[vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]There comes a time in every student’s academic career where they must decide whether or not to share answers with another student. While I would like to believe that most people take the high road and kindly advise the other student to do their own work, recent observations have made me think otherwise.

At least once a day I hear one classmate ask another, “Hey, did you do the homework?” If the response is no, one or both of the students will turn to the next classmate and ask the same question, hoping to elicit a different response. However, If the answer is yes,the student who did absolutely no work proceeds to copy down the answers and receives the same grade as the other student, despite differences in the effort they put forth.

To be blunt, I am sick of cheaters. I firmly believe that good grades are something you earn—you get out what you put in. The fact that I will spend hours on an assignment and get the same grade on it as a student who took 10 minutes to copy it from their friend infuriates me. What makes me even more angry is that if you are asked to share answers and refuse, you look like the jerk.

There is so much pressure to be laid back about everything. Everyone wants to be well-liked, and that usually leads to throwing hard work out the window and just letting people pass your homework around and write down the answers. While I do want to be fun and likeable, I don’t want be part of the devaluing of effort and education.

Students right now care more about getting good grades than they do about learning, and that worries me. What’s going to happen when we are adults and there isn’t anyone around to cheat off of?  How successful are businesses going to be in the future if they are run by people that weren’t able to do their own work in high school?

I don’t expect the cheating pandemic to come to an end anytime soon, but I sure hope students realize the consequences of their actions. Yes, cheating is a punishable offense, but I’m not referring to the school consequences. Students who cheat are throwing away chances to learn valuable information and think for themselves.

Due to students’ willingness to share answers and the accessibility of answers online, many teens do not know the value of hard work. Everyone wants the straight A’s but very few actually want to work for them. School is supposed to be this wonderful place where students go to learn and prepare for their futures, but lately, all I see is people complaining about their grades and copying each other’s homework.

I know I can’t stop people from cheating or copying answers, but I can say “No, you can’t see my homework.” I may not be able to convince every teenager that their hard work will eventually pay off, but hopefully, I will be able to encourage some to stop cheating, and reclaim their academic integrity.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]