Are there long-term consequences when it comes to cheating? Being academically dishonest shows lack of integrity, which can have lasting effects on educational environments, students’ relationship, and damage reputations. Cheating is not something forced, it is a choice. Why is cheating so wrong? One obvious reason is that cheating is unfair to honest students and causes tension between students. Honest students find it difficult to be in an academically dishonest environment. Professor Michael Bishop, a chairman of Iowa State University Department of Philosophy and Religion, mentioned in an article that, “a cheater receives through deception what honest students work for”. This can lead to a dishonest society because “if students perceive …show more content…
Specifically, colleges who do not take the consequences of cheating seriously tend to not mention it to their students at all. Even though some colleges do not enforce the importance of academic dishonesty, it’s all up to the students to value honesty and have “strong beliefs in their own morality. Thus, when feeling the opportunity to cheat, people seem to experience a conflict between their desire to maintain a positive self-image by behaving honestly and their desire to advance their self-interest by crossing ethical boundaries. One way to resolve this apparent conflict is to cheat only a little, reinterpreting the incriminated behavior as an honest mistake” (Ethical Systems). When a student cheats, they are lying to their teachers and their peers. They do this because they do not want their reputation to be ruined. Along with lying to others, they are lying to themselves. Regardless, there is not a valid excuse to cheat. It is the student’s decision to cheat and show lack of integrity. With this in mind, why do cheaters assume it is not their fault when the cheat? Often cheaters let themselves get away with cheating because “people behave dishonestly just enough to profit from their unethicality… we tend to be ‘moral hypocrites,’ judging unethical behaviors in others but not in ourselves.” (Ethical Systems) Students frequently judge other students who do cheat, but they make up excuses to maintain their integrity when they cheat. Students fear that they will appear as mendacity but, what they do not know is that blaming others for their actions is deceit. Some schools’ environments can influence students to cheat but in the end, it is the student's decision to cheat and be a
The thing that confuses me are the reasons why people cheat. I know that in college life, it is clear that grades are important. Since grades are so important, people want to do better and want to succeed in their classes that they are taking. By cheating, it makes it easier for them to get a better grade. I agree that it is not an honest thing to do, but it is clear that they are doing it for a reason, to benefit themselves. Also, people want to help their friends succeed so that is another part of it. I think if schools wanted to get rid of cheating, they should not focus on the grades as much. Grading people is important, but is it that important if everyone cheats? I also see how people want to be viewed as honest. I do not think people want to cheat because they think they will be viewed as immoral. Also, they could be punished which would hurt them as well. If everyone cheats in schools, why not just allow it? That is the way that the world is running currently and everyone is cheating their way through
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
Slobogin, K. (2002, April 5). Survey: Many students say cheating’s ok. Retrieved June 12, 2009,
Promoting academic integrity and developing students morally are integral functions of higher education institutions (Whitley & Keith-Spiegel, 2001). Every stakeholder of the institution, students, faculty, administration, and staff, must recognize and incorporate the value of ethical behavior; without a campus-wide effort, dishonesty will prevail (Whitley & Keith-Spiegel, 2001). Currently, widespread research on academic dishonesty includes reasons for cheating and personal characteristics that may predict cheating behavior; however, very little research exists emphasizing the role moral development plays in cheating.
In conclusion, cheating is a dishonest action, and its effects could tremendously impact other people around. Alerting authority figures about dishonesty actions can help motivate students to learn the subjects thoroughly and build meaningful life experiences. Although we might lose a friendship, but in the long run, friends will be thankful, since who knows if they are in a situation, where they actually need to use their knowledge, in the workforce they are
Stanford University’s mechanical engineer David L. Jaffe and Professor Drew Nelson discovered that while about 20% of college students admitted to cheating in high school during the 1940s, today between 75 and 85 percent of college students surveyed each year reported having cheated in high school. (Jaffe, David L and Nelson, Professor Drew) Why do people cheat?
Cheating is wrong. There is no way of explaining cheating whether it is plaigiarizing, or just finding an easier way to win. you can get caught cheating and have gotten yourself in alot of trouble.cheating is not only morally wrong,but it is just a poor excuse for not getting the work done. First thing, plaigiarism is a common way of cheating, if you attend a university and you plaigiarise you can get kick out of school for a stupid act.as a matter of fact plaigiarism is stealing. Someone else took their time and effort to think their own thoughs and create new ideas for, for you to just take it like that is very wrong and disrespectful.
Is cheating wrong? That is the question we have before us today. What is my opinion? We will get to that in a minute. The definition of cheating is to defraud; swindle; to deceive; to elude; to violate rules or regulations; to take an examination or test in a dishonest way. Wikipedia describes it like this: “Cheating is the getting of a reward for ability or finding an easy way out of an unpleasant situation by dishonest means. It is generally used for the breaking of rules to gain unfair advantage in a competitive situation. This broad definition will necessarily include acts of bribery, cronyism, nepotism, sleaze and any situation where individuals are given preference using inappropriate criteria. The rules infringed may be explicit,
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.
According to Merriam Webster’s Dictionary cheating is defined as the act of breaking a rule or law, usually to gain an advantage at something or more specifically to violate rules dishonestly. Based on that definition one can conclude that cheating is wrong. Since the beginning of time man has been cheating, we were not meant to but we did. Remember back to Adam and Eve, the apple in the garden….yea…
Cheating, in most societies, was taught to be bad and wrong. Google’s definition for cheating is “act dishonestly or unfairly in order to gain an advantage, especially in a game or examination.” Most parents and teachers have also taught their children these same basics, but are they always right? If cheating will advance you and excel you in your own life, then why is it so vile? If someone cheated on their test or in their ball game to allow them to win, is it really considered wrong?
Students who cheat their way through high school will have trouble when it comes to finding a job, learning to do things on their own, and gaining trust in other people. Students who received decent grades in high school and college from just copying their classmate’s answers will have a difficult time when it comes to finding a job. Chances are they will not know what it is they want to do because
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.