to get a good job
    - exaggerating your good qualities to get laid
    - finding loopholes in a system
    - using computers instead of your mind for tasks (arithmetic, spell checkers, internet research)
    - store clerk gives you the wrong change, or bank error in your favour.
    - is bartering with sellers (criagslist, garage sales) cheating?

    What is cheating? "Cheating is the receiving of a reward for ability or finding an easy way out of an unpleasant situation by dishonest means"

    Is the poor kid who gets a 59.5% on a test but the instructor bumps it up to 60% so that they can pass cheating?

    is the affluent kid who hires private tutors cheating?

    If these kids will either make or break their entire lives by one test, then you cant blame people for gaming the system by any means necessary. Well maybe *YOU* can, but i can't fault them when its the system that is broken.

    I think computers were invented to "cheat" the old world order. Copy things by hand? or cheat and use a computer to run off copies. Do long division when desiging buildings? or plug it into a calculator. Is uber et al "cheating" the broken taxi cartels in many cities? The whole current mindset of "disruption" in business, could easily be cast as "cheating".

    Let he who has never sped in traffic, or cut someone off, cast the first stone. The fact is, we are all cheaters in some internally justifiable way. So don't be so holier than thou about it...

    --
    As a potential lottery winner, I totally support tax cuts for the wealthy
  19. Re:Good for them. Glad they are taking it seriousl by Maxo-Texas · · Score: 1

    I agree my comment is redundant and the original comment has been resurrected from 0 status up to a 3.

    Thanks moderators! You can let the redundant comment die to 0.

    I get modded down at times and it's fair. Happens to everyone. But sometimes, the modding seems unfair and more about suppressing an opinion someone personally doesn't like.

    When I'm moderating I do scan the 0 and -1 comments before I upmod any positive comments.

    In college, I was picked to be on an academic honesty hearing and we did find the girl guilty of blatant cheating (including copying mistakes). We were lenient and only gave her a 0 for that test.

    Some places like west point, you are done after one offense.

    ---

    I get that the "one test determines your life" approach in these countries is horrific.

    They need to address that. At least with opportunities for retesting.

    Accepting cheating would be destructive to the education system. Businesses could not trust that qualified students were really qualified. It would be like having the school system accreditation removed.

    --
    She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
  20. Re:Good for them. Glad they are taking it seriousl by Obfuscant · · Score: 1

    CONGRATULATIONS!!! You have committed the logical fallacy known as tu quoque. Had you not cheated your way through school you might have avoided looking like a fool.

    Quoting this since I've already posted in this discussion and cannot mod it up.

    He's redefined a derogatory term so it applies to everything anyone does, and thus everyone is bad.

  21. simple solution by OppMan29 · · Score: 1

    have many versions slightly different ... how lazy do you have to be to have the whole country take the same exact test.