Cheating is a very common theme throughout educational history. This theme continues to be highly prevalent in today’s society. By watching teenagers in grades nine through twelve, and even younger, it appears that dishonesty can be seen through not only actions but words as well. By definition, cheating is a verb meaning to deceive, practice fraud, or swindle someone or something. Cheating is not viewed as a serious offense within the classroom despite many teachers’ pleas. In truth, deception plays a larger part than most may realize in not only a high school setting, but in college as well. This ranges from searching Google for answers on a quiz to completely plagiarizing research papers.
Learning is a natural process for humans and cheating
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For example, when taking a test or quiz, it is easy for a students’ peers to look over their shoulder to copy answers off of another classmate. While the student who copies the other gets away with not having to do much thinking or actual work, the other student is unknowingly being robbed of hours of studying and dedication. This occurred in front of me when I was taking a math course a few years ago. A young girl who was only a year ahead of me decided to copy from a friend’s test because she was unaware of how to do the work. Part of the reason she didn’t know how to solve the problems, was due to a lack of self-discipline. When I brought this to the instructor’s attention, he replied saying he would have to see her actually cheating in order to do anything. I then wondered how seriously schools take cheating. I understand it is the teacher’s responsibility to enforce rules referring to instances of such deceit when they occur. However, I find myself still pondering on how seriously students take the idea of cheating and the consequences that follow. Suspension in the eyes of a student is like an early vacation. Detention is a time to hang out with friends and goof off. Writing a paper or essay for the teacher’s class they were caught cheating in is just another assignment they won’t do because they don’t see the value in it. This is how the younger population of society perceives punishment, as a waste of
From plagiarism to dishonesty, many high school teenagers cheat just to get a good grade in a class or they simply are bad at that particular subject. They cheat on tests, quizzes, and even on big projects. No matter the circumstance, if you are ever to be caught, you should be served with the toughest of consequences. You should not be trusted. You should have any second chances. After all, even if you don’t get caught for cheating, you are not learning anything the class has to offer.
That stomach churning feeling of guilt for many seems to appear as a small price to pay when completing an act of academic dishonesty. Colleen Wenke wrote an essay on cheating eighteen years ago called “Too Much Pressure”. In the past fifty years, the number of students who admit to cheating has increased fifty to seventy percent(Gaffe). Many people wonder what leads the students to make this unjust decision. Today, the reason for a rise in cheaters is because of how easy it has become, leading many students to the false conclusion that they aren’t breaking any rules; It is simply viewed as a shortcut to success in the classroom and beyond.
Strom, P., & Strom, R. (2007). Cheating in middle school and high school. Educational …..Forum,71(2), 104-116. doi:10.1080/00131720708984924
Students show bad academic integrity by cheating. but cheating has a wide range of examples. Most people think of cheating to be copying someone’s work, or using a study guide on a test, but it can mean much more than that. Students now have
Cheating is “to prevent (someone) from having something that he or she deserves or was expecting to get” (Merriam-Webster). Cheating and plagiarism usually occur in school, like a student cheats on a test and receives credit for someone else 's work. According to Crimson
How bad has cheating become over the years, the numbers in some cases are mind-boggling. In today’s day and age the amount of college students cheating is numbered to have maintain a steady figure of about 75 percent. (Lang, 2013) Cheating has been around since the beginning of time, some of the reasons behind most of the prolific cheaters are centered on what seems to be three main issues plaguing our society. Cheaters be it young or old, all seem to have what I call the “Big Three” in common. In my research on cheating, there were three things that continued to stick out, such as; procrastinating, the pressure to make the grade and it is easier to cheat rather then to do your own work. To the answer the question why college students cheat, we must first understand why, in order to find a solution on how to help avoid this continuing going forward. After reading this paper you will see that cheating has become prevalent in college, caused by a need to get better grades with less original work being done eventually the ends don't justify the means.
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 knowledge is the basis on which future prosperity, and financial security has been determined. As a consequence, students feel inclined to perform above average in school. Now, as students perform less and less, they sink to obtain good grades by cheating. This method to acquire the desired grades will only harm the student, instead of the imagined result. Prompted by a child’s inability to perform basic tasks throughout his education , academic cheating spawns numerous negative consequences.
Everyone has cheated on something at some point in their life, whether it is in a game, on a test, or in a relationship, everyone has done it. Cheating is anything that involves breaking a rule, or getting an unfair advantage. Schools are one of the most popular places people cheat. Many people down play cheating and use excuses like, “He shouldn’t have let me see his paper,” or, “I am just using my resources wisely.” But, what causes people to cheat? Students cheat in school because of laziness, high standards or pressure to do well, and misunderstanding.
Cheating on academic work is a serious issue that most students admit to doing at some point in their academic career. Elite students are surprisingly the culprits of cheating, but hide it well. (Romm, para 5) Cheating is such a large issue that “70% of students from a sample of 1,800 from nine campuses said they had cheated at least once during their college careers.” (Schneider, para 9) Students cheat on academic work because of different, ongoing pressures in their lives. Understanding the student’s motives and pressures are essential to preventing cheating from occurring in the future. Students cheat for different reasons specific to them regarding their priorities, pressures and because of how easy it has become. Even though eliminating cheating will not happen, there are actions that educational professionals can and should take to prevent most of it from happening so often. Therefor cheating problems are minimized and have a positive impact on the student’s education and understanding of concepts.
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.
From a young age we are taught the differences between right and wrong, but as we get older the line between moral and immoral is often blurred. Things that were once thought of as unacceptable are now perfectly fine in our minds. Have you ever seen anyone cheat on an assignment or exam? Do you know anyone that’s been expelled from school for cheating? What if it was discovered that a U.S. senator plagiarized his college thesis paper? Imagine if it got out that one of the most respected universities in the U.S. was involved in a huge fraud scandal that involved thousands of students. Academic cheating is a terrible offense because it is unethical, self-degrading, and can be detrimental to the learning environment.
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.
"I’m preparing for the real world. Business is unethical. Cheating is just good training. I’ll be better able to handle what’s put at me when I get out." "‘Oh, it’ll only be this once’ or ‘Everyone else does it, so why shouldn’t I?’" Sly glances at a neighbor’s work, an open book on the lap, or even high-technology methods—the resources of the cheater are many and varied. Whatever the methods, there are many statements like those above to justify cheating. For example, in the United States, surveys show that more than half of all students cheat, or have cheated, during their school years.
Cheating among students has been a well-known problem which is difficult to gain knowledge of. There are different ways of cheating in exam; students can copy from each other, write short notes on their hands or other body parts, use of mobile phones, and others methods. Therefore, the intent of this paper is to discuss the causes and effects of exam cheating.