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by osculum 36 days ago
Im surprised to hear that. I went to Caltech for my postgrad and never collaborated on an test, and it would have never ocurre me to do so (and no, the professor didn’t have to explicitly say they collaboration was not allowed. It was just the standard honor code).

We all suspected of people that didn’t adhere to the honor code and it was frowned upon, and they could have faced repercussions if anyone had reported them.
4 comments
rayiner 36 days ago
He or she is telling on himself. Cheaters always project.

I looked at materials hidden in my desk for one question during a quiz in fifth grade and it still gnaws at me. Cheaters suck.

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throwaway2037 35 days ago
I am curious if there is a specific personality trait that is hard-wired (from birth) into certain people (like the Big Five OCEAN psychology model) to adhere more closely to honour codes. I too had a pretty strong natural adherence, even from a young age, and no one "beat it into me".
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limbicsystem 35 days ago
I don't know about the big 5 but in the six-factor 'open source' version (the HEXACO) the 'H' stands for 'honesty/humility' https://hexaco.org/
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JumpCrisscross 35 days ago
Bit depressing to see the mode of this board swing towards “people couldn’t possibly have honor,” huh?
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throwup238 36 days ago
I did ChemE for undergrad and aerospace focused on systems engineering for postgrad so that colored my experience a bit. The former was brutal and the latter naturally collaborative with a bunch of projects, so we all worked together.

The postgrad continuum mechanics class (I think taught by the geophysics department?) was the biggest exception so I’m betting there’s quite a bit of variance among fields.

I don’t doubt there’s academic fraud (living in the dorm my first year wiped away any illusion) but within my major it didn’t end well.

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marsten 36 days ago
I was an undergrad at Caltech in the late 80s and likewise it never even occurred to us to cheat on take-home exams. Maybe things have changed.

People did plenty of collaboration on homework sets. Some of the harder ones were almost impossible unless you did, like those 20 page Phys98 homework sets...

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lazyasciiart 36 days ago
> they could have faced repercussions if anyone had reported them.

Did people report them?

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osculum 36 days ago
Not that I know of. I just heard rumors but never saw it myself.
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