Students and Cheating: Thinking it Through

When Students Cheat

by Harvey Craft

Wandering eyes might indicate cheating,
but be careful before accusing.

Cheating is wrong, but do teachers over-react to the offense? What is the best way to approach cheating? 

Cheating and Morality

Cheating has long been viewed as a moral issue. For most people cheating is the moral equivalence of stealing information. Reactions to cheating range from looking the other way to giving a zero, but there is a lack of consistency. Teachers are sometimes hesitant to accuse students of cheating; some are ready to jump on anything that looks like cheating. 

Truthfully, cheating is going to occur. Humans are just not that good. We do lots of wrong things. Most of us have a forgiving spirit and we find appropriate ways to deal with the transgressions of others. The IRS loses an estimated $300 billion yearly due to cheating on taxes, although most people think it's wrong. 

Fundamentally, schools are about teaching specific subjects, although we like to think that we can teach responsibility and character as well. Character development is a tough goal in most schools. All teachers understand the importance of good parenting in turning out a proper child. Unfortunately, the world has an abundance of poorly trained parents.

While teachers may be morally outraged by cheating, students may honestly not understand why it's big deal. The consequences they receive may push them deeper in to a belief system that tells them that authority figures are bad. 

When students cheat, they try to find some way to justify what they do to make it acceptable. That is what most adults do when we are caught in some transgression. Also, more students cheat than teacher catch. Some are better at it. Cheating is not a behavior that belongs exclusively to bad students.

Facts About Cheating can be Disturbing

Cheating has been studied widely for years. The results of different studies produce different information. Some findings are listed below: 

• cheating increases as students progress from lower to higher grades,
• high school students are less likely to report others for cheating than are elementary students,
• studies indicate that at least 75% of high school students admit to cheating,
• cheating is more common among college students with high grade point averages,
• the pressure for high marks is a major factor in cheating,
• while cheating on tests exceeds 70%, copying homework may exceed 90%,
• the vast majority of students who cheat are not caught,
• cheating is to a large extent learned behavior, as students see others cheat with impunity they do what others do,
• emphasis on grades instead of learning can lead to cheating.

Implications for Teachers

Much of what teachers do unwittingly encourages cheating. Specifically:

• assigning and grading homework,
• assigning projects that can be copied from the Internet,
• assigning books or other materials that are abridged in Cliff Notes, SparkNotes, etc,
• providing students questions that teachers believe will be on standardized tests,
• talking with students about their own dishonest behavior, like cheating on income tax,
• hesitating to question students about work that appears to be done by someone else e.g., a science project that is too exact, neat, and inappropriately sophisticated for a student's age,
• over-emphasizing grades to the exclusion of learning,
• giving open-book or take-home tests,
• allowing or encouraging the use of a "cheat sheet."

Implications for Parents

Some of the same issues apply to parents as apply to teachers, e.g., talking about cheating on taxes or other dishonest deeds. Parents are sometimes guilty of being overly critical of an assignment and assisting in some way instead of taking the matter up with the teacher. Projects can become the work of parents when children procrastinate or if parents see a project as an opportunity to raise a grade by offering too much help.

There is no question that grades are often over-emphasized and can become the raison d'être for attending school. Philosophically, grades are secondary to learning it is a lesson well-learned. Good grades can often represent compliance. Students who are held strictly to doing as they are told by parents and teachers may miss the point of learning, but do the right things to get high grades   painting by numbers can produce a pretty good picture even for someone who lacks painting kills. College may result in a huge expenditure without much compensation in the job market.

Parents help create a love of learning by discussing what is learned with their children, by reading to them, by having books in the home, by showing interest in learning as purposeful behavior, and by being involved in childrens' schools at some level. 

Cheating and its Consequences

A common consequence of cheating is a zero on the assignment, but this may not settle the matter. Cheating tends to be viewed as a nearly criminal act sometimes more serious than fighting or bullying. Adolescence is a time of emotional stress, and many teens are known to suffer from feelings of inadequacy, loneliness, and depression. An accusation of cheating can be devastating for some students. A wise teacher will be certain of the offense and deal with it swiftly.   

Moral outrage is not needed or appropriate when students are caught cheating. There is no purpose in a lecture to the guilty student or the class about the evils of cheating. Teachers should resist the temptation to use their moral compass to steer student behavior. Schools do, or should, have a consequence for cheating and that is what should be calmly followed. 

We should not consider cheating to be a uniquely deviant behavior and allow them to take away opportunities to learn by giving zeros. Many students will not flinch at getting a zero. Others will be disgraced. A better approach might be a requirement that a test be retaken under close supervision at an inconvenient time with some additional consequence of detention. Some teachers will want to give zeros, but a public education is so vital that students must not be denied opportunities for maintaining their grades because they make bad choices. Parents should be informed, of course.  

Cheating, because of the possibility of emotional consequences, should be handled tactfully without outrage and condemnation. Always have in-school counseling available as an option.

What Can Be Done About Student Cheating?  neatoday.org  

Cheating   kidshealth.org