A Computer Geek's Solution to "Homework Bullying"

First, let me get the obvious solution out of the way. Most teachers, administrators, and parents leave it as simply, "Stand up to them." What they DON'T tell you is that you not only have to stand up to them, but you also have to be ready to stand your own ground in a fight. You will be outnumbered... and you will get hurt; but chances are, they will also get hurt. At the very least, they won't be compelled to do it again.

I should also note that this solution mostly applies to "homework bullying"-- that is to say, you are being threatened or forced to do someone else's homework. This information comes with no guarantee, as it largely hinges on the competence of the faculty of the school you attend.

The solution I am going to suggest is, of course, a form of Steganography. This requires the sender (you) and the recipient (the teacher) to understand that there is a code being used and what it means.

Let me move onto my first example. Let's suppose for a second that the fourth grade teacher, Mrs. Generic, assigns a math worksheet consisting of 30 addition problems. It might look something like this:

Name: ___________________________ Date: ________________ Instructions: Answer each problem with a correct answer. Don't show your work. 1. 37 + 9 = _____ 16. 13 + 11 = _____ 2. 76 + 5 = _____ 17. 88 + 8 = _____ 3. 80 + 17 = _____ 18. 21 + 3 = _____ 4. 6 + 14 = _____ 19. 6 + 16 = _____ 5. 29 + 25 = _____ 20. 20 + 64 = _____ 6. 94 + 59 = _____ 21. 21 + 89 = _____ 7. 72 + 97 = _____ 22. 9 + 43 = _____ 8. 41 + 76 = _____ 23. 32 + 31 = _____ 9. 57 + 63 = _____ 24. 18 + 9 = _____ 10. 41 + 61 = _____ 25. 5 + 38 = _____ 11. 6 + 6 = _____ 26. 37 + 17 = _____ 12. 90 + 19 = _____ 27. 21 + 4 = _____ 13. 62 + 88 = _____ 28. 50 + 44 = _____ 14. 19 + 47 = _____ 29. 89 + 63 = _____ 15. 3 + 80 = _____ 30. 7 + 78 = _____

In this example, Billy (a school bully) decides he'd rather force Nelson (a math "nerd") to do it for him than do it himself. When Mrs. Generic collects homework the next day, she looks at Billy's paper and immediately notices something strange: There are more incorrect answers than correct answers.

From this information, she is able to deduct that there was a cheater and identify the victim:

• There are 30 students in the class.
• Alphabetically, Billy is 17th and Nelson is 22nd.
• If you were to write a 1 for a correct answer and a 0 for an incorrect answer, Billy's homework would produce the following binary number: 000000 00000000 00000000 00010110. Or, in our more-familiar decimal form, 22.

Some might ask, "Why not just tell the teacher directly?" Ever heard the phrase, "Snitches get stitches?" If you are caught in the act of tattle-telling on a bully, it will make your situation worse. However, if you discretely inform the teacher about the situation without arousing suspicion, all the Billy of this example can do is make accusations without any justification.

Another inevitable concern is, "What if Mrs. Generic doesn't recognize the message?" Indeed, I stated in the very beginning that this solution was a form of steganography; which relies on the recipient knowing that there is a hidden message. If the teacher does not know about it, it renders it useless. Unless this web page gets printed out and mailed to every school teacher in the country, and they actually read it, this tactic becomes useless since the time spent informing the teacher (or your parents... you could just as easily tell them, you know!) could be utilized to tell them that there's a problem in the first place! But I digress.

One of my proofreaders noted, "What if they just coerce you into letting them copy your answers?" The answer to this is deceptively simple: Write down the wrong answers. A smart student getting most of the answers wrong is a definite red-flag; another student getting the SAME wrong answers is even worse (especially if both usually score very high). This might actually work out in your benefit. (Also: low grades justify the teacher talking with you in private.)

Now, let's change the scenario a little. Let's assume, for whatever reason, that a private conversation between Nelson and Mrs. Generic is not possible (or ill-advised). How else could the information get passed on to the administration? (Details such as where and when the bullying takes place.)

The answer lies in the wrong answers. In the example above, that would mean every problem except numbers 25, 28, and 29 would be evaluated to hide a second message.

There are two ways of doing this (without getting into custom-made codes): ASCII values, and alphabet values.

• ASCII values

  With the use of an ASCII table, you can construct any message (including "3 bullies, gym, 3:15 pm, Thursdays"). The limitation is that it's harder to decode and tends to be more complex.

• Alphabet values

  In this example (which is much easier to identify), A = 11, B = 12, C = 13, etc. and the numbers more-or-less retain their value (1 = 1, 2 = 2, but 10 = 0). The downfall is that if the bully is smart [he'd probably do his own homework, but] there's a chance he might identify that there's something screwy [or redo the work himself-- but it's not likely].

In the wrong answers, the following message was encoded: "At the gym at 3 PM" before the numbers exceeded 36 (an indication of the termination of the hidden message). Of the last 5 answers, 43 is correct, 44 is wrong, 94 is correct, 152 is correct, and 75 is wrong. This answer set, therefore, contains both messages ("22" and "At the gym at 3 PM").

The more questions, the greater the complexity of the message. In any given classroom, only the last 5 numbers should ever need to be considered (6 if your class size is exactly or larger than 32 students).

I look forward to any comments, criticism, and suggestions. If you are in a situation where this information would be helpful but my systems of steganography are not applicable (e.g. English class), be creative! I thought of this entire idea while taking a shower one morning. If they have to bully you into getting their work done, it's not hard to outsmart them.

And now, I close with a quote: You can't win the fight against knowledge.