Exam Scams and Classroom Flimflams: Urban Legends as an Alternative Lens for Viewing the College Classroom Experience

Authors

Claire Howell Major
- Ph.D. in Higher Education from the University of Georgia
- M.A. in English from the University of Alabama at Birmingham
- B.A. in English from the University of South Alabama
- Currently an Associate Professor of Higher Education at the University of Alabama, focusing on faculty and change
Nathaniel Bray
- Ph.D. and M.A. in Higher Education from Vanderbilt University
- B.A. in Biology from Harvard University
- Currently an Assistant Professor at the University of Alabama, focusing on faculty and administrator relations

Abstract

Campus-based urban legends convey and construct student culture in higher education.
Utilize qualitative and humanistic research methods for collecting, analyzing, and interpreting legends related to the academic experience of collegiate life.
Keywords: urban legends, academic culture, academic experience

Introduction and Overview of Legend

Anecdote regarding a Biology 101 exam at Central State University where a student forgot his ID card and instead of following protocol, he claimed, "Do you know who I am?" before leaving the classroom with his exam.
Highlights common issues faced by students in large lecture classes, impersonal faculty treatment, and provides insight into student culture.

Cultural Significance of Urban Legends

Urban legends provide a unique glimpse into higher education’s culture through storytelling.
The legend illustrates a rigid professor, large impersonal classes, and acceptable radical behavior in dire situations, all pointing to the realities students face.
Campus legends offer stories that aid students in understanding their environment, discovering cues on how to respond, and passing knowledge through peer culture.
These legends represent untapped information about the culture in higher education.

Relevant Literature

Urban Legends Defined

Urban legends, while named such, are not exclusive to urban life but are folklore centered on recent events and ordinary individuals.
They circulate widely, often via email, and claim to be true, despite often being embellished or fictional.
Legends are usually told with details, often reported by a “Friend of a Friend”
Serve to confirm worldviews or act as cautionary tales, providing both fact and fiction about institutional life.

Academic Culture Framework

Culture is crucial in understanding college experiences; systems of meaning are collective properties of groups, forming an important part of higher education discourse.
Urban legends are shared among students as part of their socialization and peer culture, evident in how stories circulated shape students’ experiences.
Relationships formed through shared storytelling influence student development and social networks on campus.

Data Collection and Analysis

Research Questions

What urban legends exist about college campuses?
Do these urban legends group into meaningful patterns?

Methodology

Adopted the approach of unobtrusive measures for studying cultural artifacts, as proposed by Thelin (1976).
Legends collected from various sources including student anecdotes, email chains, and folklore websites, totaling 150 items.
Refined focus to exclude jokes and ghost stories, ultimately identifying 38 legends about college classrooms.
Methodological analysis included content analysis, inductive analysis, and constant comparison to identify themes.

Findings

Identified four major categories of urban legends: rules, teaching, risqué remarks, and evaluation.

Rules

Legends demonstrate student confusion over rules and policies in college, such as the popular “fifteen-minute rule” for waiting on late professors, providing guidelines for student behavior.
- Example: Students leaving class after waiting the prescribed time for their instructor showcases students' responses to ambiguous policies.

Teaching

Highlights differing teaching methods in college; students' experiences dealing with disengaged educators and creativity in response.
- Examples:
- A professor lectures via tape recorder while neglecting student engagement, leading to disaster when students respond in kind with passive learning.
- Students conduct a social experiment on a dull professor by manipulating his movements to garner attention, reflecting on student agency in a lackluster environment.

Collaborative Learning

Depicts challenges with group assignments where student frustration occurs with poorly structured collaborative tasks.
- Example: A tandem story assignment devolves into chaos, emphasizing the necessity for faculty to thoughtfully manage group work.

Lab/Demonstration

Students learn offbeat lessons from labs much beyond course material, as illustrated by a urologist's urine sampling demonstration leading to an unexpected twist involving observational skills.

Risqué Remarks

Legends reflect students' fears of embarrassing themselves or encountering inappropriate remarks in class.
- Example: A biology student’s offhand comment during a reproduction class turning into a misogynistic jab signifies the underlying pressures faced by students regarding gender roles in academia.
- Another legend showcases a professor's inappropriate joke at the expense of female students, questioning the academic environment’s inclusivity.

Evaluation

The largest category, encompassing legends surrounding tests, papers, grading practices, and the pressures associated with evaluation systems.
- Crafty professors employ unforeseen methods to evaluate students, inducing unease about their performance.
- Example: A professor crawling through a window with quizzes humorously showcases how professors create tension around tests.
- Smart responses to exam queries indicate student frustrations over perceived arbitrary evaluation criteria.
- Example: A clever biology student confronting an unintelligible exam challenges the instructor’s testing methods.
- Illustrates pressure associated with assessment, noting how a law student’s fatal stress during finals highlights the extreme emotions linked with academic evaluations.
- Legends about cheating explore students’ attempts at outsmarting professors and reinforce the cautionary themes regarding academic dishonesty.

Discussion and Implications

Campus-based urban legends serve as reflections of shared academic experiences and cultural constructs of higher education.
The narratives highlight student anxieties about navigating the institutional landscape while also providing social commentary on educational practices and professor-student dynamics.
Important to consider how these legends shape perspectives about higher education, perpetuating stereotypes and misunderstandings regarding institutional processes.

Messages Conveyed in Legends

Professors often depicted in legends range from aloof to villainous, provoking student anxiety and commentary on classroom dynamics.
Students represented as struggling to make sense of the chaotic rules and environments, showcasing cleverness in overcoming challenges.
Reflections on gender indicate a bias in how narratives portray male and female students, establishing a continuation of concerns regarding equity in academia.

Suggestions for Future Research

Future inquiries could examine the social implications of urban legends more deeply across various campuses, peer groups, and institutional contexts.
Further exploration of how legends shape student behavior and perceptions in response to higher education systems.
Recommend studies focusing on extracurricular experiences and their narrative legends to broaden understanding.

Conclusion

Campus-based urban legends provide powerful insight into academic culture, revealing nuances of student experiences and institutional dynamics.
Acknowledge the significance of understanding these legends as they shape perceptions and reinforce cultural norms within higher education.