Why are kids cheating in school

(cc) image by ccarlstead /flickr

With 95% of high school students admitting to cheating in school one has to wonder why they cheat.  Even more so, one has to wonder why 93 percent feel justified in cheating.  

Now I was not an angel in high school.  As I remember it, I cheated in two classes.  One, because it was easy.  The teacher gave the same tests year after year, and since I had a photographic memory, I only had to look over the multiple choice test from the previous year (which several friends had) and ace that portion of the test.  I was on my own for the essay portion.  The other class I cheated in was because the tests were too difficult for me.  I never felt prepared enough to pass the test.   I was caught by the teacher who just told me how dissapointed she was, took my notes, and let it go.  I never tried it again.

In fact, in consecutive years, when students tried to get me to cheat, I took the risk of making enemies over selling out my honor.  I had learned that cheating was not worth the trouble.  The same amount of time spent planning how to cheat could easily be spent studying. 

Based on my own experiences, I contend that students cheat when it is easy to cheat.  Modern technology makes it very easy. Between the internet, cell phones, and Ipods, students can copy papers or pay someone else to write it, and they can also easily cheat on tests.  I believe that if teachers were more vigilant about preventing cheating and catching cheaters, that it would deter future incedences.  Call students out on plagarism.  Write new tests each year, or at least rotate tests from a period of three years.  Monitor the classroom closely during exams.  Be firm, but allow grace for the first incedent. 

I think it will also help if the teacher explains clearly what counts as cheating.  Explain plagarism in detail.  Let them know that you can and will use the same technology they are using to check for cheats.  Institute signed honor codes in the classroom. 

Finally, I think the biggest reason for cheating is that the students are not absorbing the information in time for the test.  I feel that a subject can and should be presented in a way that will make students excited about the subject, and tests should not cover an unreasonable amount of information that a student cannot possibly learn in a week. I don't want to place the blame on teachers, because I know I learned that sometimes you just have to study until you cry, then take a break and study some more.  However, students are more apt to cheat when they are overwhelmed, and don't see any other way to be successful.

Did you ever cheat in Highschool?  What do you think is the reason so many students are cheating?