Some students tempted to cheat

A student tries to decide whether or not to cheat. Photo illustration by Jacob Sanchez

This scenario happens everyday. Some students get caught, others don’t. There is one thing for certain though— it is against school rules.

While it is wrong to cheat, the number of people who are at least tempted to do so is high, but knowing the consequences of getting caught the temptation just fades away.

For many students, they cheat because they just don’t pay attention in a class. Sometimes they say it’s “boring,” so they do other things to pass the time. So after class, students just ask for so-called “help” with the class work.

Most students tell themselves it’s no big deal, but it makes either a positive or negative affect on their grades.

“I think it’s OK when it’s on certain occasions [to cheat],” junior Karla Subia said.

While cheating is wrong, people still do it. Some write answers on a piece of paper and pass it to a friend in the hallway, some simply peer over a shoulder. Then there are others who find the answers on the Internet.

“I don’t call it cheating, I call it using my resources,” senior Jacob Sanchez said.

Most teachers can probably say they have witnessed cheating on a test multiple times during their career.

Some consequences that can be given for getting caught are after school detention and in school suspension. In some cases students may not even be allowed to make the test up.

Government teacher Joe Hilton has seen cheating. and has a very simple solution to deal with it.

“[To deal with cheating] I give the zero after the first warning,” he said.

Now whether cheating is a major issue here is up for debate, but teachers and students have different attitudes towards it.

“It’s [cheating] is an issue on several facets,” Principal Darrel Adkison said. “If they [teachers] aren’t supervising, [students will] attempt to cheat.”

Regardless if a teacher is watching or not, there is one person that can stop cheating— the student.
“It comes down to our personal integrity,” Adkison said. “[It’s] kind of like the little angel and devil on our shoulders. Sometimes kids listen to the wrong one.”