Horrible, Bloodsucking Cheaters!

I did my first test today and discovered that my students are not the sweeties I thought they were – nons, they’re horrible, bloodsucking cheaters! Other teachers had warned me that I would need someone else there to help me, but thought, “Pfff, it’s only 25-30 kids, I can do it!” WRONG!! I swear, every single kid was cheating. I threw one kid out (and by kid, I mean 6’4” teenager) and gave him a zero and he was pissed. Kids were passing notes, looking at other’s papers, having other kids tell them the answers through the windows, etc. It was horrible and stressful and it felt like a personal attack. I know it’s a cultural thing – everyone helps everyone- if you have some corn and someone else needs it, you give it to him or her. Same thing in school – you have an answer and someone else needs it….Jeez! After class I went to see the school disciplinarian and said, “They’re all cheating! What do I do?” and he and the other students in the office responded with this hearty (prolonged!) belly laugh. Oh, silly idealistic nasarra teacher, they all cheat all the time, so don’t get upset about it. Just knock em down 5 or 10 points when you see it and laugh it off. So he helped me control my other two classes, and though I nailed a ton of kids (including one of my sweetest sixieme girls – she looked so hurt and said that I’d caught her”) it wasn’t as stressful or horrible. All the kids scatter when they see the disciplinarian (surveillante in French) He’s this 6’2” ish perpetually drunk guy who kind of looks like Chewbacca. Every morning he greets me with a slurred, “Madame SSSurvellant!” because he drunkenly proposed marriage in the teachers’ lounge one day.