Summary
- What is cheating?
- Reasons why students cheat in exams
- Effects of cheating on students
Cheating can be defined as a dishonest act to gain an undue advantage. In educational parlance, cheating is usually associated with examinations.
It includes various forms of cheating like plagiarizing content, copying, or even impersonating another person to write an exam.
In The Cheating Culture: Why More Americans Are Doing Wrong To Get Ahead, David Callahan, co-founder and research director of Manhattan-based public policy think-tank Demos, demonstrates cheating through different means.
Professional athletes’ use of performance-enhancing steroids, reporters’ disguise of fiction as journalism, physicians’ promotion of drugs of questionable efficacy in exchange for payments from pharmaceutical companies, students’ cheating on exams and submitting plagiarized work, and music fans’ piracy of CDs on the internet, as well as theft by employees and high-stakes corporate crime.
Why Do Students Cheat in Exams?
In schools and colleges, cheating is not unheard of. There have been numerous instances where students have been caught cheating in examinations. The important question to answer here is why do students cheat?
There are many reasons why students cheat in exams. We have enumerated a few of these reasons below.
1.Poor Time Management
One of the main reasons why students cheat in exams is because they are pressed for time. With lack of time, students resort to cheating because they are unable to finish studying portions.
To overcome this problem, students must get into the practice of making realistic timetables. A timetable can help you set time for each subject, giving more time to tougher subjects and a bit more relaxed time for easier subjects.
2. Stress
One of the main reasons for stress is again poor time management. Stress refers to pressure or tension. For a student, the pressure or tension is felt when the student is unable to cope with the syllabus.
This stress is one of the main reasons for students to cheat in exams. Unable to bear the stress and tension, students may resort to unlawful means like cheating during examinations.
3. Fear of Failure
No one likes to fail. It is a known fact that failure is looked upon as a taboo in our society. Students who fail are ridiculed by society.
These students are often looked down upon with disdain. Therefore, to avoid being ostracized by the community, students often resort to cheating in exams.
4. Educational System Pressure
The educational system today does not exactly have a scientific approach. It is not cut out for individual minds.
The education system caters to the bulk of the student population, leaving out a section of students unable to cope with the system.
So, what happens to these students? Well, these students are pressured to keep pace with the syllabus even if they cannot do so.
What do these students do then? These students resort to cheating and other dishonest methods of keeping up with the syllabus.
5. Family Expectations
Another reason why students cheat in exams is because of the pressure put on them by parents and other members of the family. This is one of the main reasons why students cheat.
Let’s take a typical example of a parent, who has a very high educational qualification and runs a successful business or enterprise.
Such a parent will also expect their child to study well and secure higher degrees and educational qualifications.
However, what if the child is incapable of performing to the parent’s expectation? What if the child is an average student?
The child may also want to prove to his or her parents that they can be as successful as their parents. This can lead to cheating to perform to parents’ expectations.
6. Comparison with Friends
Another reason why students cheat in exams is that they want to perform as well as their classmates and friends.
Healthy competition is not a bad concept. However, if this competition turns more serious, then it can lead to cheating and unfair means to achieve higher scores.
7. Cut-Offs and Limited Seats in Prestigious Institutions
Many institutions have a minimum cut-off below which students will not get admission into the institute.
Therefore students resort to cheating in exams to achieve high scores and get into prestigious institutions or pass prestigious administrative examinations.
8. “Everybody Is Doing It” Attitude
Another reason why students cheat in exams is because of the “everybody is doing it” attitude. This attitude discourages diligent and truthful students from studying and working hard.
Such students may think if others are cheating and getting marks then why should they study hard and get the same marks. So, they give in, even though they can study and achieve great success.
Cheating in Exams Causes and Effects
These were just some of the answers to the question why do students cheat? To understand this better, we can try and decipher some of the causes and effects of cheating in exams and find possible solutions for the problem of students cheating in examinations.
As mentioned above, some of the reasons why students cheat in exams are also the causes of cheating.
In addition to the above reasons, we can also mention media as one of the main causes of cheating
amongst students. You may ask how the media can play a role in this? The answer is simple.
Over the years, the means of communication have increased tenfold. Students have access to more than one means of communication.
Today, apart from television and radio, students have social media, cellular mobile phones, and facetime to communicate. This communication, though a boon in many cases can also be a bane.
Many times, media houses showcase successful people from prestigious institutes. Unknowingly, media houses indirectly advertise that the only way to reach success is through a particular channel of education and no other way.
Thus, this undue showcase of successful careers can influence students the wrong way. Students come to think that the only way to succeed is by getting into a particular university for a particular course. Thus, paving the way for students to think about getting it through hook or by crook.
The media portrays these successful personalities with a lot of wealth, fame, and respect in society. This blindly encourages students to try and achieve that success even if it means by unfair methods.
Therefore, we can safely conclude that one of the causes of cheating is the socio-economic disparity between classes and sections of people.
In an urge to become rich and successful overnight, students may employ shortcut methods like cheating.
An article published by the Carnegie Mellon University states several reasons why students cheat in exams:
- Unfair tests and unprofessional teachers
- Obligation to help other students fair better in examinations
- Poor study skills
- Competition
- Exam anxiety
- Lack of knowledge on the consequences of cheating
- The perception of escaping punishment
The causes and effects of cheating in exams are straightforward. There are numerous ill effects of cheating.
They can have a deep impact on the career and life of students. We have enumerated some of the effects of cheating on students.
1. Admonishments
Students caught cheating in examinations are severely punished. These punishments can range from getting debarred in exams, expelled from school, or even suspended for the rest of the academic year.
Consequently, these severe punishments can have grave repercussions on the student’s wellbeing.
2. Lifelong Record
When a student cheats on an exam, the incident is put on record and becomes a bad black spot on the student’s life ahead. It can affect a student’s career and life.
3. Meaningless Careers
Students fail to realize that cheating in examinations will not give you a fulfilling career. A great career is possible when you understand and love what you do.
Getting a job through unfair means can only take you through the first step. Sustaining yourself in the job will purely rest on the knowledge you have acquired. Through cheating, you can pass examinations but you will not acquire knowledge.
4. Loss of Reputation
Your reputation defines your character. It takes a lifetime to build a good reputation but a minute to lose it all.
Your single moment of cheating can ruin your reputation for the rest of your life. So, remember, the reputation for a thousand years can depend on your conduct in a single moment.
Conclusion
These are the causes and effects of cheating in exams, it can be rightly said that cheating can lead to worse situations that can affect your entire life and career ahead.
So, remember, it is up to you to decide if you want to make it the right way. Cheating is a choice, not a mistake.
