Duke It Out: Cheating – Round Two!

September 25, 2009     Posted in Reality

cheating.jpg[It's pretty obvious that the average CollegeCandy reader has some very strong opinions. Opinions that she likes to share with everyone on the site. We love a strong woman, so we thought we'd give her a real forum to discuss her thoughts, feelings, and perspectives. Every Friday I'll be featuring a hot topic (like what is cheating!) and leaving it up to you, the readers, to duke it out. So, read it and get your debate on in the comments section below!]


By Lauren H

Alright, since we spent last week debating what it means to cheat in a relationship, it only seems right to figure out what the other kind of cheating means – the kind that involves teachers. Everybody thinking dirty things about teachers, get your mind out of the gutter (for now). Seriously though, we’ve all read the school policies about cheating and plagarism, but at the same time, most of us have done something that we wouldn’t really want the school to know about. How guilty should we really feel? It’s time to duke it out!

There are some things we can pretty much all agree are cheating – copying a paper word for word (or Wikipedia *cough cough*), sneaking a peek at someone else’s test answers. But what if you take someone else’s info and reword it? Or if you take the ideas from another work and write it out your own way. Afterall, most scholars read other papers on their topics and get ideas from them that they craft into thier own work and that’s not considered cheating. True, scholars add things to the information they borrow, but if you do the same thing, then is it ok? And what if you don’t borrow much? What if it’s just one sentence? Or just a quote that you forgot to mark? According to most school regulations that could qualify as cheating – and get you kicked out.

You also get into an inky area when it comes to “study groups”. On the one hand, it can be helpful and legit to get a bunch of people together to work on something tough, but if you’re coming up with the same answers and ideas, then it’s not very different than mental plagiarism. And with math and science classes, the problem only gets more complex because one person almost always comes up with the answer first, leaving everyone else to basically copy it down.

Oh and let’s not forget the other side of this equation – what if aren’t the person using someone else’s work, but someone selling work to be used by others? All of those term paper sites and test answer keys floating around come from somewhere. Someone out there is selling the work; does that count as cheating?

Ok, what do you think? How seriously would you take the word “cheating” and how far would you push it? Put it to a vote in the comments!

16 Comments on "Duke It Out: Cheating – Round Two!"

  1. Fox says:
    Fri, 25th Sep 20094:52 am 

    I ran a business in high school where I did people's work for them, and I make an absolute killing. I made the equivalent of 2000 dollars in like four months or so, and I wasn't even doing that much – if i'd amped up my workload, God knows how much I could've made.

    Was a very good income stream, and I don't feel guilty in the least.

  2. Abbi says:
    Fri, 25th Sep 20096:05 am 

    Getting good marks depends on a number of skills, from research techniques to writing ability. I don't see anything wrong with cheating because all you're doing is using those same skills in a different way. Even if you do an essay properly, most of it isn't original or your own work anyway. As undergrads, our stuff isn't supposed to be ground-breaking or revolutionary: they ask a question, we write a long-winded answer based on what we found in books and online. The essays are all very samey in the end, so who's to know whether you shared research & planning, then worded it differently?

  3. Lauren - University says:
    Fri, 25th Sep 20096:33 am 

    Abbi, while i agree that we aren't coming up with anything groundbreaking in college, the point of college is to teach us to think independently and draw conclusions. If you can't do that, then how will you ever be successful later in life?

    Obviously, copying answers on a test is cheating, but so is lifting someone else's idea and taking it as your own. It's not that difficult to think a little bit. If you can't reason well now, you are doomed later.

  4. Casey says:
    Fri, 25th Sep 20097:04 am 

    Lauren, you took the words right out of my mouth.

    If you're going to cheat, then really, what is the point of being there? You're paying money for an education (that you're not getting if you cheat) so that you can get a good job after you graduate. Well if you're cheating in school, how are you going to make it in that "good job" afterward? You faked your way through college, you can't fake your way through a job. Basically, you're only screwing yourself in the end.

    But to the question about math and science questions where one person almost always comes up with the answer first, well the point of a "study group" isn't so you all can cheat. If one person comes up with the answer first then they should wait until everyone else has gotten their answers first, then disclose what they got. If someone is stuck the group can help them figure out where they went wrong, how to get started, or use that problem as an example to teach them how to do it. If different people came up with different answers then you can compare them and see whose answers are right. These are the reasons we have study groups, not to cheat and have "the smart one" in the group give away all of the answers, but to help each other out and have a way to learn outside of class, if you need that extra learning time (and some people do).

  5. Abbi says:
    Fri, 25th Sep 20099:21 am 

    Lauren, I couldn't disagree more about university teaching people "to think independently". Academically, you do more independent thinking at school when the things you study are more open-ended and you do all your work as an individual. With so much groupwork at uni and with such specific essay topics, there's no room to think and draw your own conclusions. You're basically given your conclusions on a plate thanks to textbooks and lecture notes. Obviously dissertations are different, but for normal essays where we just have to write what they want to read, why shouldn't we help each other out, saving time and displaying the teamwork they're always banging on about?

    As much as people like to think of uni as being intellectually stimulating, it's really about moulding you into a nice little graduate who'll get a job the university will be proud of. If they were that concerned about independent thought, the system would stifle people right up until dissertation time would it? I can't wait for my dissertation (and possibly post-grad studies) where I'll get to use my own brain for a change instead of just repeating lecture notes & textbooks which is dull as dishwater.

  6. H says:
    Fri, 25th Sep 200911:33 am 

    The most cheating I've ever done is putting formulas I'm supposed to memorize into my TI-89; I don't feel bad at all and don't think it takes away from my learning experience considering I will never use those formulas again in my life..and if I did need to use them I would just look them up or use a computer program (like the people who use them on a daily basis do). That being said, if other people cheat I don't care and I don't think it's really a big deal unless you're cheating off someone else without their knowledge.

  7. Darwin says:
    Fri, 25th Sep 20097:06 pm 

    Cheating in BS High School is one thing. Don't try it in college though. The repercussions are ridiculous. Don't try plagiarism, you'll get expelled without tuition refund.

  8. Ashlan says:
    Sat, 26th Sep 200911:00 pm 

    I majored in cheating in college. Who the fuck cares? Once you get your degree, nobody is going to give a shit if all of your work was your own and you never cheated. A degree is a degree. Nobody can tell the difference.

  9. Katie says:
    Mon, 28th Sep 20098:51 pm 

    Now i'm not saying I get the scantron and start scanning the people around me for answers. But it is reassuring to know that the boy with the cool shoes to the left and the girl who you can't stand to the right both have the same AAAA pattern marked around questions 10 – 14. Its like checking to see if you aren't crazy, like really can the professor not mix it up a bit.

    I will say when I got my Physics test back which I bombed (They were all trick questions I tell ya) and noticed that the kid three seats over in the row below me didn't miss one question, that the thought went through my mind for the next test.

    So I'm not going to say if cheating is a 100% bad, because I'd be very hypocritical. Which I bet most are about this subject.

  10. Maria says:
    Mon, 28th Sep 200910:57 pm 

    Katie: Agreed. Everyone cheats. It you aren't cheating, you are seriously fucking yourself over. Once you have your degree, who is going to give a shit if you looked at someones scantron or not? They won't now the difference. Cheat everyone. That is what college is for. Cheating is fun.

  11. Maria says:
    Mon, 28th Sep 200910:58 pm 

    *know

  12. Kristin-X says:
    Wed, 30th Sep 20097:45 am 

    I have no use for cheating. Don't you want the satisfaction of knowing that it is yours 100 %?

  13. Tiffany says:
    Fri, 2nd Oct 20098:21 am 

    what good is a degree do you if you can't do the jobs those degrees open up to you?

    i agree, everyone cheats and sometimes you have stupid teachers that ask tedious detailed questions that aren't important to your education as far as knowing your major and you're going to do what you need to do to pass the test

    but using cheating just to skate by and get a degree though is just plain stupid –

    and a waste of time because you will never be able to put that degree to use

  14. Genghis says:
    Sat, 3rd Oct 20095:00 pm 

    Personally, education taught me and is still teaching me how to think analytically and independently. It enables me to stand on my own and work effectively. The rigors of going through a college education also enable me to develop and strengthen my personal discipline, understanding and knowing what else I can do to improve myself. I believe that cheating in school deprives me of these opportunities and, therefore, I would only end up cheating myself.

  15. Yoo Mana says:
    Sat, 11th Sep 20105:10 pm 

    As a college writing professor, I am of course disheartened that many students – including some posting here – don't see anything wrong with cheating. However, what I find myself wondering is… How did we get here? What's making these students feel that cheating is okay, that they follow this idea of "whatever it takes" kind of cutthroat mentality towards life? Yes, sometimes cheating will you get you places – but usually it will only get you to the next step. Then you'll have to make a choice again – do I cheat again or do I THIS TIME try to do it on my own? What will you choose? When will you stop cheating? And if you cheat in school… what else would you be willing to cheat in?

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