Cheating: Is it Worth It?

Cheating: the victimless crime that has plagued education for centuries.
            When it comes to academic dishonesty and ethics in education, students can come up with plenty of logical excuses as to why cheating is ok.
            Pereasha Coy, a biology major from Dallas, said she first remembers cheating in elementary school on a vocabulary test because she wanted to pass.
            “Everybody cheats,” Coy said, “everybody has cheated at least one time in their life, at least once.”
            According to the research center at nocheating.org, in the past, cheating was usually associated with mediocre students who only wanted to pass. Today, cheating has expanded to include over-exceeding college-bound students as well.
  A survey in the U.S. News and World Report revealed 75 percent of college students admitted to cheating and almost 85 percent said cheating was required to get ahead.
            “You know, you have that little smart clique,” Coy said, “and you all cheat off each other.”
            The research center at nocheating.org reported cheating is interpreted by many students as means to a beneficial end.
            Derrick Durden, a junior finance major from Austin, believes students are academically dishonest because it is all they know. 
            “I think students cheat because it’s easier and because as a society, it’s what we’re taught,” Durden said.  “Every day we find new ways to do things without doing as much work.”
            The nocheating.org research center reported students who are most likely to cheat are: business or engineering majors, those whose future plans include business, and students with lower GPA’s or those with very high GPA’s.
            According to the Office of the Provost’s website, Texas Tech University initiated a campus-wide plan called Do the Right Thing: A campus conversation on ethics to enhance the quality of education at the university. This quality enhancement program focuses on the ethical institution, ethics in the curriculum and academic integrity.
            Biology major Coy said she feels like Tech does a good job of enforcing it’s academic integrity standards.
            “They are serious about it,” Coy said, “like the first time they catch you cheating you have to go to the dean.”
            We’ve all heard the statement “you’d rather cheat than repeat,” but what happens when you get caught cheating? It’s up to every student to decide what she wants to do, but always think about what you’re putting at risk, and always ask yourself, is it worth it?