Easy Cheating

      While students have had methods of cheating for a long time, the availability of pre-written papers has grown dramatically since the introduction of the Internet. John N. Hickman discusses this problem in "Cybercheats: term-paper shopping online.  Today, students can easily buy or borrow a paper on almost any topic. The sheer availability of papers contributes to increases in cheating everywhere.   While the ease of cheating contributes to the large numbers of students who do it, there may be other reasons that students cheat.   Our society places a huge emphasis on succeeding in school and in the job market.  The lure of monetary success and status leads both children and adults to make immoral decisions.  Students may cheat because they think it is the easiest and best way to succeed in our society.   Likewise, recent corporate scandals show us that some adults are willing to lie and cheat to make money and have power. 

     Hickman points out that most schools are ignoring the problem.   They may believe that their students are too respectful or intelligent to cheat.  Hickman asserts that universities must become more vigilant and make it harder for students to get away with cheating, in order to combat this growing problem. It may seem ridiculous to say that the schools are responsible for correcting the problem, given that it is the students who are responsible for the cheating.   Still, the schools, as well as the rest of society, must take responsibility for the situation.  With a society that holds academic and career success in the highest regard, there will always be people who want to take the easy road to that success.  Technology, like the Internet, makes it easier to cheat so more people are going to do it.   In order to change this trend, we need to place more emphasis on honesty and respect for education.  Schools should hold students responsible, and they should devote resources to identifying cheaters.  If schools are able to catch cheaters more often, and if there are stiff consequences for cheating, the students’ incentives to cheat will decrease, and online cheating will diminish.  If universities are able to decrease cheating they will be creating a benefit for society, as well as themselves.  Less cheating would mean that students spend more time learning.   This will make some members of our society smarter and more informed which will benefit our society as a whole.   Also, the schools that do fight cheating will produce better graduates, thereby improving their own reputations.



Hickman, John.  "Cybercheats: term-paper shopping online."   The New Republic.   March 23, 1998. 218, 2.  14-16.