Air Force Academy story

[DNall]

I hate to be the one to start this, but if you hadn't heard about this cheating scandal:
http://www.allamericanpatriots.com/m-news+article+storyid-19256.html
I spoke to a cadet last night & apparently the number is closer to 400 & effects every Cadet Squadron. To be fair, I think it was a statement more like as many as 10 or more cadets in each Sq may be involved. in passing info over this website that violates the honor code. I don't know, maybe the superintendent was just trying to scare them.

[Pumbaa]

Sad state of affairs when this type of thing reaches this level.

If you look at society as a whole, high school, college, business, cheating seems to not only have become commonplace but acceptable.

To see this volume at the AFA is a sad commentary indeed.  At least some of the cadets came forward themselves...

Just shows us we need to try harder, be better examples and train up a child in the way he will go...

[JohnKachenmeister]

I had heard about this, but I like to try to keep an open mind when "Allegations" surface.

Part of what will have to be considered is the intent of the folks involved.  If their intent was dishonest, (Hey... number 5 is a tough one, but the answer is "B") then they should leave the academy.

If their intention was benign, then they should be counselled about their lack of good judgement, learn from the experience, and move on.

These are freshmen, discovering a new world.  They need to learn where the line is between enthusiastic discussion of lessons and sharing of knowledge ends and cheating begins.  That may not be an easy call with the communication possibilities of the web.

[DNall]

The stuff they're talking about is the same kind of knowledge we make cadets memorize at encampments. The difference is They get a set of questions each day & have to go look up the answers. They also have to know the next several meals & some other stuff besides trying to make grades in the midst of a tough year. You wouldn't make it w/o teamworking some of that stuff with your roommate. That's part of the point actually is to make you rely on others for your survival. You aren't supposed to look up the answers & post it for the whole class though.

Way I understand this from a pretty direct source is... one person got reported; rumor of an investigation floated; bunch of people turned themselves in; few more didn't & are being investigated. That's the 28 you've heard about. Now as this developed a prelim look was taken at the website in question to see if there were other instances with other students. That was the point at which is was speculated that a wide scale problem existed that may involve as much as 10% of the academy, both upper & under-classmen.

Now, I posted this for two simple reasons. One is you're going to see the story & I thought you might be interested in the inside perspective. Mainly though, I think this kind of thing is instructive. Obviously this is a collapse of integrity as a pretty serious level. We deal with integrity all the time. It may be we can cut some corners when we shouldn't, take care of someone that's done a good job, I know I work real hard & sometimes I want to be a bit lazy on details I know are minor, hell our whole system of ES-SQTRs is on the honor system. It's good to think on that every so often & examine ourselves & enviro. Pilots can take a whole exta twist on that too. I know a lot of complacent pilots & sometimes that makes me nervous when they cut corners & don't seem to take everything seriously. Just somethign to think about.

[JohnKachenmeister]

This whole thing strikes me as a bit odd.  When I went through OCS, the motto was "Cooperate and Graduate."  We had to work as a team to get through.  If the class had to know certain facts, delegating one person to find out and tell the rest was NOT considered a failure of ethical behavior, it was considered a mark of excellent time management skill.

The web makes it easier, but I don't see an integrity issue here.  Unless there is some rule of conduct at the Academy that I'm not familiar with.

[flyguy06]

OCS and the Academy are two totally differnt places.Plus when did you go to OCS? Things have changed a lot.

Its a sign of the times unfortunantly.

[ZigZag911]

This whole thing strikes me as a bit odd.  When I went through OCS, the motto was "Cooperate and Graduate."  We had to work as a team to get through.  If the class had to know certain facts, delegating one person to find out and tell the rest was NOT considered a failure of ethical behavior, it was considered a mark of excellent time management skill.

The web makes it easier, but I don't see an integrity issue here.  Unless there is some rule of conduct at the Academy that I'm not familiar with.

If the web site provided questions and/or answers from a test that had not been completed by all the cadets yet, then I think it's pretty clear that this is NOT what anyone had in mind with the slogan 'cooperate & graduate'....which, as I understand it, promotes team work, study groups, mentoring those struggling with military knowledge or procedures...

The USAFA has been through a rough patch over the pat five or six years, the cadet sexual abuse scandal, the commandant trying to convert cadets to his faith, and at least one other event that escapes my memory.

I know West Point & Annapolis have this sort of ting from time to time occasionally (interestingly never hear of it at Coast Guard Academy or Merchant Marine Academy)...but Air Force Academy really seems to be getting in a lot of hot water.

Is this coincidence?

Something in the Academy's culture? Or even USAF's?

[DNall]

This whole thing strikes me as a bit odd.  When I went through OCS, the motto was "Cooperate and Graduate."  We had to work as a team to get through.  If the class had to know certain facts, delegating one person to find out and tell the rest was NOT considered a failure of ethical behavior, it was considered a mark of excellent time management skill.

The web makes it easier, but I don't see an integrity issue here.  Unless there is some rule of conduct at the Academy that I'm not familiar with.

Yeah that's how I would see it as well. Not my call though. Apparently they want to burn the cadets' time so they are demonstrating the academic & physicial performance they can bring in the limited amount of time provided. There's a reasonable angle to that, but it can go too far & when your freshmen class has the lowest GPA in 20 years the previous semester, it might not be time to push those limits.

It's been longer than six years. My cousin just commissioned from the Acad last year, just glad to get out of there after keeping his head down for years. Navy has the same kind of problems, but the institutional correction hasn't gone so far as to be the dominant thing at all times. West Point has bigger problems, but they went thru this process earlier on & bow keep it to a minimum. Merchant Marine had a sexual assualt situation, Coast Guard too. Obviously they don't get much since they are so tiny.

[Major Carrales]

Cheating is very commonplace at the school where I teach and I crack down on it hard as a teacher.

However, 4 out of 5 times the kid get away because a parent comes in, makes a stink to the principal and all is made well.

There was one time where a kid stole the folder of a student who I had had in an earlier period, scratched out the name, and turned it in as his own.

The principal said I should do the right thing...so, I failed the student because that folder was a major grade.  Seems that was not the "right" thing after all.  the kids was changed to another teacher because it was called a "personality conflict!"

Fact is, as we let small cheating and other petty criminality slide (like juvenile crime) we perpetuate more crime later.  What happens the the 17 year old that breaks into a store at night and is freed, when one birthday later the same act done several times before warrants jail?

Our systems seem to only provide training for criminality and acceptance of wrong doing. 

So, what are we going to do about it?

[bosshawk]

OK, folks.  As an Admissions Liaison Officer for the US Military Academy(West Point) for 12 years, I am very familiar with the environment at the academies and the nature of the Honor Code.  If you review it, the Code is very clear and unambiguous.  If you cheat, you pay the price.  I have absolutely no problem with the actions taken by the Superintendent and back him 100 percent.  He needs to nail this as quickly as possible.

You can equivocate all you want and talk about helping others out to make the grade and "oh they are just freshmen and made a minor mistake" and other such excuses.  They signed the oath and knew exactly what it meant.  Just think about those people as commissioned officers in the Air Force in future years and us, as a nation, having to rely on their judgement and honesty and integrity.

I look forward to the results of the investigation.  As a retired, but still serving, commissioned officer in the United State military, I want this resolved as soon as possible and there is no excuse for lack of integrity.

Sorry if you guys don't like my position, but that is it and I don't compromise.

[JohnKachenmeister]

OK, folks.  As an Admissions Liaison Officer for the US Military Academy(West Point) for 12 years, I am very familiar with the environment at the academies and the nature of the Honor Code.  If you review it, the Code is very clear and unambiguous.  If you cheat, you pay the price.  I have absolutely no problem with the actions taken by the Superintendent and back him 100 percent.  He needs to nail this as quickly as possible.

You can equivocate all you want and talk about helping others out to make the grade and "oh they are just freshmen and made a minor mistake" and other such excuses.  They signed the oath and knew exactly what it meant.  Just think about those people as commissioned officers in the Air Force in future years and us, as a nation, having to rely on their judgement and honesty and integrity.

I look forward to the results of the investigation.  As a retired, but still serving, commissioned officer in the United State military, I want this resolved as soon as possible and there is no excuse for lack of integrity.

Sorry if you guys don't like my position, but that is it and I don't compromise.

Paul:

In a later post, I found out that cadets had published answers to a written exam.  The first information I had was that they had shared information that was open and available that they had to know for spot quizzes, such as the dinner menu.

That's why I keep an open mind when allegations of wrongdoing, by cadets or by generals, comes up.  You seldom really know all the facts.

[DNall]

Apparently both cases are true. The initial stink seems to have risen from the sharing of spot knowledge that was supposed to be individually aquired. If the rule is no help then obviously deal with it decisively. However, the follow on look seems to have uncovered wider sharing of academic information, maybe including test info. All that is unconfirmed. I just know what I was told and what the story says. Outside that we'd all be speculating.

As a genreal rule though, I think I'd like for the officers appointed over me to have good time & resource mgmt skills, and not to think they should struggle thru things themselves when support & advice is available. That has to be executed with integrity though.

We can keep speculating, but really I wanted to mention this as a reminder not to get complacent about integrity even with the little things in ourselves & the things around us.

[flyguy06]

OK, folks.  As an Admissions Liaison Officer for the US Military Academy(West Point) for 12 years, I am very familiar with the environment at the academies and the nature of the Honor Code.  If you review it, the Code is very clear and unambiguous.  If you cheat, you pay the price.  I have absolutely no problem with the actions taken by the Superintendent and back him 100 percent.  He needs to nail this as quickly as possible.

You can equivocate all you want and talk about helping others out to make the grade and "oh they are just freshmen and made a minor mistake" and other such excuses.  They signed the oath and knew exactly what it meant.  Just think about those people as commissioned officers in the Air Force in future years and us, as a nation, having to rely on their judgement and honesty and integrity.

I look forward to the results of the investigation.  As a retired, but still serving, commissioned officer in the United State military, I want this resolved as soon as possible and there is no excuse for lack of integrity.

Sorry if you guys don't like my position, but that is it and I don't compromise.

Would that be like the commissioned officer that drove from Houstn to Orlando to confrant and urt another commissioned officer? Or would that be like the commissioned officer that was chage with sexually harrasing another commisioned officer?

[ZigZag911]

As a genreal rule though, I think I'd like for the officers appointed over me to have good time & resource mgmt skills, and not to think they should struggle thru things themselves when support & advice is available. That has to be executed with integrity though. 

While I tend to agree, these are freshmen....their first lesson needs to be followership, which means carrying out orders so long as they are legal and moral....in other words, yeah, this seems like a pointless burden....which may indeed have been the point, to see how much they can do, how much stress they can handle.

It is possible the academic situation was analyzed, and that 20 year low GPA was attributed to insufficient effort....a sure reason to crank up the heat!

[DNall]

^valid take, I wasn't there to tell you that it was considered & that was the decision made, and so I can't tell you if it was a good or bad decision. I doubt very much it was due to lack of effort though. Perhaps focus on things other than academics, & usually keeping your head low & so busy you can't think tends to hurt the grades.

[JohnKachenmeister]

I probably wouldn't survive in the Academy.  In OCS the stuff we had to know that was open we would delegate certain people to find out and report back.  Nobody considered this cheating.

Also, while I don't know the facts, "Information about" a test and "Test answers" are two different things in my book of rules.

While it would be cheating to give specific answers, telling someone that the test emphasis favored a certain textbook chapter would be acceptable to me.

I'll go turn myself in now.

[DNall]

I don't know, and frankly I hope I never do. I'm positive they'll take it by the horns & make this right not only for the sitaution but for teh culture up there, but in teh end I hope they can keep most of this in house. I hope there's not another story on how this is resolved or that it may go deeper or what may come of that. I don't want anything swept under the rug, and it won't be, but I'd jsut assume the bad press not go any further.

[Fifinella]

Not a lot of data yet, but this article was somewhat useful: http://www.gazette.com/display.php?id=1329730

Here's what was sent out to grads:
"Wed, 07 Feb 2007 19:00:30 -0500
Subject:    Academy investigates potential test compromise
Academy Public Affairs

Academy officials announced today they're investigating approximately 28 possible compromises of a Fourth Class Knowledge Test given to all members of the Class of 2010, the current freshman class.

The test was given on Jan. 31, 2007, and the possible compromise was discovered on Feb. 2 when cadets reported the incident.

Nineteen of the cadets interviewed so far by Cadet Honor Representatives have admitted to cheating on the test.

The investigation to date indicates the compromise appears to be limited to freshmen.  A review is underway to determine all the facts and circumstances of the possible cheating incident.  Updates will be released as they become available."


"Cooperate & graduate" in my mind is telling a classmate what types of current events or aircraft knowledge or AF knowlege a particular upperclassman tends to ask for.  But when it comes to a written exam, the rules are clear.  "Sharing" questions with someone who has not taken the test yet is cheating, whether it's a physics test or a fourth class knowledge test.

There are many strong opinions about the Academies and Academy grads.  Personally, I like the high standards, even if people sometimes fall short.  I like knowing that people are being challenged to think of "Integrity First" (Air Force core value).  I like being comfortable trusting someone at his/her word.  The Honor Code at the Air Force Academy (and for AFROTC) is simply this: "We will not lie, cheat, or steal, nor tolerate among us anyone who does."

I don't see this as being elitist, draconian or obsolete.  Rather, it is the benchmark, the standard to which our behavior should be compared at all times, and if our behavior does not meet this standard, it should be corrected, just as one would adjust a machine which was producing a product which was out of standards.  The Profession of Arms has very little margin for error, and even less room for lack of integrity.  I submit that Integrity in the Armed Forces is what keeps a democracy (or republic) from becoming a dictatorship or a Junta, and what keeps its citizens secure and confident in their military.