The Art of War

The great philosopher Sun Tzu created this book to lay plain how to win every war in any condition on any terrain against any force using any tactic. It’s quite the claim. Since I know nothing of war except for what Gladiator, 300, and The Last Samurai have taught me, I cannot comment on the effectiveness of Sun Tzu’s philosophy. I do know that I wish these scenarios could more easily be applied to a classroom in Africa on test day, for it is war.

I admit that America is not cheater free. But America does not know cheating like my students though. The executives of Enron could have learned a thing or two from my kids. It’s a skill set I’m only beginning to learn how to combat.

This year I tried to put the fear of god in them, knowing full well that it would only discourage the best students from trying. I laid it plain my punishments for any form of cheating, be it wandering eyes, talking during the test, or actually being so bold as to smuggle in a cheat sheet or notebook. Even so, I knew I would need to make examples of students early. Weakness is exploited immediately, and I was determined to leave no crack or crevice in which to dig their nails.

And examples I made. My first had an astonishingly small percentage of students that showed up on time, and so only the punctual sat the test. Of the 30-35 students in the classroom, I found around 18 cabulas (cheatsheets). The pillaging of tests didn’t end there either, but it did diminish somewhat.

But despite harshly punishing students, I know that come the second exam, the third, even the last test I will have more than one student try to cheat. It seems I’ve waged a war against an impossibility hardy force with numbers far greater than my own. I recall Sun’s teachings and his advice for waging this war: Don’t. That doesn’t seem like good advice in this case. So onward I march, through enemy territory to fight an impossible battle.