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Margot Davis
VTFT II
Nardelli
3 March 2016
A Culture of Cheating
As the scramble for scarce job positions and college acceptances
becomes more and more competitive, cheating has evolved into a socially
acceptable practice among students. Not only do some students justify
cheating as a means of preparing themselves for the unfairness of the real
world, but others dont even find copying and plagiarism unethical. Between
technological advancements and new mindsets involving cheating, schools
face a serious problem (A Cheating Crisis in Americas Schools). Plagiarism,
fabrication, deception, cheating and sabotage are all normalities among
students.
The pressure to succeed has driven far too many students to cheat; a
recent poll shows that 74% of high school students admit to cheating on at
least one exam within the past year. These startling numbers are a sign of
changing times. Graphing calculators, IPAQs, pagers, cellphones and
websites that allow the purchase of essays all contribute to this epidemic (A
Cheating Crisis in Americas Schools). There is no motivation for students to
spend hours working on something they could copy off the internet in
seconds. Furthermore, it is far easier for students to access and copy each
others work with the convenience of texting and phone cameras.
To the surprise of many, the above average students are the ones who
most often cheat. In Americas winner-take-all society only the best get the
prize and everyone wants to be the best (Callahan). The workforce is so cut
throat and competitive that students are cheating to beat out their peers for

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coveted jobs. Unfortunately, what they dont realize is that when they get
these positions, the cheating they did to get there has left them unprepared
to be a successful asset. Students resort to cheating because they see their
peers doing it and they believe it is the only way to keep up. Integrity is no
longer valued in society but rather overlooked. Even more alarming is that
students dont believe they have a responsibility to uphold the honor of their
peers, school or themselves. In elementary school, children are
overprotective when it comes to their work and their answers and are not
afraid to report someone they believe might have been dishonest. Whereas
younger kids feel morally obligated to turn in their peers, older students are
more socially accepting of dishonesty. A transition happens as a child gets
older where they come to acknowledge cheating as a part of the educational
process. The issue is only growing as countless students leave their moral
conscious behind in order to compete. Teachers and professors are only
further contributing to this matter: a recent study indicates than as many as
4,000 teachers have overlooked at least one instance of cheating in their
classroom. It has become easier and easier for students to get away with
stealing someone elses work and when there are no repercussions the
incentives only grow (A Cheating Crisis in Americas Schools).
There are several ways that schools can combat this problem. One is
for teachers to implement deterrence by proctoring tests and exams. Face
to face time with professors encourages accountability among students. This
method prevents cheating, but there are multiple ways to handle cheating
incidents to prevent repeat offenders. One is for students who are caught in

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academically dishonest practices to attend a workshop on integrity. Many

institutions have begun implementing this procedure on their campuses.
Another initiative is a strict honor code. This holds students to high standards
as well as lays down clear punishments for those who do not comply. Lastly,
universities can purchase a software package called turnitin.com. This site
compares student work to thousands of sources to check for plagiarism. In
addition, it can provide information on citations and proper writing
practices (Reifman). For younger grades, the punishments should be less
severe but still express the seriousness of the issue. It should be enforced
that elementary students redo any plagiarized or copied work and be
instructed by their teachers on the importance of honesty and character. It is
critical that this unmoral trend be slowed down and stopped before all
students become involved.

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Works Cited
"A Cheating Crisis in America's Schools." ABC News. ABC News Network, n.d.
Web. 06 Mar.
2016.
Callahan, David. "Cheating Honor Students: More Common Than
People Think - Academic

Dishonesty - CheatingCulture." Cheating

Culture. N.p., 07 May 2012. Web. 06 Mar. 2016.

Reifman, Alan. "Academic Dishonesty: Prevalent but Preventable."Psychology
Today. N.p., 01 Feb. 2012. Web. 06 Mar. 2016.
"What Is Academic Dishonesty?" Distance Education at Berkeley City College
RSS. Berkeley City

College, n.d. Web. 06 Mar. 2016.