May the best cheater win
Academic dishonesty spreads
Photo by Bailey Groom
Student copies worksheet off of classmate. Determination to achieve high standards of academic success often leads students to resort to cheating in order to get by.
May 7, 2019
My swim practice ran late. I barely made it to theatre rehearsal on time, and when I got home in the late hours of the night, there was a pile of homework sitting on my desk to ensure that I will not be getting any sleep. It didn’t even cross my mind to study for the test that I forgot was happening. Sleep deprivation and confusion takes over as I stare at the foreign ideas that cover my test booklet. I glance over at the student next to me. She answers the questions efficiently. Soon enough, I feel my hand quickly writing down her answers as my eyes switch between her paper and my own answer document. With my classmate’s answers written down as my own, I turn in my test with false confidence and voices in my head enhancing the raging guilt I feel.
Cheating is a plague that has taken schools by storm for generations as students’ crowded schedules and social lives take priority over school work. While some students may argue that cheating is merely a lifeboat to save them in case of an emergency, for others, cheating is merely a habit, something they do to prevent them from enduring hours of mind-numbing homework or having to fight the relentless battle of maintaining a decent grade point average.
While to some who cheat this may not seem like a prominent issue, however, cheating not only robs students of their own education and other skills that they might need in the future. Cheating can also belittle or discredit other students who struggle and work hard to maintain their grades.
Because of the class rank system in place, we are constantly competing against each other to be in the top places or top percentage. Some students constantly work hard and give all of their effort towards doing the best they can in school. When other students dismiss this work through cheating and cheat their way to the top of their class, other students are negatively impacted. Some students are having to fight harder to keep their rank as other students slither their way up to the top by stealing answers from other students, each other, and the internet.
Not only does cheating impact other students, but cheating is also robbing the student of the free education that we have access to. By mindlessly copying down answers to a test, quiz or homework, students are losing the opportunity to learn and comprehend the material. Instead of using homework to learn, they use it as a free 100 for a daily grade. Instead of using tests as an assessment of their knowledge, they use it as a chance to see how sneakily they can peek at their phone or the test next to them.
Students who use cheating as a way of life don’t always experience certain dilemmas that other students are able to experience and learn from. As other students learn skills, such as time management and different methods to use for studying, people who cheat their way through miss out on the many life lessons that struggling in high school has to offer.
Cheating takes the high school experience for granted. There is so much to learn and discover if you are to push through the hardships and endless work you must endure to come out successful.
