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.
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:
“They cheat because sometimes the penalties of not doing so appea...
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...Almost every student nowadays can admit to cheating at some point in their educational career, but motives as to why they cheat vary and can’t be narrowed down to one reason. There are many excuses as to why all levels of students chose to cheat no matter how wrong or unexpected it is. Cheating is a large problem, but members of universities and schools can discourage it and try to prevent it as much as possible. Not only should it be frowned upon, but it also should be a priority to make it next to impossible to do. Advisers can reduce the temptation of cheating by significantly decreasing the amount of true and false and multiple choice questions on exams and quizzes. Also by understanding the students social and parental pressures in a person at that age’s life is important and contributes to decreasing the amount of students cheating in schools and universities.
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.
“Honor pledges, signature placement, moral reminder, and supervision”, are factors that (incite) dishonesty, according to Dan Ariley’s essay “Why We Lie”. Dishonesty is a very wide question with a lot of answers. As a college student, cheating is a very common option amongst students.
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.
She stated,“students cheat because of academic pressure and the fear of failing a course”(3). Redding states students who are unprepared to take a test, often resort to cheating so they do not have to stress about dealing with the grade they are going to receive if they did not cheat. She also states students often feel the pressure of assignments that are time consuming and are due the next day for a huge chunk of points. She also explains the effects of the students negative behavior. Redding states “students who cheat in school expects they can cheat their way in life”(3).She explains students
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.
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.
Educational institutions adhere to certain rules against cheating and in most cases, cheating is a grave misconduct in an academic setting. Laws govern human conducts and with the student's response, it is a clear that the student has violated the rule against cheating. The reasons why cheating is prohibited are; it is unfair to other students who work hard to achieve good marks, the person who cheats
The frequency of cheating has had an impact on students school work, both positive and negative. “A study found that 64% of college students reported cheating in 1964; and then in 1980 it had increased to 76%” (Hsiao). With these types of results imagine what the percentage is up to now. A recent study proves that cheating is increasing, “Between 75% and 98% of college students surveyed each year reported having cheated in high school” (Anderman). Looking at the difference between those two statistics there is quite the difference. Cheating in today’s society can vary, students and even some teachers are doing this. Another study reported that over 22 public high schools around the country, 59% of juniors and seniors mentioned that they had cheated in the past year (McCabe and Katz). That study only reported 22 high schools around the country, but it not only happens in those 22 high schools it happens everywhere, even here in Hampton, Iowa. The neighbor sitting right next to you might be cheating off of you to help them improve their score and get a better grade. It happens all around us but may never realize
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.
Students cheat because they are lazy and not dedicated to school. According to the article “Cheaters Never Prosper” (Santa Monica College Corsair) by Daniel Ross, Tuesday, March 23, 2010, when it comes to dishonesty at Santa Monica College, honest and hard working student have to tolerate those students , who are cheating. Some teachers claim, that a lot of students do not even realize that they are cheating. Those students who know what they are doing, do not want to take in consideration that cheating is immoral.
Cheating and academic dishonesty has become a significant problem at even some of the finest and most prestigious schools in the nation. This problem has turned to a sort of epidemic, with “between 75 and 98 percent of college students” admitting to have “cheated in high school” (Jaffe). This “cheating epidemic” especially comes at odds with the mission of integrity in learning of the education system put in place today (Andrade). And like in any other situation where rules are broken, cheating calls for a consequence. The conventional way of dealing with any form of cheating is a zero for that assignment, but nowadays teachers are looking towards a more harsh way to deal with the cheaters: fail them for the entire course.
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.
In conclusion, student cheating tends to a serious problem. In other words, student cheating is dishonesty in academic area. We should grasp the causes of student cheating so that education system can solve this vital issue. Three common causes of student cheating are personal attitude, internal and external surroundings, and complaint of parents. Students need to limit their behavior by themselves through set up long term ambition. The society and parents need to offer the best studying environment for the students. If the numbers of student cheating decrease, the quality of education system will be increased. And then, more and more talents emerge; and the talents will assist the government to develop the society.
The educational process allows various opportunities for students to receive good grades and excel. In order to meet these accomplishments of success, some students feel encouraged to take shortcuts. The most common shortcut that educators see some students take is cheating. Many students view cheating as a crime, while others feel cheating is necessary and cannot imagine passing their exam without the help of someone else or notes. The effects of cheating are long term, but the causes and effects of cheating vary. Cheating in schools is caused by a variety of factors and can have negative effects on the student’s success in the future.
Another important reason is the lack of high self-esteem. Students with high self-esteem feel too embarrassed to cheat in exams. Instead, they think they have to study hard so to get full marks thanks to their knowledge. On the other hand, students with low self-esteem cheat on the exams whenever possible. They just think about the good grades because of cheating, and do not feel something wrong for their behavior.