The Importance Of Cheating In Schools

Honor codes and systems are used in schools in order to eliminate academic dishonesty, like cheating and plagiarism. Implementing an honor code, however, only reduces the amount of cheating, but does not effectively get rid of it in its entirety. As a result of an increase in cheating due to the easily accessible sources or answers online, students feel the need to cheat in order to stay competitive with their other peers. While cheating typically results in a better grade or score on a test or assignment, it is wrong and must be strongly discouraged. Rolling Meadows High School should maintain the current academic guidelines they have, because the current rules are fair and gives the student a second chance should they have cheated …show more content…
If students disregard the standard that the honor code asks them to have, then an honor code is defective and should not be created if it is not utilized. Source C highlights the positive or negative effects an honor code can have on students depending on how seriously they obey the rules. Jennifer Dirmeyer and Alex Cartwright claim that “If a student enters a college with mostly “cheater” types, not only are the costs of cheating very low, encouraging fellow “cheater” types to cheat, but the benefits of cheating are very high, encouraging even honest types to cheat.” (Dirmeyer and Cartwright) If cheating increases because of students not taking the code seriously and encouraging others to cheat, then, in order for the code to work, students must hold the impression that the honor code is important and influence their peers to respect and honor the code and its rules. Rolling Meadows has fair guidelines and policies in regards to cheating, and should try to maintain the rules, but should not attempt to change or revise it without first knowing how important the rules actually are to its students and how much they will actually be …show more content…
Similarly to source C’s views, source F believes in the importance of student communication when popularizing the view that cheating is wrong. Author's Donald McCabe and Gary Pavela claim that colleges with students who engage in conversations about the dishonesty and wrongness of cheating with a strict view towards the honor code have less cheating on campus. In their argument, the author's make claim that “it is significant that the highest levels of cheating are usually found it colleges that have not engaged their students in active dialogue on the issue of academic dishonesty.” (McCabe and Pavela) In that event, teachers must also obey and enforce the policies, because teachers who communicate the rules of the code and strictly follow the consequences should any need to be given, there will ultimately be less cheating inside of the classroom. If Rolling Meadows is able to spread the word through teachers and students that any type of cheating is dishonest and deceitful and will be met with harsh punishment, then cheating will soon diminish, regardless if the rules are changed or simply