And I should say that people regularly copied my answers in high school without my permission. I finally got tired of one cheerleader doing it, so on a test I put down wrong answers, made sure she copied them, turned in my test, waited for her to turn in hers, then grabbed mine back and changed my answers.

She got a 30-something. I got a 95.

She never tried to copy off me ever again.

Attaching importance to grades is not always about self-worth, though: grades really can affect futures, as my friends who didn't get into grad school can attest.

That's true. Grades are not meaningless - particularly in the sciences.

Did you ever turn anybody in for cheating, Gris? Would you have?

I have nothing much to add, except w/r/t:

Who would hire a graduate of Cheaters State University?

There was an article in the Washington Post a couple years ago pointing out how many high-level federal employees (director of DHS was cited) stated on their resumes (or SF-171s) that they'd attended colleges they hadn't. Some of the colleges didn't exist. One was a mail-order degree place: you sent them money, they sent you a degree.

So, we the taxpayers would.

She never tried to copy off me ever again.

Yeah, but that's frontier justice and crafty.

One of my fellow law students told me about the "the flying V" in which the smartest person on his (undergrad) hockey team would study for a subject and everyone else would sit behind that anchor man and copy his answers. The answers would be copied all the way to the back of the V.

I think grades also make a difference when you are looking for your first post-college job. Once you've been in the workplace for awhile, not so much.

I'm bummed. I can't seem to be happy. Marriage problems just keep pulling me down. If not for that, I'd be in a great mood most of the time.

A UCLA student was telling me that they now have to submit their papers online to a multi-university clearing house site that analyses the essays and compares them to papers (on that topic only? don't know) written by students all over the counry before giving them the "original work" thumbs up. She's not that trusting of the computer's ability to tell, but I can see where the institution cares, and not just for their own petty Fascist reasons, that cheating isn't happening.

And I don't see what's wrong with caring about what the institution cares about.

There were two students in my class who were accused of cheating on an Introduction to Nursing exam two years ago. As a result, ever since then my entire class is treated like a group of kindergartners. We have to leave our purses and bookbags at the front of the classroom during an exam. We have assigned seating. We have to sign an academic integrity statement at the beginning of each exam. We can't get up to go to the bathroom during an exam. We can't wear hats during the exam (I swear to God). All because two students were accused of cheating on one exam, one time.

How did they get caught? If a bunch of people saw it and no one reported it the restrictions -- as obnoxious as they are -- make some sense.

Gud, is there anything we can do?

Trudy, they were reported by another student. And I don't think those restrictions make any sense. It's academic "integrity" at the expense of dignity, and that's not a tradeoff I'd be willing to choose if I had a choice.

And I don't see what's wrong with caring about what the institution cares about.

Well, sometimes they're your saintly alma mater, and sometimes they're the evil Big Brother (usually in this case they are referred to as The Administration). Which is where the tension is -- when are you protecting yoru own academic experience, and when are you sticking it to the man?

I am flippant. It is because I am so tired I am dizzy and I have a stack of paperwork the size of my head still to get through. Also I think the people here at work have figured out that I am a worthless incompetent and have been for the last six years.