College Students Cheating on Exams

Consequences of a college student cheating on exams In today’s age when you look at the word “Cheating”, you may find many different definitions or meanings. Whether you cheat at work; known as fraud, cheat at home; known as dishonesty, or at school, this act of conduct can lead to many consequences made by ones choice. Cheating as a word to me means to not follow rules or standards brought up as a person. As we focus today on students cheating, the first thing that comes to my mind is cheating on an exam. As much as we hate to believe it, students in these days have followed the path of trying to do anything to get that grade. I believe many students today are driven to cheat when there is too much emphasis to ace an exam from both parents and school staff. It’s difficult to dismiss why students cheat, but I think if you eliminate pressure, students are less likely to engage in such conduct. Cheating leads to breaking the rules in many cases. Sometimes cheating can also lead to students finding someone else to help take one another’. No matter how careful teachers or programs are designed to prevent it, students will always find ways to get around obstacles and cheat at one point. Students may think cheating on an exam might seem like an easy way for a student to get a good grade and get ahead in his or her career, but the end result is when students cheat on exams, everyone is affected in many ways. When a student cheats or decides to cheat on an exam, they forget to think about the consequences that occur as a result of the decision made. Have you ever stopped and thought of the different consequences that occur? Consequences can vary depending on the student getting caught cheating. Some professors may issue a grade of a zero as a standard consequence; other professors may report the cheating to school board depending on the kind of test taken. In most cases, the student will be put on academic probation for repeat offenses which can affect the student’s career development. The student may be able to get a job with more responsibilities and more pay, but they may not be able to keep it, or might even harm people. Whether the student’s career is medical assistant, a teacher, or a lawyer, the exams are supposed to show the level of knowledge required for them to perform well and how can one show that when they are cheating on studies or exams. Another consequence of students cheating is that students, who cheat and get caught, cause other current and future students who do not cheat to become penalized for honesty. When students cheat they change the rules of education in favor of themselves. At the same time changing rules for themselves also cause changing rules for those that choose not to cheat, end result at one point or another someone will be affected. When you think of cheating, the question you should ask yourself should be; “Are you willing to take a huge risk and possibly affect your future?” The end result to cheating is obviously not a good turnout that leads to many different wrong roads. Many people say once a cheater, always a cheater meanings if you cheat once, are you bound to cheat again or will you learn from your mistakes. On the basis of predictability of human conduct, when you think of exams your first perception would be who is going to cheat on the exam. There are many different reasons why people cheat, just as there are differences in individuals who may cheat. For some, cheating is a way of life, one may cheat for some relief and in other cases others may cheat and be caught off guard causing a momentary slipup, which in end result may never happen again. Now what causes a person to act in that behavior, and determine what caused that behavior. What factors lead a person to cheat is what many ask. Eventually one can make a change and not cheat again. I believe schools should organize speakers, programs and workshops in the framework of "helping a student to cope with stress". As part of these programs, parents should be made aware of how they often teach their children to cheat by increasing the pressure or demonstrating that success is the ultimate value in life. Students need to learn that you can cheat your way through school, graduate without learning anything, then get a profession and cause another person to get hurt due to not knowing anything in school due to cheating. Next time if you should cheat to make that extra grade, think again because it may result in hurting yourself and your future or the future of others.