Teacher faced temptation to cheat in college

As a college student at Princeton, English teacher Catherine Head took a social science course called Critical Theory, taught by a professor who thought women had no place in higher education.

“He believed that he contributed toward the 'greater good' of society by self-righteously limiting women’s participation in his class,” said Head.

Whenever she had questions during his lecture, her professor would ignore her raised hand.

“Since I couldn't speak (in a class with 12 students), many of my questions went unanswered,” Head said.

As a result, sitting through the class was more of an endurance contest than an intellectually engaging experience.

Equally frustrating, the exams in the class were little more than a guessing game.

But after she read the question, her pulse quickened and a million thoughts raced through her head. Head knew that the answer to the test question was sitting right in front of her among the material she  used to study. No one was around to see her. She shifted her gaze between the test question and the answer.

Head was facing one of a student’s most difficult ethical dilemmas: cheating.

At first, she first tried to justify it.     

“[I pondered] the same reasons all fundamentally honest people consider when cheating tempts them,” Head said. 

She had been wronged by her professor, she thought, and felt that she owed him nothing. If she didn’t pass the exam, she might fail the class: too much depended on knowing the answer. And who cared? It was a stupid test anyway.

But after thinking about loyalty to the teacher, Head had to consider loyalty to herself. The final decision was not easy. She took a last look at the papers lying in front of her and pushed it away.

As it turned out, she ended up missing the question, but she said she felt good about herself and made up for the missed points later on during class.

“This memory helps me to be more sympathetic to those who are tempted and give in, though I have to admit I have no respect for people who cheat because ‘everyone's doing it.’  [Not everyone] is,” Head said.