Early in this century, the grading of widgets was applied to people because the people made the widgets. William Bagley published Classroom Management , a book that introduced business management principles to the schoolhouse. Note how most classrooms still look like piecework factories. Replace the PC with a sewing machine and you're staring at the back of the heads of the folks in the row in front. Eyes on your own work, please.
Collaboration is a waste of time, so let's call it cheating.
Today, that system is irrelevant to your growth. Raise your hand if you intend to get a bench job in a piecework factory. To many learners that system is harmful because it doesn't begin to measure how intelligent or knowledgeable they are. In a piecework factory, the big trick is to survive until payday. You've been in classes like that.