Did you know that 7 out of 10 students have cheated at least once in the past year? Did you know that 50 percent of those students have cheated more than twice? This shocking data is from a recent survey of 9,000 U.S. high school students.
Incredibly, teachers may even be encouraging their students to cheat! Last year at a school in Detroit, some teachers were found to have provided their students with answers to statewide standard tests. Students at the school told police that they were promised pizza and money if they cheated on the test. Similar reports at several schools in San Diego country have prompted an investigation by the Education Department. A student at a local high school says she sees students cheating on almost every test, and the teachers don't do anything about it. In response to the claims of school-assisted cheating, the head of the National Association of School Principals said that while cheating should never be accepted, it showed the pressure that schools were under. "Because school funding is now decided by students' test performance, there is incredible pressure on school to raise marks in any way they can."
But schools are not the main problem. Many students claim that they're tempted to cheat because of peer pressure and intense competition to get top grades. Many kids also say that their parents are setting a bad example by cheating on income taxes, lying about age to pay lower admission prices, or cheating their way out of speeding tickets. They are sending a message to their kids that it is okay to cheat and lie.
So, what can be done? In our school's math classes, each student has different problems on their test papers, so it is useless to look at someone else's answers. Teachers could also randomly mix the problems throughout the page. Another solution is for adults to lower their expectations. Chances are that students believe cheating is the only way to meet unreasonably high expectations. Perhaps it is time for parents and teachers to seriously examine whether higher test results are important enough to encourage cheating.
