Tempted to Cheat (Editorial)
Teachers often start the year by telling students that cheating only hurts them, but there is a reason that students are copying other’s answers.
School is supposed to be a place for students to learn, to further their knowledge and education. It’s quickly becoming a place for students to memorize information just long enough to take a test and then forget it all the next day. Whether they cheat on the test or not, chances are they won’t remember most of the information anyway. The way they see it, copying answers at least gets them a good grade.
They often forget the information though. Maybe it’s just because the information they’re being taught isn’t necessary for their future career. They take the topic because it’s mandatory for a high school diploma and are expected to passionately learn the facts, even though they’ll probably never need that information again.
Colleges don’t look at how much a student knows; they look at the grades. Often times, a student will cheat their way into college, then continue on with it if they don’t get caught. At the end of it, all they have is a degree without the necessary knowledge. They end up more “qualified” but less skilled than a student without a degree that actually knows the information.
In the early 1940’s, only 20% of students admitted to cheating on their school work at one point or another. In 1996, about 64% of high school students admitted to cheating. That number rose again in 2002 when surveys showed that 74% of high school students had admitted to cheating.
Perhaps students wouldn’t feel the need to copy each other’s answers on tests if grades weren’t seen as the most important thing in their life up to this point. They should have a chance to learn what they love, not suffer through learning useless information.
Disclaimer: Articles designated as “Editorial” represent the views and opinions of the author, not the 2015-2016 Periscope staff, CHS Administration, or the CHS student body.
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Kenny Brenizer is a junior and the perspectives editor for the 2016-2017 Periscope staff. She does no sports. She has no hobbies. She just wants cats and...
Gretal Shank • Dec 9, 2017 at 11:55 pm
We need to learn what we can take through our entire life. Sometimes I’ll spend math class or science class looking up inspirational quotes and stories about people who had their lives changed immensely. I cannot sit there and hear how to use the pythagorean theorum if I will never use it again. No, I want to use school to find my own voice, instead of listening to monotonous voices tell me how they think we got here. I had my voice as a child. Now I am losing it. I want to find it again. And school, you aren’t helping.
Charles Willis • Jan 15, 2016 at 1:34 pm
I feel that students forget when cheating on a test that the whole purpose of taking the test in the first place is to assest on how much they have learned in the class. If the student needs to cheat to past a test, what’s the point of learning in the first place? Like most people, I hope that we can reform our education system and try to find a balance between the importance of tests and actually learning in class.
Emma Bateman • Jan 14, 2016 at 8:38 am
I agree that sometimes the focus on tests takes away from a students’ desire to learn. I wish we could find a balance between holding students accountable for the material and letting them have a bit more freedom to enjoy learning.
Sarah Frick • Dec 22, 2015 at 8:43 pm
However it is primarily the students responsibility to want to learn and not to cheat, it is not only their fault. As mentioned above, grades are seen as such a highly regarded indicator of ones knowledge when some people may merely be just a bad test taker! Not only that, but it is becoming much more widely acceptable among students to cheat. If another student hears about this they will not take any action against it and chances are they’d probably laugh and not give it a second thought.