Blog #4: Moral Muteness

Moral muteness is an occurrence that I can say I have encountered multiple times in my life. I believe that everyone has been in this situation in his or her lifetime because it is very common to occur. I am going to talk about a particular event that occurred last summer when I was taking summer classes at a local community college.

Last summer I was taking a Math exam at a community college by my house. At this college, each student takes any course exam in the testing center. While taking my exam, I browsed the room. I have a hard time taking tests when people are constantly moving around or whispering. I looked up to see the kid in front of me looking at his phone several times. He would look up to see if the proctor was looking at him, but then would write down more answers on his exam. He peeked at his phone a couple more times, but then the proctor finally saw him. He said he was just checking the time and that was it. She let it go and as she walked away, he pulled out his phone again and began to record more answers down on his exam. He finished in about thirty minutes but the exam should have taken him far more time than that. It was so hard for me to watch this kid cheat on an exam and most likely receive a great grade on it. Myself and numerous other students in the room were taking that same exam, so this was unfair to us. I wanted to say something to the proctor, but I did not want to tattle on someone I did not know and then have everyone look at me.  As I struggled to take my test more, the kid finally turned his in relieved as can be. If I told the proctor on him, he would have gotten an automatic zero on the exam and then would have been asked to leave. I did nothing and just watched this situation occur. I have experienced this situation multiple times in high school and in college. I have never told on anyone cheating, but have always thought about it. Cheating happens a lot and not everyone gets caught all the time. They are the one who come out lucky.

After reflecting on this incident, I believe that I was avoiding two major values: courage and bravery. I did make a mistake and I was wrong for doing that, but I cannot change the past now. Courage and bravery are vital values that everyone should have and use during tough situations. I was nervous of what everyone would think of me, so I did not take action. After experiencing that event, I have now found myself to have the courage to speak up about situations. Not that one in particular, but other events that I would never have spoke up to before.