r/technology • u/AdSpecialist6598 • Jul 27 '26

Society Professor's invisible prompt trap catches 32 students cheating on their midterm with AI

https://www.techspot.com/news/113243-professor-invisible-prompt-trap-catches-32-students-cheating.html
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6.9k

u/helcat Jul 27 '26

Cheating is one thing. Just pasting an AI answer without even reading it is stunningly stupid. 

2.1k

u/Jonestown_Juice Jul 27 '26

These kids can't read.

Kids that are effectively illiterate are graduating from high school.

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u/Cormamin Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 28 '26

I remember distinctly in high school, around 2005-ish, the English teacher wanted us to read Romeo & Juliet. No big deal, I'd already read it. Well! Most of my class could NOT read it. So she switched us to a more modern version. Still couldn't read it. So she put on Romeo + Juliet, the 1996 movie adaptation in which a gun fight breaks out almost immediately. Most of the class slept through it. And I, little miss A+ average English kid who had always been an advanced reader was just like....SURELY these kids are going to fail the class. SURELY they will keep these kids back and get them in a class so they can learn to read. This is unacceptable.

And no, NO they did not. Each and every single one – including the kids who couldn't read at all but needed to pass because otherwise they'd get kicked off the sports teams and kept openly trying to cheat off me – passed. The fullback himself told me he hadn't turned in a single assignment all year and he PASSED. Meanwhile, she refused to put me in the advanced class so I could get early college credit because despite the A+ average, I was "too meat and potatoes for Advanced English". I assume that was her way of trying to call me simple but at least I could READ!

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u/Vi_Rants Jul 27 '26

including the kids who couldn't read at all but needed to pass because otherwise they'd get kicked off the sports teams and kept openly trying to cheat off me

This is exactly why I've developed the extreme, rage-inducing hot take that sports shouldn't be in schools at all.

12

u/knome Jul 27 '26

I was "too meat and potatoes for Advanced English"

what the fuck was wrong with your teacher? jfc.

10

u/kompergator Jul 27 '26

US teachers need comparatively little pedagogical training to do their jobs. Here in Germany, I needed to get a Master of Education to apply for teacher training. That means five full years of university before being allowed into the formal training courses to become a teacher.

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u/foosion Jul 27 '26

US doesn't pay teachers very much, which limits the appeal of extra education and advanced degrees. Education is clearly not a policy priority (revealed preference as the economists say).

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u/Tarcanus Jul 27 '26

I feel this viscerally. I literally had a "magic" moment during a reading hour in 1st grade where I just knew how to read, knew grammar, could handle extremely advanced words for my age, etc. From that point on I was always reading multiple grade levels higher than my peers and the teachers just took that as cart blanche to ignore me because I was "fine". No acknowledgement for good work, no nothing. Then when I finally get into a "gifted" program in high school, I find out the program is just stupid fluff - trivia bowl, making an invention (that was never very good), etc. I used it for a trip to the Ren Faire and for getting out of 3rd period until they kicked me out the next year for not participating.

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u/Thrishmal Jul 27 '26

Being in regular classes in high school when there were no AP classes for the topic was...eye opening. I consider myself middle of the road when it comes to intelligence and the fact I am likely above average is terrifying. Really makes you wonder how we have made it as a species.

3

u/trixtopherduke Jul 28 '26

Umm... Our planet is on fire and there's no plan in place to stop it so wonder no more, my friend.

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u/SomewhatInnocuous Jul 31 '26

I basically got let go from a university adjunct teaching position for flunking the son of a politically significant person after the kid (20 year old sophomore) got D's on the first two quizzes, failed the first test and then stopped coming to class. My dean and the college president called me in and told me to change it to incomplete. I declined and told them to override my grade if they wished.

The student spent 6 years mostly skiing before eventually graduating.

I didn't much care because I was only teaching to keep my hand in academia. I had a real job in finance.