CheatingMade Easy



 

             Cheating has never been easier.   In a recent article of U.S.News and World Report, “TheCheating Game,”Carolyn Kleiner and Mary Lord report on how cheatinginschools has been takento a new level due to technological advances in the lastseveral years.   This technologyenables students to cheat easily:   the article reports that term papers can beeasily downloadedoff the Internet,and answers can be silently sent across a classroom with any difficulty or worryof being caught.  Some studentsare capable of hacking into school records to alter transcripts.

           According to surveys, cheating is becoming more prominent than before.    The authors report thatnow a stunning 80 percent of high schoolhonor students admit to cheating, and 95 percent of them say that they havenever been caught.  Everyoneischeating these days:  honorstudents,slackers, college students,girls and boy alike.    The students gavea couple of different reasons for this increasingdishonesty.  Most said that theyfelt pressured to succeed.  Othersbelieve that schools send mixed messages about when to collaborate with a friendand when not to.  And surprisingly,most see nothingwrong with obtaining a few answers because they know thatno one ever reallygets caught.

           The news articleexplains that consequences for cheating are not strict, nor are they consistentbetween institutions.  Schoolsand universities are not dealing with this problem consistently.    Many high schools deny that they have a problem, while othersare really cracking down, using their own technology, surveillance, to controlthe problem.

           Cheating  is a problem that will be difficult to resolve.     The article reports on all the new technology that enables studentsto cheat and their willingness to do so. If students do not see tha twhat theyare doing is wrong, or if they continue to be able to get away with it,thenI am inclined to believe the problem will persist until consequences are harsher.    With so much of thetechnology mentioned in the article, I thinkthat the only way to solve this problem is to correct the integrity issue athand. If students begin to face harsh consequences for cheating, it will deterothers from doing the same.  Itis necessary for teachers to step up the surveillance in the classroom in allways possible so that cheating is no longer such an easy process.  This is the only way that it will stop.