Mmi Practice Question

[TeaandFig]

Hey everyone, 

 

Hoping I can get some feedback on the way I am approaching this question:

 

Your friend is of Chinese descent and fluent in Mandarin. You both want to get into medicine. She registers for Mandarin 101, a course in Chinese language for beginners. The course coordinator asks that students who can already speak just a little bit of Mandarin should leave because this is a course for beginners. Your friend remains but makes a sufficient number of deliberate mistakes in the classroom discussions, in the required homework and in the examinations that she will not be detected and yet still receive an excellent grade. What would you do in this situation? 

 

1. Question summarization: Unbeknownst to your teacher and your classmates, you friend is pretending to be more novice in your language class than she really is in order to get better marks.

 

2. Ethical dilemma: You friend is lying to the teacher and your classmates; she is not practicing at her skill level. As a result, her future employers/reviewers of her school marks will think she has a higher grade than she actually does. In addition, she may gain really great marks in the class, and as a result, the teacher may increase the difficulty of future tests for the whole class, which would be unfair to the other beginner students. However, you feel conflicted as her friend because you probably feel some sort of obligation to keep her secret, yet you know it's somewhat unfair to the rest of the class/the professor.

 

3. Alternatives: 

- You could not say anything, and your friend would receive great marks; this is problematic for the reasons outlined above. 

- You could say something to the professor, this will most likely result in your friend getting kicked out of the class, and her marks may suffer as a consequence. In addition, she may lose loyalty to you as a friend.

- You could be honest with your friend and explain to her the reasons why you think this is problematic; after all, maybe she hadn't considered all of the reasons why it might be detrimental/unfair to her other classmates. In addition, maybe there are other reasons why she feels she needs to take this course to get better marks; is she stressed out/burnt out from some other aspect of her life? Are the other courses she is taking too demanding, so she felt the need to take this easy course? Is there anything else going on in her life which might help put this scenario in to context? If so, maybe you can help her relieve some of that stress so that she won't have to take the easy course, like helping her to find a guidance counsellor. 

 

4. Action plan:

- At the end of the day, I believe you should talk to your friend about the reasons why what she is doing is unethical, and see if thee are any other reasons (life, or otherwise academically) why she feels the need to boost her marks through this class. However, ultimately the choice is her own. Most of the reasons why this is problematic is because she will be fabricating her true academic ability to future employers or schools, and that's out of the scope of your responsibility. 

 

Thoughts on the question? Thoughts on the answer? 

[MacMed2018]

I think the above answer is unrealistic.  You're likely not going to talk to your friend in the real world and tell her what she's doing is unethical when both of you are trying to get into med school.  The ethical dilemma is not well summarized. There should be more of a discussion around responsibilities.  Is it your friend's fault that she was able to register for an easier class as a more advanced speaker? not really... should the school take any responsibility for not ensuring fairness?

[MountainAmoeba]

I saw it from the perspective of responsibility, moral and ethical culpability, your willingness and ability to engage in difficult conversations, and acknowledging power structures as antecedents to decision making.

 

Things I would consider.

 

1) are you obligated to report acedemic dishonesty? What does the school policy on acedemic dishonesty state? Do you share responsibility by keeping quiet? By signing up for the class, have you agreed to uphold the values set forth by the institution?

 

2) your responsibility to your friend. What (if any) formal and informal responsibility do you have to your friend? Are you ethically or morally bound to protect the interests of your friend? How does that compare to your responsibility to other classmates?

 

3) what power structures are in place that influence your action. For example the influence of damaging your professional credibility with the institution if you remain quiet? The potential to ruin your friendship? How does that influence you?

 

4) what to do? Likely confront your friend? How do you point out her responsibility, and encourage her to uphold the acedemic integrity of the institution. Do you give her a chance to correct her choice? Do you give her a time frame and inform her that you will talk to administration if she doesn't withdraw? Do you keep quiet? It's not an easy question. But compare it to buying a paper to submit? Cheating on a test? Accessing the school system and inputting a grade? The same ethical principles apply.

 

I would lean to exploring the antecedents to your friends decision, validate the pressure she is experiencing, help identify solutions that are meaningful to her, within moral and ethical guidlelines that are consistent with the principles that the institution upholds. And if at the end of the day, she continued, inform her that you will report her, and follow through if necessary.

[TeaandFig]

I saw it from the perspective of responsibility, moral and ethical culpability, your willingness and ability to engage in difficult conversations, and acknowledging power structures as antecedents to decision making.

 

Things I would consider.

 

1) are you obligated to report acedemic dishonesty? What does the school policy on acedemic dishonesty state? Do you share responsibility by keeping quiet? By signing up for the class, have you agreed to uphold the values set forth by the institution?

 

2) your responsibility to your friend. What (if any) formal and informal responsibility do you have to your friend? Are you ethically or morally bound to protect the interests of your friend? How does that compare to your responsibility to other classmates?

 

3) what power structures are in place that influence your action. For example the influence of damaging your professional credibility with the institution if you remain quiet? The potential to ruin your friendship? How does that influence you?

 

4) what to do? Likely confront your friend? How do you point out her responsibility, and encourage her to uphold the acedemic integrity of the institution. Do you give her a chance to correct her choice? Do you give her a time frame and inform her that you will talk to administration if she doesn't withdraw? Do you keep quiet? It's not an easy question. But compare it to buying a paper to submit? Cheating on a test? Accessing the school system and inputting a grade? The same ethical principles apply.

 

I would lean to exploring the antecedents to your friends decision, validate the pressure she is experiencing, help identify solutions that are meaningful to her, within moral and ethical guidlelines that are consistent with the principles that the institution upholds. And if at the end of the day, she continued, inform her that you will report her, and follow through if necessary.

 

Great answer, thanks for helping out!