Introduction
Cheating in the academic context has got several descriptions, some of which are; referring to an unauthorized material in an examination room, referring from a colleague’s work, acquiring examination papers prior to the examination date, and paying someone to sit for you the exam, among others. More than 70% of students in High school admitted to having been involved in cheating in one way or another. (David and Ludvigson, 120).
It is, therefore, right to say that cheating is widespread in every part of the world, and it is escalating in all levels of education. This is so because if one advances to a new stage/level through cheating, that particular person is less likely to drop the habit for fear of being dropped out. Most students who get involved in cheating are tempted to believe that it is right to cheat, as long as you are not caught.
Causes of Cheating in High School
Everyone wants to be a top achiever; to be so; one has to get good grades, which of cause comes in handy with being respected and receiving honors in addition to getting admission to top institutions. To achieve this, students, if given a chance, can stop at anything to get those high grades, even if it means cheating. Those individuals who do not cheat are, therefore, disadvantaged and suffer from unfair competition; this may lead to them being viewed as fools. Many students may join the bandwagon, and for those that are already involved in cheating, they will just stay in the game.
Technology also has a role to play in aiding this game. Students who are able to access such gadgets as the internet and mobile phones are more likely to cheat, as they are able to share answers. The social-economic status of the students will determine the level by which the student can cheat. One has to have good finances to be able to afford the materials, download information, and or send it to a friend. It is, therefore, apparent that those students who can access more money are involved in cheating than the less fortunate ones.
On the other hand, advancing in age comes with its disadvantages as far as cheating is concerned. During the lower levels of a child’s education, he/she believes that cheating is morally unacceptable, a belief that changes as the child advances in age. “Cheating is a personal foul.” Janis argues that: at Pre-School(age 3-4), the students regard cheating as immoral; at the Elementary Level(age5-6), they do admit that cheating is bad, but it can be done depending on the situation and that the temptation is too hard to resist. Middle School (age 11-13) is where real cheating begins; this is said to be motivated by the fact that so much emphasis has been put on the grades and the student feels pressured to excel. At this age, they know that it is an offense to cheat, but they still go right ahead to commit it.
A survey in 1995 showed more and more students, both junior and senior in high school in the US, cheat. 78% admitted to having cheated, and 89% said that it is common in their schools. They reasoned that they do cheat because of the emphasis that has been put on good grades, cheating is easy, and also that cheating offenders go unpunished. Cheating is not only by those perceived to be weak but is also reported to be very high among the students that are College bound. Such students resort to cheating since they tend to get involved in so much; for example, they want to join the best sporting clubs and perform to their best, they want to get involved in community service and at the same time give out their best in their academic work to be able to make it to the university. Josephson, the principal of Josephson Institute of Ethics, quoted that “We’ve never heard things like, “We have too much homework,” “it is more of, “I’m involved in basketball, I’m involved in the Glee Club, and I’m involved in …”.
Teachers are sometimes suspected of manipulating the results of their students. They do so in order to be awarded incentives and honors as the best performers to appear as titans. The well-established schools that command a good amount of funds can therefore buy their way more easily than those that are monetarily challenged.
Lack of self-esteem and a feeling that they are under pressure to get good grades may drive students to cheat. The competitive nature of the education system from classmates, as well as those in other schools, is also a contributing factor. The student, apart from having misplaced priorities, has a lot of academic work, on top of other things that they get themselves involved in. Therefore, by the time the tests are brought, they feel ill-prepared and believe that they can not face the examinations without some external aid.
The academic teaching staff is more often viewed to be uncaring, and that they teach abstract things to what they set. This is coupled with the fact that national exams are set using the relevant national standards, with the assumption that all students taking the national exams have completed their syllabuses. In cases where the syllabus was not completed because of one reason or another, the affected students might panic and resort to cheating. The parents or guardians, who are economically advantaged, can afford to hire private tutors for their sons and daughters to avoid such ugly scenarios of cheating. In this context, those parents and guardians that are financially disadvantaged might have their children being involved in cheating.
A 6*2 ANOVA “What do Elementary Children Think” was done by the Department of Psychology in Missouri Western State University comparing two schools of different socio-economic statuses. It was found out that the students in the lower socio-economic status were more likely to view cheating as okay.
Due to the prevailing economic circles, some students have decided to get involved in part-time jobs to boost their earnings. The time spent while working is likely to eat on their academic hours, leading to lower grades, un-submitted assignments, absenteeism, and eventual drop-out. Balancing work and academic demands will be a great challenge to such working students, and the victims may end up fatigued and with low marks. “They will be academically rich but psychologically poor” (Greenberger and Steinberg (1986) And therefore learn more about how to cheat and steal.
Conclusion
When one is involved in any form of cheating, the results he obtains do not reflect his ability. Such individuals can therefore not defend their scores, and they have no confidence in them. Literally speaking, it is impossible for them to gauge their abilities because they have never handled the tasks without external help. Cheating can lead to the creation of underperformers in the field where they are to apply what they learned in school. High school students who get involved in cheating and rig their way to the universities risk being dropped out or suspended from University if he/she finds out that the rules and conditions in the University are so tight and he/she can not continue cheating. Peer pressure to help a friend out by sharing their work or even sitting for a paper on their behalf is another cause of this menace. This can be prompted by the eroded sense of academic integrity, and ethical values witnessed in High Schools.
In case a teacher suspects any sign of cheating, he/she needs to act immediately. “Do not join the 20-percent staff members that ignore the evidence of cheating.” Get to know why the student is cheating by talking to him and listening to his side of the story on the matter. Advice on how to go about handling such cases is numerous. To help students on how they can use other sources in their academic works and on how to differentiate between plagiarizing, paraphrase, and direct citation, adopt Crew’s style.9. If a student is caught in the act, then the relevant authorities need not rush to physical punishment. The best thing is to make him repeat all the tests under very tight supervision to prove that he did not cheat in the other papers; then, he should repeat the same year to delay his graduation to help him focus on what was wrong with what he did.
Bibliography
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Crews Frederick The Random House Handbook, 6th ed., (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1992, pp. 181-183).
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Davis & Ludvigson, (1995): “Academic dishonesty and a proposal for remediation”: Teaching of Psychology, 22, 119-121.
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