Cheating in the American School System
In America, cheating in the modern educational system is widespread and prevalent. In fact, most students do it or have done it. Cheating in the classroom has increased as colleges have become more selective and the pressure to get admitted to a big name university from parents has increased. Many teachers are aware that students are cheating and where they are getting their information, but the no-plagiarism, no-cheating rule is hard to enforce and, at times, to regulate. The hard part is not deciphering which students are cheating, but instead, it is preventing the spread of cheating to every classroom. It is nearly impossible to completely prevent students from cheating. The system and culture of copying
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However, much of it takes place because there is an extreme fear of not being accepted to the college of your dreams. In fact, according to CNN, “This pressure [to cheat] comes from both parents and teachers”, which makes it very difficult to simply put an end to cheating in school. In addition, this added pressure causes a student to lose their way, because they are trying to satisfy their guardians or educators. Therefore, the use of scare tactics, primarily increasing the availability and reporting of discipline records reflecting cheating, would drastically lower cheating percentages in …show more content…
For example, a student taking the most rigorous courses offered, scored in the 90th percentile on standardized tests, which proved him to be an overall top college-bound student. With the conflicting schedules of his extracurricular activities and at times the classes themselves, Student A did not have time to study for his AP science test. Given the ability of the test bank from a school 3,000 miles away, the sleep- deprived student knows what to anticipate and how to answer the questions. Along with Student A, a quarter of all of the other students know about the unapproved study material and set the curve, time and time again. This leaves the second student, which manages their time well and unfortunately scores a C on the exam, with not receiving the benefit of collecting bonus points. All in all, revolutionizing the educational system will eliminate the acceptance of cheating. Cheating is reaching an all-time high because of universities increasing their prestige. This is causing frustration in the students that either do not understand the material or do not have the time to deeply analyze the content. Therefore, there must be thorough actions taken to reduce the amount of copying and swindling in the nationwide school
Cheating has been a major concern for institutions of higher learning. Institutions fear cheating because of the reputation dishonest people will establish for that institution. After a student has learned several successful ways to cheat and not be caught, is he or she more likely to employ the same tactics in his or her workplace? The student will use those tactics, but in the real world, such acts are not called “cheating tactics,” but “business strategy.”
Freakonomics explores multiple circumstances and the difference between correlation and causation. A standout question that the authors delve into asks, “What Do Schoolteachers and Sumo Wrestlers Have in Common?” (15). The authors begin with the Chicago Public School system and standardized testing. The CPS (Chicago Public School system) placed elementary and secondary schools with low test scores on probation, who then “face[ed] the threat of being shut down” (22). As one can realize, some teachers would do everything in their power to avoid low test scores, even cheating. Fortunately for teachers, “teacher cheating is rarely looked for, hardly ever detected, and just about never punished” (23). Teachers in the CPS who received low test
I agree that cheating is going to happen, and there is no way to stop it because students
If a teacher is unfamiliar with current advancements in the digital world, it is possible that they will miss the most obvious of cheaters. Because the student is never punished or caught, they assume the teacher does not consider it cheating. In some cases, schools are responsible for the rise in cheating because of the way curriculum is presented. In an article written by the Atlantic, a teacher received an anonymous letter from a successful college student stating that he had cheated all throughout high school. He told the author he cheated “because the grade [he]would have otherwise been given was not reflective of [his] true learning” (Lahey). In other words, he felt the teachers were giving him exams that were not accurate representations of the material he had learned. If students are giving themselves excuses for their cheating, that feeling of guilt will subside, and they will not view the action as wrong. Many think they are not at fault if they do not get caught or because they are just trying to keep up with their classmates who are cheating as well. These are the students that contribute to the statistics, the ones who are adding to
Cheating means acting dishonestly or unfairly in order to gain a benefit, in achieving a task or acing an exam. Many factors can affect why many students choose to cheat. First, the temptation of being able to take just a few lines from the Internet can be convincing. Second, achieving better grades, Students will tend to cheat in various ways to give themselves a boost grade in a class. Third, work load and pressure, Students will turn to cheating to lighten the homework load which often takes many hours to complete. In this ted talk, Dan Ariely mentioned two common reasons for his argument. According to Dan Ariely, people tend to cheat if they justify their reason to do so, or when they are surrounded by people who also cheat. And also to gain benefit in a test students can tend to cheat.
...ble to over come such a habit will undoubtedly give you greater control over your life. Understanding why students cheat and will help us better see the signs ahead of time and hopefully provide the individuals with the help and resources they need in order to really get the value of a college education. In the end cheating gets you nowhere and just lowers you ability to perform at a higher level.
Cheating is a big issue that has reached the most competitive campuses around the United States. It is increasing more and more with the new technology that we have in the 21st century because students have easy access to many sources of information. Cheating is something all students have done at some point in their lives, but as they reach a higher academic level, they are faced with more rigorous consequences that can affect their futures in many different ways. Cheating might be seen as an easy way to obtain a good grade, get into a good college, or maintain scholarships or financial aid, but the consequences could affect the life and the future of the student.
Academic dishonesty has been a big issue that many faculties have to deal with all the time in classrooms in today’s academic environment. In a report founded by Thomas & O’Reilly (2002), “74 percent of American students admit to cheating on an exam. So imagine how many really are. Forty percent of adolescents say they have stolen from a store and a whopping 93 percent say they lie.” With such a huge percentage of students cheating with the use of technology, it has become an epidemic that is spreading like wild fire. Since technology was introduced in the class environment, it has become the number one concern to some instructors because many students are not using it too learn, but instead students are using technology to cheat in assignments and other work that may involve school work.
Resulting from the numerous pressures of high school, academic cheating places a large amount of stress on the minds of American teens. To begin with, low self-esteem and a lack of morals prompt a student to cheat to maintain an acceptable grade. When students pick on a less academically inclined student, the unfortunate student will loose confidence in himself and resort to cheating, cheating that will begin a downward spiral of negative effects. Furthermore, if failing grades persist and plague the student, one will cheat to halt the continuation of unacceptable grades. Secondly, loving parental pressure will generate the need to cheat in school. For example, a child, who is a good student, will cheat, to prove to their parents that they are smart, and that they can achieve their goals throughout their schooling. Additionally, parents want their children to follow in their footsteps in the aspect of the education that they received; therefore, more pressure will be enfo...
Over the past decade or so, we have seen a huge increase in cheating in our schools. The introduction of the Internet into most homes and schools and other technological advances are some of the main causes. Students are misusing the new technologies to find new and more high tech ways to cheat. During testing students are receiving answers via text messaging devices, they are downloading notes to iPods and graphing calculators, they are picture messaging exams with their mobile phones, and they are even hiring look-alike experts to take the exams for them. They can use the internet to easily plagiarize a paper; they can pay a company to write the paper for them, they can even pay to use a prewritten paper from a database. The internet and technology are making it easier and easier for students to cheat, and as technology continues to advance, we will continue to see a rapid rise in cheating.
There is no specific reason as to why every student cheats; every students situation is different, which leads to different motives. Some students cheat because of pressure their parents put on them along with their parent’s high expectations they are expected to fulfill. The student cheats as a result of their fear of not being able to fulfill their parent’s expectations and in their eyes see no other option, other than to cheat because of their low self confidence that they cannot do well on their own. According to Tom Keana of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, parents affect the children by constantly badgering and questioning about how well they are doing. Tom says:
Modern students face many pressures for academic success. They are often unwilling to disappoint their parents or spouses. Some fear that not cheating will weaken a student’s ability to compete with their peers. They rationalize their unethical behavior, unwilling to accept a poor grade, consequently justifying cheating as the only means to that end.
School systems today are so lenient in their rules, guidelines and consequences; thus causing cheating, copying or forgeries to be frequently used. Many students take advantage of copying someone else's work whenever they are given the chance. Other times, students will simply have someone else do their work and turn it in as their own, not realizing the effects this behavior can create. This creates a lack of creativity, no sense of responsibility and the students will never acquire new knowledge. These practices of cheating, copying and forgery by students are unethical and should be brought to the surface whenever possible.
We might want to first follow that question with another question. What is cheating and why do so many people do it? Most people would agree that cheating is deceitful and one who obtains answers by cheating is not practicing good integrity. We could further add that cheating also prevents the student from having to put in long hours of studying and preparation. Recent technology has made this “time saving method” even more efficient.
The major reason which leads to popularity of cheating is that students always desire to have good marks. Today’s academic system is generally based on grade point average or some other alphabetical or numerical representation of academic skill. If students notice that many classmates have high marks, they also want the fame of having good grades. Therefore, this pressure unintentionally causes students to value their goods marks much more than their knowledge. Eventually, students do anything to achieve good marks, even cheating in exams.