ConcernedTA

Hi there. I'm on TA this semester, and I'm concerned that the instructor and head TA may have rigged the course I'm TAing to encourage cheating. I'm sure that, for this audience, I don't need to review the pressures driving grade inflation. The course that I am TAing is Orgo II for Pre-Meds -- probably the single course which is under the most pressure to inflate grades. The students need good grades to get into med school; the school wants more of its students to get into med school to increase their prestige and future donations; the instructor doesn't want bad reviews from Pre-Meds who got a B in orgo to affect their chances at tenure; etc. The course, in general, seems to be a dumbed-down version of Organic II, but that's not my main concern. My main concern is that he head TA seems to strategically distribute answer keys in such a way that the TAs will (perhaps unintentionally) share the answers with the students. The answer keys to the exams are distributed to the exam proctors immediately before the exams. That is, the keys to the exams are in the proctors' back pockets while the students are taking the exams. The answer keys to the homework assignments are distributed electronically to the TAs a week before the assignments are due. While we're told not to distribute the answers to the students, we are told to review the answers beforehand, and then to "lead" the students to the answers. I'm not sure that there is much of a practical difference between giving students the answers and "leading them" to the answers. The fact that they're distributed electronically to 20 TAs also makes them simple to forward, intentionally or unintentionally, to the students. This situation is maybe not *quite* academic dishonesty, but it feels like it's right on the cusp. It does seem to set up a situation in which TAs will accidentally and unintentionally share the answers with the students. It's about as close as you can get to academic dishonesty without crossing the line. And the entire burden for not crossing the line is on the subordinate TAs; the head TA and professor appear to have done everything in their power to encourage cheating. So, is this kind of situation common? Am I overreacting, or does it seem sketchy? I mean, I'm an organic grad student, so I should be able to figure out the answers even without the answer keys. I've just never previously TA'd a course where the answers to the exams were distributed to the proctors during the exams. But maybe it's common at other schools.