An address to the school in Assembly – 22 March 2023
Deputy Head: Academics, Mrs J Finnie
This year our school celebrates its 160th year of existence. During such a long history, our reputation has built a solid foundation, based on honour and integrity… built on doing the right thing.
Over the last few weeks, we have focused on the school values, in particular issues around honesty. Our core values are the characteristics that should be part of us, part of our character, values which determine the way we conduct ourselves in all circumstances.
As Head of Academics, I am very concerned about the number of cases of cheating and plagiarism that we have had to deal with in recent weeks. In each case, when asked to write a statement, or questioned in a disciplinary interview, the boys knew what they did wrong, they knew that it was wrong, but they took a chance. They took a chance to get a few extra marks and the result was that they got 0 for the task. Was it worth the risk academically, obviously not?
But there is a far greater risk here, and this is the risk that you take in terms of your reputation and your character. You betray not only yourself and your family, but also your school, you break the College credo, you breach the Code of Conduct, and you disappoint us all.
I am going to remind you once again of the following aspects of the Code of Conduct, that apply in these particular circumstances:
- You may not use anything whether it is notes, your phone or someone else’s work to assist you in a formal academic task whether it is a Common test, an assignment, an oral or an exam.
- You do not have to use the notes that you may have on you to be guilty, merely having them with you is a punishable offence. In the NSC examinations, cheating in this manner may carry a penalty where you are not permitted to write that NSC exam for 3 years…your results are withheld and you do not matriculate that year.
At Maritzburg College, if you are found guilty of cheating or plagiarism, you need to know what the consequences will be:
- You will have a disciplinary interview
- You will receive 0 for the task
- You will serve 3 Friday detentions
- I n addition, a warning letter is sent to your parents and a copy is placed on your file. You will also need to explain to your parents what you have done…. consider how that conversation will go for you…. how will your parents will feel on receiving this information.
As far as cell phones and other devices are concerned, the code of conduct is very clear on this matter too:
“You may not have a cell phone in an examination/test venue”
Irrespective of whether you use the phone during the exam/test, it is an offence to have your phone on you, and if you are caught, your phone will be taken from you for a period of 3 weeks while you serve 3 detentions. The other sanctions mentioned earlier will also apply in this case.
There are some other aspects of dishonesty that I need to address. Most of you are part of a variety of WhatsApp groups, and on those groups, information is sometimes shared regarding tests already written, for those boys who are still to write or memos for tasks and assignments for other boys to cheat from. Just last week, we found inappropriate information being shared and questions being asked on a Form WhatsApp group.
You may think that we cannot trace you from your cell phone numbers and your phone “nicknames”, but we were able to identify 3 relevant boys on this group very easily within a matter of minutes.
Emma Sadleir, a digital media lawyer, speaks of the “Billboard test” i.e. if you would not post content (an image or text) on a giant billboard for all to see, then don’t do it on a WhatsApp group…. it is a public platform, and this is cheating too.
If you are in a WhatsApp group and there are unacceptable messages on that group, you have two options:
- One is to state openly that you disapprove of it
- The other option is to leave the group
If you don’t do one of those two things, there is a convincing argument that you are as liable as the person trying to cheat on that group.
As ALL of the offences that I have mentioned today are a breach of College’s core values of honesty and integrity, the Code of Conduct clearly states that a learner MAY following such an offence be prohibited from holding a leadership position.
Gentlemen, I ask you once again, is it worth the risk?
Think carefully…. there are always consequences for your actions…. make the right choice.