Three-Fourths of Students Cheat Their Way into College
The SFGate reports about a study conducted by Duke University that showed that 75% of college applicants cheated in some form on their way to college. Whether that meant copying homework or utilizing Wikipedia for their academic efforts, the concerns about ethics and college admissions is growing.
The sad reality is that the students are winning while the teachers are losing. The article claims that when teachers find out that a student has cheated, the administration does not necessarily back them up. The word of the student is usually valued more heavily than the word of the teacher, and professional integrity becomes a problem within the community when the students’ lies are put first. In one case, a Stanford student continually asked her professors for a “regrade” after she changed the answers on a test. When her professor caught her red handed by photocopying the original exam, the university admonished the professor for violating an honor code — an honor code that the student herself did not even keep.
So what can be done? Some schools are working directly with the parents. Cheating becomes an issue that involves the parents from the first infraction. After that, the risk becomes greater: a F on the course.
Why do students cheat? The goal to become successful is by far one of the presiding reasons behind this apparent lack of ethics. As such, Stanford has a program called SOS (Stressed Out Students) that intervenes whenever stress is the culprit and reason behind cheating.
For now, the system is somewhat working. Stiff penalties make it more difficult for students to cheat. But that’s just scraping the surface. Many of my courses were laden with students who cheated on every single homework or test — and let’s be honest here, I haven’t been innocent, either.
In the end, remember that if you’re aiming for the highest score and eventually make it to the college of your choice while cheating your way through college, you may not succeed in the school of your dreams. Instead, you’ll find yourself to be miles behind your classmates. You’ll also find it important if not crucial to continue the trend of cheating. It’s just not worth it. You could spend that time learning for the course instead of stressing that your classmate has the answers. College is a knowledge-seeking venture, and bluffing your way through it isn’t the way to go.
More importantly, cheating is just a dishonest thing to do. And the only one you fool is yourself.
I’m going to go ahead and argue that while I never did it, using Wikipedia for research should NOT be regarded as cheating. While students do need to check the listed sources, using Wikipedia is just a good way to get a lot of information quickly. Contrary to popular belief, Wikipedia is (usually) not just a bunch of random people putting their version of a series of events on a webpage – many times incorrect information is corrected (and sourced) within hours of posting.
That said, as a student who refused to ever (and I mean ever) copy a homework assignment, let alone cheat on a test, I always found it EXTREMELY obnoxious when my friends felt entitled to the use of my homework assignments. Further, I was extremely annoyed when my high school’s valedictorian (I was something like 3rd in my class) was kicked out of his university (the same university I attend) for having poor grades. This kid took all easy courses in high school and received something like $20,000 in scholarships… and was kicked out after a year. Good job, America.
Wikipedia is not a valid source in the academic world. Same as an encyclopedia.
Honestly I cheated my whole life…through 6 grade to my senior year of high school. I never got caught,it was very easy Until I was working at a after school and could not do simple math. I felt like a air head! How can I succeed in life without knowledge and education? I’m so guilty that I didn’t enjoy my prom cause I know I did not earn my high school diploma. Is not something I wanted to do, but it was like a drug. What should I do. I’m 23,and I don’t feel confident because of that. HELP ME PLEASE.thank you
Cheating is not a big deal. The big misconception is that cheating = somehow not doing a single assignment and cheating on every single test without learning anything.
No.
In reality, smart people (like the girl at Stanford) learn the material, however just change their score to get an A. Because this whole reward system to us has been ingrained since day 1. A’s equal scholarships and getting into good universities.
Honors students cheat the most, because they have the most incentive. It doesn’t really matter if stupid kids cheat because they’re still stupid and they’ll fail the ACT/SAT anyway.
I consistently change the grades of my homework assignments, tests, and in class essays. Honestly, as soon as the person hands it up I just cross out their score and write 100%. Because teachers frankly don’t have time to check, they’re busy entering all the other grades.
Am I really going to accept getting a B+/A- after working my ass off? I did the work, I learned the material. I’m not wrecking my GPA because my teacher makes the tests too hard or homework too hard to get an A on. Sorry.