by Chelsea Mesa, Opinion Editor
Here’s the predicament….A student is sitting in a classroom with an exam resting right in front of them. This exam isn’t any typical vocabulary test, it’s the one exam that will determine their final grade. This particular student didn’t prepare for the test, well not enough to get a grade that will impress anyone. So, what does he/she do, fail and have that grade stand on their transcript or take a risk? Every student knows the answer to that question. Why not take the risk, it’s not like he/she will get caught.
The pressure is kicking in, success in academic reputation is simply everything in the school now. Young students are beginning to get a sense that a future doesn’t exist without a perfect high school record. There is competition in everything nowadays and there is only room for students who are willing to take their education seriously.
Students across New York City have a distinct knowledge of the concept of cheating. The epidemic has been going around since the first test was even assigned. The percentages have skyrocketed ever since the Stuyvesant high school class got caught in the act of defraud. There are ways students bamboozle even in this school.
Statistics show that cheating among high school students has risen dramatically during the past 50 years. In the past it was the struggling student who was more likely to cheat just to get by. Today it is also the above-average college bound students who are cheating.
According to the Educational Testing Service (ETS) website www.nocheating.org, “73% of all test takers, including prospective graduate students and teachers agree that most students do cheat at some point. 86% of high school students agreed.” Cheating no longer carries the stigma that it used to.
”Less social disapproval coupled with increased competition for admission into universities and graduate schools has made students more willing to do whatever it takes to get the A.
Grades, rather than education, have become the major focus of many students.” said the ETS.
Cheating is a risk that students are willing to take. This is all due to the idea of higher grades. Students who cheat often feel justified in what they are doing. They cheat because they see others cheat and they think they will be unfairly disadvantaged. The cheaters are getting 100’s on exams, while the non-cheaters may only get 90’s. Could it be so bad, to cheat everyone no matter how good of a student one truly is, someone could have cheated atleast once in their life.
The statistics are clear, cheating is a growing epidemic and it isn’t look at as so wrong in the students eyes. Where’s the wrong in cheating if everyone is participating in it. The growth rates in the amount of students cheating aren’t going down anytime soon. Even if students get caught, cheaters don’t change their habits it takes time and effort to get completely rid of habits.
Cheating percentages are just rising with every new generation of students. There are two ways of looking at this issue one could be completely against it or completely for it. One could even stand between the two extremes. It’s the individuals choice at that moment which to decide. Students all over the state know the answer to that question.
