Academic cheating is a global problem, and it is preventing students from gaining the necessary knowledge and skills for their future life and career. When students have the idea that they can’t pass without cheating, then the foundation of a life bereft of self-belief has been laid. What is cheating, and why should students avoid it?
What Is Cheating?
Cheating is anything that is done to pass an examination aside the due process. It is an act that violates the rules of integrity. Students who help each other or discuss answers among themselves in exams that are supposed to be done alone are cheating. When you copy another student’s assignment or test, then you have cheated on that test and assignment. The work you present to the instructor is not yours. When you let someone with more experience or knowledge about something do a paper for you, then you have cheated on that paper.
A number of devious methods are used by the modern cheater. These include the use of pagers that receive answers to test questions from remote callers; calculators programmed with extra information; miniature cameras hidden in clothing, which are used to relay questions to a helper elsewhere; devices that transmit infrared messages to nearby classmates; and even Internet sites that contain completed term papers on virtually any subject.
Why Do Students Cheat?
Students cheat for a number of reasons. It could be because they don’t like the subject, or they don’t have enough time to complete all their assignments. Lack of preparation was found to be the number one reason why many students choose to cheat. Other students, compelled by a competitive climate at school or by the high expectations of their parents, conclude that they have no other choice. For some, constant pressure to get good grades leads to cheating.
Why you shouldn’t cheat
It is unfair
It is unfair to your fellow students who had to study hard for the test while you are writing the answers down from the notes you brought into the examination room.
Legal consequences
Legal consequences occur when students steal copyrighted works from other people. Copyright infringement occurs when students use the contents of other people’s work and publish them as their own. This can result in the real owner of the work suing the student for damages.
A Deceptive Addiction
Academic cheating can become like an addiction that is difficult to break. Cheaters learn that they don’t even have to study to pass so they just rely on cheating. And then once they’re out on their own, they don’t know how to function. The effort and ingenuity channelled into cheating would have been better off used to obtain an honest education.
Every student should recognize the consequences and effects of cheating in school. You can get expelled, suspended or red-listed. It is not worth it for any student to risk it. Some can affect your future life.
