Cheating In School: Reasons And Consequences
The desire of every student is to achieve good results in school. However, the passion for good results in schools has pushed most students beyond the borders of integrity (Velliaris, 2016). Several students are openly engaging in exam cheating to score highly. The behaviour of cheating in schools is against school rules, guidelines, and core values. Therefore, cheating in schools is wrong, and the practice must be stopped.
Several students defend their cheating behaviours by stating that they are only interested in scoring high grades and not gaining education (Robinson & Simonton, 2019, p. 42). Also, the basis for cheating is incited by the pressure of attaining high levels of class ranking. Some students, therefore, claim to have lost the importance of schooling hence choosing to engage in exam cheating.
Another reason for students engaging in exam cheating is the claim that they are only affected, persons. To them, it is their life, and nobody should interfere with their cheating tendencies since it is only them who are affected. In my response, this explanation statement is unreasonable. Cheating is wrong since engaging in it is equal to stealing the results of honest students who dedicated their time to learning and reading the appropriate examinable materials (Kingston & Clark, 2014, p. 39). More so, a student who engages in exam cheating and is not caught is likely to score a high grade. However, the truth is that the student does not merit the grade, and therefore, by earning the grade, the entire class curve is hurt. Thus, other students in the same class who scored lowly in the same exams are most likely to believe that they are missing something important because of their inability to perform well that is not the case.
The other idea that students use for their reasoning to engage in exam irregularities is the claim that their teachers are incompetent and unprofessional in the delivery of content (McCabe, Butterfield, & Treviño, 2012). Thus, some students consider adopting wrongful exam practices to go through a class by pointing a finger at accusation to their teacher. Though it is educationally wrong to subject students to poorly trained and incompetent teachers or instructors, the is no reason still for students to use such a claim to cheat in schools. More so, by students cheating and scoring highly, they mislead their teachers. The teachers are deceived in the sense that they perceive the dishonestly earned grades to be an accurate reflection of the students having appropriately understood the material which is not the case. Hence, such a teacher will maintain the same teaching method and possibly even consider increasing the pace of instruction.
There are several consequences arising from cheating in schools. However, it is essential to note that these consequences are spread across several spheres of daily human life. For example, lying in schools affects a person’s future career, level of trust and credibility, ethics and integrity, societal issues, among others (Mason, 2019, p. 54). Therefore, this paper explores the consequences of cheating from some of the viewpoints mentioned above.
One of the most important roles of all learning institutions is to produce individuals who are ethically and morally sound. Morally upright students are therefore expected not to engage in school cheating. Essentially, there is no difference between a student who is involved in school cheating and a thief or liar. Cheating in schools, just like stealing, is unethical and immoral behaviour. Students engaging in exam cheating from an ethical perspective lose their integrity just like the case of an apprehended thief. Submission of examinable schoolwork by a student involved in cheating is typically lying to the teacher that the work is genuine which is lack of integrity and stealing (Koretz, 2017, p. 22). Therefore, I firmly stand to emphasize cheating in school as an unethical and immoral behaviour due to its undeniable aspect of stealing and lying as well as the loss of integrity.
The establishment of trust between two or more individuals or parties is not a problem; however, the restoration of trust where it once existed is a big challenge. The loss of trust in a student only requires a single instance when a student is caught red-handed cheating. Once the trust has been lost, the student will always be a suspect to the people in authority, and his or her work will frequently raise suspicion (Benninga & Berkowitz, 2016, p. 66). More so, once the information of a student cheating in school spreads all over, the student’s credibility will be lost, and those who know the alleged student will compromise their opinion about the student. All the positive and good status of the student will immediately be replaced by the exam cheating comments thus damaging the overall reputation of the student among his or her fellow students, family, the community and teachers.
From an academic outlook, cheating in school only makes a fool of oneself. The person involved in cheating is primarily hurting him or herself. This is because lying is a short cut to score high grades, but the truth of the matter is that the individual involved in cheating learns nothing. Mostly, the student will be going to school to pass the time since he or she will not be gaining any relevant instructional information taught in school. Therefore, the learner will be wasting resources, the time of the teacher and most likely get into trouble with the authority.
Besides, going to school is not just tied to scoring good grades. The focus of schooling is learning. Hence, those who involve themselves in cheating only look forward to getting good grades. The significance of academics is for students learning the lesson even if they score lowly since they will be much better than the students involved in cheating and scored high grades (Balázsiová & Balázsi, 2019, p. 41). Cheating students will, therefore, lack knowledge of the subject matter and even though in the long run they will graduate, however, they will be unable to appropriately perform assigned duties in comparison to the students who scored low grades but were able to learn (Berry, 2013, p. 41). Hence, cheating students are incompetent and not well prepared to be hired in the job market.
Living in peace within a society demands equality and fairness. However, individuals engaging in cheating hurt their colleagues. Rules and regulations are set when doing assignments and exams in schools. This is the same in participating in a game such as a football match. Winning the game by compromising the rules is unfair. People who get involved in cheating, therefore, don’t play by the rules of the game. The ensuing effect on the honest students who are members of the society is high levels of frustrations. The honest students feel wasted and unfairly treated owing to the lots of time they dedicate in reading and learning (Cizek & Wollack, 2016, p. 30). More so, cheating students end up receiving undeserved grades and recognition that is otherwise deserved by the honest students.
The main consequence of cheating in school to a person’s career is a high level of career uselessness. Individuals who honestly accomplish their careers feel good since their self-confidence and self-esteem is strongly built. Students who cheat in school openly highlight the fact that they lack trust in their abilities. These students may get high grades, but deep within they are aware that they do not merit for their careers. As a result, they cannot take on work-related responsibilities when hired.
Additionally, cheating in school is a hindrance to career progress. Learning is a progressive process, and basic problems must be learned before complex problems. Failure to learn basic problems by cheating students, therefore, compels them to keep on cheating or go back and cover the unlearned instructions hence compromising career progress (Jones, 2019, p. 37). Thus, every cheating attempt usually denies a student the opportunity to acquire critical learning lessons and skills needed for career development.
In winding up, cheating in school is a wrong behaviour and needs to be stopped. The need to discourage cheating in school is based on its large share of negative consequences spread across people’s future careers, level of trust and credibility, ethics and integrity, societal issues among others. Therefore, by discouraging cheating in schools, society is assured of producing a morally sound, competent, and reliable breed of generation.
