“I have trouble studying for a lot of my tests for my classes, because of this I have to cheat on a lot of my tests just to get by.”
This unfortunate statement was made by an anonymous student who asked to go by the pseudonym Jake. Jake admitted that he talks to people next to him during tests and asks friends in the class before him for test pictures.
Students can also cheat by writing answers on their arms or on a note or by simply looking at other students’ tests.
Cheating culture has always existed, but with the rise of social media and technology it has become worse. Due to social media, teachers are forced to make their own tests instead of finding them online for fear that a student will find the answers beforehand.
Essays pose the same issue.
Teacher Ann Berger has been dealing with cheating on essays for a long time. “Kids will do anything to get an A. This is because of societal pressure to take as many AP and dual enrollment classes as possible. I even had a kid cheat on a memoir once! It’s pathetic,” she said.
Many students are similar to Jake, which is why the school has a strict cheating policy.
The handbook provided to the students at PVHS states, “When a student cheats/plagiarizes, the student will receive no credit for the assignment, the student’s parents will be notified, and a disciplinary referral will go in the student’s file. Any further act of plagiarism by the student in that course will result in the student being dropped and automatic failure of that course.”
Teachers can take measures to prevent cheating, such as spacing out desks and providing different copies of tests to different classes. However, these are just temporary solutions to a much deeper problem.
Cheating has become normalized to the point where there is always a way to cheat. It particularly saw a rise during the covid-19 pandemic, as students could cheat without any teachers nearby. In fact, students in Spanish and other languages were given tests online and could simply google translate the answers.
Instead of cheating, it is recommended to come in 8th period to the class the student is struggling with or find a tutor for it.
While some may think the district’s punishment is harsh for a “crime” so easy to do, does this need to be the policy to end cheating culture?
