Long story short. Got caught cheating for sharing a notes on a OPEN NOTE TEST. Got Saturday school for 1 day, got the chance to retake the test. Didn’t get any suspension or serious punishment. Do I need to check yes for this question: Have you ever been found responsible for a disciplinary violation at any educational institution you have attended from the 9th grade (or the international equivalent) forward, whether related to academic misconduct or behavioral misconduct, that resulted in a disciplinary action? These actions could include, but are not limited to: probation, suspension, removal, dismissal, or expulsion from the institution.
IMO yes you should report your academic integrity violation (to the schools that ask this question) because you did receive a disciplinary action (Saturday school.)
In your answer explain the situation, take responsibility for your actions, and share what you learned from the mistake.
Which OP did not do in the original post. She seems to be under the mistaken belief that she was wrongly accused of cheating.
2 Likes
Yes you should acknowledge IMHO because right or wrong, you were found responsible.
Ask your school counselor. They will advise you on apporpriate response. If it’s on your permanent record you should definitely report it. If not, they may advise against it. If it has been expunged from your record, then as far as your school is concerned it didn’t happen and there is no need to report it.
1 Like
Wow, I feel like you are being pretty harsh here. You’re reading a lot into the fact that OP capitalized two words. Maybe they were just explaining the situation to us…the anonymous readers from whom they are asking advice. Advising them to take responsibility for their actions (as another poster did) is great advice. I’m pretty sure chastising them anonymously won’t help them or anyone to rise to the challenge of facing their legitimate question.
1 Like
I would hope a school counselor does not advise any student to hide an academic integrity violation. It wouldn’t matter that it’s not on their permanent record…the student was caught cheating and the HS administered a punishment. And that’s exactly what the college’s question in the OP is asking for. If OP doesn’t honestly answer the question, they run the risk that a counselor or teacher writes about it in an LoR and/or a peer/a peer’s parent reports it to colleges where OP applies (which happens every day.)
Of course it matters.
The question is obviously referring to a serious infraction as described by their examples: “. . . probation, suspension, removal, dismissal, or expulsion . . .” The incident described by this student doesn’t come remotely close to any of these. If, furthermore, the school doesn’t even note it on the permanent record, they clearly consider it to be a minor matter not worth mentioning. So, I don’t see that it needs to be mentioned in that case.
No one here knows the full circumstances of what happened. Nobody here knows the full extent to which instructions for the “open note” exam were explained to the students. For all we know, the fault lay with the teacher and that teacher is in trouble with his/her supervisor, and the school went ahead with a perfunctory action just to get the point across to the students. The point is that no one here knows what went on behind closed doors at the school.
IMO, we have no business advising this student on her question because we don’t have sufficient information. I think the best advice was @Bruno99’s suggestion that she ask her school counselor.