From:
Paul Dawson
Anyone have
any opinions on this?
paul
From: Brandon M. Wise
I've have
a history of feeling that the concept of "cheating" is an
extremely antiquated and Puritan value that has been enforced through
public
education to prevent other vices.
It is my
belief that two situations exist in the world. One in which you
collect information and one in which you dispense it.
During the
collection process there are seldom any rules governing the
collection of that knowledge other than typical societal norms.
During the
dispensing process there are often rules. On an exam the rules
might be that you can have no outside help -- notes, people, etc. In the
workplace, another place of dispensing, there are less rules or, at least,
the appearance of such -- a parallax caused often time by the rapid
switching between the collection and dispensing phases (colloquially known
as "on the job training").
Additionally,
society and the vast amount of knowledge therein is a product
of a collective effort which is rich with the exchange of ideas. Braindumps
are another form of this transfer of knowledge.
Are braindumps
cheating? It is my opinion that they are not. I have used
those types of resources to prepare for all sorts of examinations and
have
often used similar resources in the workplace.
It is my
belief that the appearance of cheating is caused by a confusion of
the rules imposed by the dispensing process with the freedom of the
collection process.
--
Brandon M. Wise
From: Frank Booth
I disagree.
There are two interpretations of braindumps as I have seen them
defined, but one is far more common than the other.
The first
type is a dump of one's knowledge of a subject, along the lines of
something you might find on www.cramsession.com or one of the exam cram
books. These I have no trouble with. They are encapsulated data in a
shortened format. There is nothing immoral about using the Cliff's Notes
version of study aids.
The second,
much more common and much more disturbing type of braindump is
the literal dumping of the exact questions and answers that were posed
on
the test for others to use. This is not only immoral, it is illegal, as
defined by the conditions presented to the test taker when taking the
test.
A clear cut
example is this:
John Smith
takes the networking essentials exam and one of the questions he
receives is this:
Q. What layer
of the OSI model does a Router fall under?
A. Network
B. Physical
C. Presentation
D. Session
John, for
unfathomable reasons, posts this question and the correct answer
(Network) to a braindump website.
Along comes
Samuel Doe, who collects this question and a hundred others from
this site. Bear in mind that there is a limited pool of test questions,
so
there is only so many that he needs to memorize. Sam does not know what
the
OSI model is, what a network is, or for that matter what a router is.
But he
knows the answer to this question through rote memorization.
Sam takes
the test and passes it. Now Sam and John have the same
certification, but what value is that certification if it cannot be depended
on to reflect a person's knowledge or skills in a particular arena?
This is why
I think that this sort of braindump is illegal, immoral,
damaging to the certification process, and of little worth to someone
who
wants to actually be knowledgeable on a subject past the specific pool
of
questions that are posed on the exam.
My 2 cents,
Frank Booth.
source:
microsoft.public.cert.exam.mcse
Related Topics
Question on BrainDumps
My opinion on braindumps
The Hidden Value Of Computer Certifcations
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