Cheating on the rise, hurts those involved

Cheating.

According to Webster’s New World Dictionary, to cheat is “to be dishonest or deceitful.” By the time students reach high school, they should have learned ‘Honesty is the best policy,” right? Apparently not. Academic dishonesty is a part of everyday life as a high school student. I see cheating everywhere. The girl copying her best friend’s homework assignment during lunch. The guys writing their essays together in the library.

Two people looking off of each other’s tests in the back of a classroom. It seems that every time I turn around, I see another person exhibiting an act of academic dishonesty. Educational psychology professor Kenneth Kiewra conducted a research study of 100 high school students regarding various forms of cheating in 2010. The study showed that 80-90 percent of high school students cheat before graduation. That’s not only many students; it’s nearly all of them. I understand that school is stressful and admission to college is even more so.

The average student wants to make the grade so they can attend their choice of university after graduation. That’s great, but you aren’t doing yourself any favors by cheating. More importantly, academic dishonesty hurts everyone involved. If you decide to cheat on a test, what are you going to do when a similar question comes up on the next quiz, or even the final? Cheating turns into a vicious cycle of short-term gain, long-term loss. If you cheat, you never learn the material, and that will only hurt you later on. Cheating will also hurt the other students around you.

If you are cheating off of someone, they could get in trouble also if you were to be caught. Also, it hurts your entire class because you will be earning a grade that you don’t deserve. In the grand competition that is class ranking, getting a grade in a class from cheating can put you on top of other students when you really don’t deserve it. Academic dishonesty will also hurt your teachers. If they see that you are doing well on assignments and assessments that you actually cheated on, they will not be able to prepare you for future assessments because they won’t know that you didn’t know the material all along.

Again, cheating has turned into a short-term gain, long-term loss. You may benefit right now, but when that material comes up again, you won’t be prepared. If I haven’t convinced you yet that cheating is immoral and hurtful to those around you, just consider the consequences. Is it worth having all the colleges you apply to see that you have cheated in your past? Is it worth getting expelled from National Honors Society? Cheating hurts everyone and can have terrible consequences. Think long and hard about whether you really want to make that choice.