The Upstart

Name: Kelsey Miller

Grade: Senior

MIPA Class: Opinion Writing

Instructor: Julia Satterthwaite

Cheating the Students

Though cheating is viewed as an unfortunate occurrence in high school, it feels as though teachers have given up fighting it. In a recent poll of students attending MIPA, 86% said that they had cheated on a test or homework assignment during high school.

While some people may say that this is to be expected, others can easily argue that allowing students to slack off and take the easy route when they are young will encourage such behavior later. It is crucial that cheating be controlled, and soon.

Many of the students who admitted to cheating recollected it without any trace of remorse. One student from Eisenhower High School stated, “Everyone knows it’s the smart people who cheat.”

This statement, while made lightly, is disheartening. It is no longer the stereotypical students who sit in the back of the room and don’t pay attention that are the problem. Swapping papers and trading answers has become so commonplace that even a teacher’s favorite straight-A student is likely getting their grades unfairly.

It is a problem that should be stopped, and the solution lies not with the student body, but with their teachers.

This is a daunting task. With the technological boom that has created such a gap between the current generation and the ones before, it is often difficult for teachers to know how to monitor such behaviors. When a student can flip his phone open under the table and text another student the answer to a question, teachers have a hard time catching them.

However, it is up to the teachers to become more diligent. This is important, not just for the sake of fairness for the 14% of students who aren’t cheating, but especially for those who are.

They have to learn good behaviors for studying and doing homework while in high school if they are to have a chance at coping with college level work. Statements like, “Yeah she cheats all the time,” which were heard consistently throughout the poll as people witnessed their friends being questioned, show how commonplace the problem is.

The teachers are cheating their students out of a good education by allowing them to copy and share answers. It may be the students who started the problem but the teachers are responsible for letting it escalate to such a level, and it needs to stop soon.

The cheating problem is going to continue as long as the teachers continue to cheat their students by not working harder to enforce the rules.

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