Syed Kamal Reza Ampatuan, Mark Jay Bantug, Patrick Angelo Callao, Kobi Troy Tan The Morality

of the Act of Cheating in Major Exams The act of cheating especially for major exams is seen as a major offense in all universities existent in our country. With Ateneo de Davaos golden standard cheating has no place in the university. Yet, students, and even teachers accept it as a reality existent among us. This paper will try to examine the morality of cheating between two groups, the aggregate community of Ateneo de Davao, and the smaller micro-communities or sub-groups between friends, classmates, fraternity brothers, or other smaller circles within Ateneo de Davao. If we try to look at it in a large perspective, cheating is completely denounced by society. Nobody wants a graduate that cheated all the way through college, except of course for the cheater himself. But Morality is not black and white, even though it is the determination of Good and Bad, Righteousness and Evil; the norm of morality has different standards between different circles. We will therefore examine these differences while at the same time establishing the morality of the act of cheating in major exams. It is said in Preliminary Notions that there are atleast four types of norms of morality in a community. First, we will try to understand the technical norm of morality of the act of cheating. Technical norm concerns the survival and the well-being of the community. The Ateneo community created a set of rules to be followed in order for the university to stay in order and one of these rules is that cheating is never allowed in any circumstance. The ateneo community prides itself for excellence and cheating is its opposite. If it persists within the community, the goals and even the product (a graduate) will be considered inadequate by firms that accept newly graduated employees every day. Technically, cheating in all its forms is a reflection of laziness, inefficiency, and lack of integrity. Sub-groups within the community however look at it the other way. Most of our peers, say it themselves, that if it means their survival in the university, then cheating in a major exam is the most efficient way to pass without much effort. They think first of their own well-being, their own survival, and that the means will justify the end which is to graduate, or earning a degree. There is a second type of norm of mores, and that is the societal norm, which has to do with cohesion, strengthening the bond of the community. If you look at it in societal norm, cheating is still morally wrong, since the Ateneo Community will be divided if this act persists, the Ateneo Community will have to sanction these hooligans and even consider them for dismissal. The cohesive bond that the Ateneo community has kept for 60 years will be compromised and severed. Sub-group within the community again, sees the other way. If for example, a student is pressuring his seatmate, who turns out also to be his friend to help him cheat, he will not be able to do anything but help him or else their friendship will be compromised. They will stop being in good terms, and their bond is broken, simply because his seatmate did not help him cheat. Again, the sub-group (atleast within ours) continues to accept cheating as a justifiable means to success, and to keep bonds of friendship intact, ofcourse only if the necessity of the act, and the pressure of the moment arise. Third of these types of norms is the aesthetic norm. It is very peculiar to look at cheating aesthetically, but it can still be examined. Within the Ateneo community, there is no beauty in cheating, and therefore it is not morally right to do so. Even sub-groups within the community knows this, that is why cheating is always kept a secret between the cheaters, and never done so confidently. There is simply no beauty in cheating. Last of these types of norms is the moral norm, which is stricter than all of those stipulated above, since it concerns the ideal vision of man. Cheating, in this type of norm is never considered moral, simply because a cheater is a deviant that just wants to pass. Citing the ethico-religious nature of the Ateneo Community, Cheating is considered as a huge and major offense, simply because it is nonnegotiable, and gives no direction the the person doing it. In Sub-groups within the community it is still wrong to cheat, friends will always try to help a friend without the use of cheating, and most of the time, if not always, a friend will never put a friend in trouble, and if their moral perspectives are right they will always try to remind their friends to study, so that they can not cheat in the exams.