Category: Cheating

Since entering the corporate world four years ago, unethical behavior and cheating have come up as frequent topics at work. In fact, there is so much cheating in every single organization experienced, I have become interested in becoming an auditor or investigating financial crimes. These situations literally make an organization collapse from the inside out. Student cheating, like cheating in any other business setting, undermines legitimate, hard-working students from reaching attainable goals. Eventually, all cheating will be exposed as humans are not perfect, leading to public distrust of a company or university, then a loss of investments or business. It is necessary to maintain integrity in an organization from a legal standpoint in regard to financial documents since past company scandals have led to stricter regulations and enforcement in the United States. People lose careers, and life savings, and potentially earn jail time from cheating in business or school.

Businesses pressure for results, especially when a company is declining so they can make up for the lost earning potential from the past. This is simply impossible, instead strategic plans that fail should be modified to work, instead of simply increasing the workload on bottom-level employees. Employees fear for their job security and production to the point they would rather cheat than be honest to survive. “.…not only in the case of Enron and other corporate scandals but also in a growing body of academic research demonstrating that giving people specifically, challenging performance goals causes them to cheat on tasks or misrepresent their performance (Healy, 2016).” Instead, many companies do not consider cutting their largest expenses, such as executive salaries or bonuses, and would rather fire an entire department of a company for not reaching an impossible goal. Many companies want a short-term financial benefit from their actions without concern for legal ramifications later, rather they could have created a long-term, stable foundation upon which to grow. Leader’s that fear the failure of a company or the loss of their salaries (much like lower-level employees with low morale) do not make logical decisions, nor provide good results. If people could change their personal model, so work would be less of a competition between employees and more so a group of people working together to reach a common goal, ethics may improve. “Our government… teaches the whole people by its example. If the government becomes the lawbreaker (or moral lawbreaker), it breeds contempt for the law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy. Louis D. Brandeis”

If all of the businesses I have worked for had cheating that impacted my performance, it is only logical to assume it is happening at schools as well. In a study of United States high schools, 56% of students had cheated on a test and 32% plagiarized content from the internet (Fugate, 2018). Cheating causes everyone to have higher standards, whether that is additional rules to follow after getting caught, or so many people did better than average due to cheating the overall expectation is elevated. Many companies have an ethics department; thus, schools should also proactively monitor for potential cheating. Turn it in is a great tool if it is used for every student for every assignment. It gives everyone a level of moral standing, to begin with, and thus proving yourself without a chance to be discriminated against. This takes the burden off of teachers for trying to catch cheating, especially embedded in a long essay for example. According to Reedy, if goals are attainable with an emphasis on following the rules first and foremost, this should prevent cheating. Thus, assignments should be clear about content and format, with the expectation of submitting to turn it in every time.

In conclusion, it is not okay to cheat on exams or papers, as the effect is far-reaching beyond a single event. It is a given that people will cheat if they need it to get ahead, and those with strong morals will not let another person’s behavior dictate their actions. If cheating becomes widespread amongst most students at a university, it undermines the value of education as it is not serving its purpose. Honest people are now at a disadvantage if cheating is widespread, as standards may increase. We have discussed the direct parallels between cheating in academic and business settings, and how they both have negative impacts on the entire organization.

Mary Jones is the Principal of Elderberry Elementary school in Dacula, Georgia. She has been the Principal for almost 20 years. In the past five years the testing scores have gone down, and the district has been on her about what she can do to make sure the testing scores get better. When she first noticed the scores had started to drop, she instructed teachers to go over the curriculum with the students again before the testing started. When that did not help, she asked her staff to hold tutoring for the students that they saw were struggling for 2-3 weeks before testing started to see if that would help boost test scores. No matter what Mrs. Jones tried nothing was working to get the test scores to where they needed to be.

In February 2019 Mrs. Jones held a meeting with her teachers to discuss what needed to be done for the upcoming testing next week. In this meeting Mrs. Jones told the teachers that they are to pace the students and keep them on one page or one set of questions until the entire class has caught up. Mrs. Jones also instructed the teachers to have students write the answers in the test booklet and not on the Scantron sheets. Jones told the teachers that they are going to wander through the classroom when the students are testing to check their responses. Alert the child if an answer is wrong so they can try again.

Jones told the teachers that when they were satisfied that all students had completed that portion of the test correctly that they were to instruct the students to bubble their answers on the Scantron sheet. If the student doesn’t know the answers, tell them to leave the Scantron empty for that question. Jones then told the teachers they must then repeat the process with the next set of problems until the whole test is complete. Mrs. Jones gave the teachers instructions on how to help students cheat on tests.

Many of the teachers disagreed with what Jones was asking of them but did not speak up about it in fear of being reprimanded for going against what the Principal asked them to do. The teachers later met and decided that all they would do is pace the students on the testing so that they would have more time to answer. After the testing was done Jones asked for the teachers to bring her the test so that she could look over them.

When Jones realized the teachers did not do as she had asked, she spent the rest of the day fixing the test so that they would have higher grades on them. When a few of the teachers realized what she was doing they decided to report her to the state. The teachers tried to go to Jones first and asked her to change the test back or to have the students retake the test so that there would be no issue of their school cheating. Jones denied the request of the teachers and submitted the altered test.

The teachers went to the School Board and the state less than a week after Mrs. Jones submitted the testing to make them aware of what was going on. The School Board and the State launched an investigation based on the allegations of the teachers. The teachers asked to remain anonymous in fear of backlash from Mrs. Jones. Two weeks after the test results came in Mrs. Jones was asked to come to the School Boards office to talk about the test scores. Mrs. Jones was asked about the allegations made regarding the testing and she denied all of it. The School board told Mrs. Jones about how her teachers had come to them about what she had asked them to do and about the knowledge of her changing the answers when they did not do as she asked. Mrs. Jones was put on a non-paid leave of absence while an investigation could be thoroughly done.

The issue with this case is that school administration or teachers that cheat on standardized testing is unethical and immoral. Unfortunately, it is becoming popular to cheat on standardized examinations. The problem is it may also have long-term consequences on the academic performance of students. Like social promotion, cheating to help students pass a high-stake exam may allow those who fail to resolve technical obstacles, such as progressing to the next school stage, but it can harm them when they later attempt to progress to more challenging content.

Mrs. Jones knew that what she was doing was wrong and that there could be severe implications to her actions, but she was more concerned about getting the scores higher than figuring out what the true problem was. While the teachers told the School Board and the State what happened after the testing was over, they are somewhat at fault as well for going along with part of what Jones had asked them to do. The teachers should have spoken up and refused to alter testing in anyway.

By altering the test results the school has made a bad name for themselves and have hurt the students more than helping them. There is a lot more to school than just test results. Schools need to be able to identify what the problems are in their schools and what the students need to learn and how best they learn. By altering test results the schools are not teaching the students.

The topic of this case is schools, teachers and/or administration altering test results to make it seem that the students are doing better than they are. By altering the test results, it makes it seem that the curriculum that is being taught to the students is the best. This topic gives insight to difficulties schools have when it comes to testing and the extreme measures that school personnel sometimes take to make sure that they look better than what is going on. Schools are graded on how good the test results are and can potentially get more funding when test results are good. By cheating on standardized test this not only causes an ethical issue of honesty, but it is also one of taking money for something that is not true.

There have been many causes of schools altering test results or guiding students to the correct answers to achieve higher test results. Many of the cases that have been seen are of administration telling the teachers to do unethical procedures during testing and the teachers being afraid of the repercussions of what would happen if they refused to do what the administration said to the teachers being involved and ok with what is going on. All teachers and administration should have had to go through ethics classes or seminars so they know when they alter testing results, they are doing something that can cause major issues. In most of the cases they are hoping that they just do not get caught.

One case that happened in the state that I live in made national news. In 2009 around 150 teachers and administration from 44 different schools in Atlanta were accused of cheating on standardized test that were used to assess student performance and to grade schools on how well they are doing. They adjusted answers to meet raised demands and got bonuses and promotions based on false scores along the way. Eighty-two teachers admitted to the cheating right away. An 800-page study said there was almost a decade of deception. This first surfaced when the state found on the response sheets an unprecedented amount of erasure points. Teachers and administrators deleted the incorrect answers and filled in the correct ones. The staff also organized weekend dinner parties at one school to correct the answers before handing them in. Scores at school soared 45 per cent over the course of a single year.

Beverly Hall, the former Superintendent, was charged with motivating the cheating. In incentives related to better performance results, she won hundreds of thousands of dollars, gains that now appear to be fake. Out of the 178 teachers and administrators that were accused 35 were indicted and all but 12 took plea deals. Twelve also went to court. Hall never made it to court because she passed away before the court hearing. The jury opened on 29 September 2014, presided over by Judge Jerry Baxter of the Fulton County Superior Court. It was Georgia ‘s longest criminal trial and lasted for eight months. On the first of April 2015, 11 of the 12 defendants were convicted on charges of racketeering. Dessa Curb was the only professor not found guilty on any and all charges.

Another case that is similar to my case study is one that happened in Illinois. This case is of only one teacher instead of multiple teachers though. In this case Jennifer Longanecker, a tenured fifth grade instructor was suspected of intentionally cracking the seals on standardized exam booklets in order to help students manipulate the study. It was found that Longanecker had opened a sealed ISAT test booklet with the express intention of improperly assisting some students on the test despite knowing that such conduct was prohibited. Not only had she opened the test with the intent to teach the students straight off the test she also helped students answer test questions and tried to blame a student for the open test booklet.

Longanecker had a student teacher in her room at the time that she cracked the seals on the exams. Angela Michell was in the classroom the day that the exams were dropped off by Gaye Dunn, a school counselor. Mitchell said that Longanecker dismissed her students to the gym and then closed the door and opened one of the packets. Mitchell stated that Longanecker read through the booklet and started telling Mitchell what they needed to start teaching the students and key words that they were going to need to know. The day after the incident Mitchell went and spoke to her college advisor about what Longanecker had done. Kim Moreno, Mitchells advisor, called the University curriculum supervisor, Ann Gregory, who then called Ronald Harris, the principal of Jennifer Longanecker. Harris immediately called the Superintendent who advised him to have his assistant principal and East Moline Education Association Co-President go and check the booklets.

Harris checked the seals on the reading portion of the test booklets and found that the seals of all three parts of the reading sections had been broken on one child’s booklet. Harris question the student and asked if he had broken the seals. The student said that he had only broken the math section seals. The School board went to a dismissal hearing about what Longanecker was accused of. During the hearing the hearing officer recommended that Longanecker be reinstated but the School Board dismissed the recommendation and let Longanecker go.

Longanecker appealed the decision to the to the Third District Appellate Court. The Third District Appellate Court disagreed with Longaneckers claim. They cited the 2016 decision of the Illinois Supreme Court in Beggs v. Board of Education of the Murphysboro Community Unit School District No. 186, the court explained that, when reviewing a decision to terminate a tenured teacher, courts are required to defer the findings and determinations of the school board, not the hearing officer.

In conclusion, the fact is, the higher the demands put on standardized test results, the higher the burden on educators to do whatever it takes to juice the ratings, even though they undermine the standards of education. The importance of standardized test outcomes keeps on increasing, with state and federal policymakers using these test scores to grant school districts either bonuses or penalties. Many schools, particularly those in low-income communities who are still stretched their money too thin, face increased pressure to ‘teach the exams’ to ensure that all of their much-needed funding continues. Apparently, the pressure has led some teachers and administrators to ‘edit’ test scores so that schools are given a better overall performance.

While the debate about standardized testing is raging, school districts will continue to individually investigate and manage cheating teachers and administrators. When we consider the implications these controversies bring to both the schools and the children entering them, citizens may continue to doubt the appropriate approaches to measure student and school success, without the increased burden for the schools to succeed given the educational difficulties they might face.

Improved monitoring controls should potentially discourage unscrupulous instructors from changing student responses. However, only when the complexity of what leads to annual test score increases and decreases is recognized, the hard truth is that even our finest educators , administrators and school districts will decide to spend time on standardized test pep rallies and shaving time from science and civic lessons to drill children on bubble sheet testing tricks.

This is a topic I strongly understand and can relate to. How would you feel if you had to wake up early, get ready, go to school for 7 hours with 2 breaks, Pay attention, Stay engaged, Write essays, Sit Tests, Have friends, Work, Be with family, Do chores and sports, go to sleep and get ready to do it all over again 5 days in a row with a 2 day break for 10 months. This is too much to ask a young teenager to do, the system might believe that it’s doing every kid well when in fact it’s not. Although the pressure can push students to become better than before, not all react in the same way.

Parents and Teachers are a large contribution to this issue. Parents naturally will push their kids to become a better person and achieve high, but this sometimes becomes an issue. As parents say, “We want you to be happy” and “If we can help you in any way ask” usually are the ones who put the most pressure on their kids as they’re trying to be at the standards their parents want. It’s obvious that teenagers don’t cope with school and the problem is that parents and teachers are noticing it but don’t do anything about it because that’s what life is about but that’s wrong. Most teenagers are constantly so stressed as they’re scared of failure as they’d be letting down themselves, parents and teachers. It’s found that over 49% of students reported that their feeling “A great deal of stress every day”. A study called “Perfection is increasing over time” finds that young adults are under more pressure than ever from others which include parents. The surge for perfection from young adults are becoming unhealthy as they’re feeling they must excel in everything they do. Perfectionism can lead to such things as eating disorders, depression, high blood pressure and thoughts of suicide, which is becoming common in our community these days.

Schools like to say that they prevent bullying and care about the student’s health when in fact most schools don’t. 45 percent of people will experience mental illness at least once in their lives and over 1 million people suffer depression just in Australia each year. These are adults who are facing these issues, could you imagine how many young adults facing the same things every day but worse? Adults can handle these things a bit better as well, young adults have no idea what to feel and are unsure how to cope with it. A study shows that at least 20% of teens experience depression before adulthood and that because of school. Depression is something that affects everyone differently and it’s something that people joke around about when in fact it can be life-threatening. The effects that come with depression are the mood changes every day, the loss for pleasure for activities that once were enjoyed, too much or not enough sleep, weight loss or gain, low energy, feeling worthless and guilty, trouble concentrating and intrusive thoughts such as death or suicide. Juggling these things is asking someone to breathe without oxygen, it’s impossible. Parents and teachers can’t feel what these students are feeling which of course makes it hard but pushing on a student when it’s obvious they’re not in the right headspace doesn’t help them cope anymore. This results forcing more and more onto their plate to which most students decide to give up on trying to achieve high and deciding to put little to no effort in. If you knew how these students feel day in day out, you’d understand that this isn’t something that can pass overnight and be fine the next day, it’s something that can stick with you for the rest of your life. This is how society is going wrong, cutting down on any bit of pressure will help a young adult to strive and achieve high when they’re in the right headspace. As someone who has dealt with depression as myself, I seriously understand that it’s one of the hardest things that you’ll ever face mentally, with school on top of it all its overwhelming beyond extent.

Cheating is something that is looked down upon but no way of stopping it, cheating happens in all different ways whether it’s just notes, having the answers or having someone write your assignment. The reason teachers care about cheating so much is that it’s unfair on the rest of the students that put the effort in to get good marks but to have someone achieve higher with someone else’s answers. Cheating happens from simple things such as peer pressure, wanting to be cool or just failing a class. 59% of private and public students have admitted to cheating at least once on a test. 59% is a staggering number and it shows many different problems with schools, could you imagine repeating a whole year level or a subject because I wouldn’t want to. That is how cheating happens its simply the fact that they’re failing a class or subject are going to last resorts and cheating for it. Even a straight-A student has had to cheat even the littlest bit because the stress of trying to handle up to 6-7 assignments and a couple of exams within a 2-week period is overwhelming and most students to get them through they decide to cheat and plagiarize. I’ll admit that I have cheated myself, not enough to ace a class but to pass a class. It’s something that can’t be stopped but can be reduced.

This is a sensitive topic to understand and talk about and to be fully aware of these issues young adults have on a day to day basis, acknowledging that the work that is being piled up on someone trying to strive does affect them whether it’s a lot of stress or just a little bit. Just acknowledging that the pressure that is being put on this generation should be noticed and cut down to assist these students to become bigger and better than themselves.

All of this internet access is taking over student’s lives. Students usually do not think about all the things they do that involves the internet. It’s more than anyone can imagine. Internet access must be limited for students because of a lack of creativity and thinking, they began socializing a lot less, and it is an easier way of cheating.

One reason why internet access should be limited to students is because of the lack of creativity and the ability to actually think. The advancement of technology has a strong effect on student creativity. Now that there is no limit to internet access, student’s creativity is going downhill. “Limiting access impairs student’s ability to complete projects assigned by teachers, limits student access to creativity,” says the National School Boards Association. Students restrict themselves from using their imagination, by going straight to the internet. This era of technology has changed their mindsets in different ways (Sanderson). Meaning, that they do not feel the need to think anymore, at the fact that the internet has everything they are looking for with more detail. ”Instead of making us stupid, he wrote, the Internet and technology are the only things that will keep us smart” (Mind Over Mass Media, New York Times). Yes, it will keep them smart but on the inside, they are going to feel stupid because it is not what they thought its what the internet, google, or Siri told them.

With all of this internet access, not just students, but people are getting more lazy to think on their own. The only thing students have to do nowadays is searching up whatever they’re looking for and in seconds the results or answers pop up. “Using other resources teaches children to think more than if they use an internet search engine and then just cut and paste into a report…the internet can lead to lazy researching” (Pitcher). Students aren’t even as slick like Rod Pitcher said, they just copy and paste, which is plagiarism. They do not care if the answer from the website is right or wrong, just as long as they get it done and get the response to their question. Not all but some students do things just for accuracy. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, “Last September OECD released claims that computers distract children, make them lazy thinkers and, if used too frequently, can even lower academic standards”. Laziness can have negative effects on their education. For the student that wanted to go to college, this could change their minds, just knowing all the work that has to be done.

Internet access should also be limited because students start socializing a lot less, meaning, they’re becoming antisocial. ‘While some believe digital devices make for greater connections for students, there are also those who believe too much time with digital devices disconnects students from face-to-face social activities, family communications, and nature” (A teacher from Concordia University-Portland). As time progresses more and more students are becoming “internet zombies.”.Nowadays, the only way students want to communicate is by text messages or calling the other person. In today’s society, it is not rare but people do not like going out and talking face-to-face because if one wants to see someone all they have to do is facetime them. All of this internet access is taking over.

Besides “Digital devices in the classroom could lead to an even greater disconnect” (A teacher from Concordia University-Portland). It’s very true based on what society looks like now. Some students would rather just sit there and not talk and probably take out their phones instead of socializing with other students. “They get estranged and non-social living in the virtual world. This results in difficulties to find common topics for discussion or inability to formulate a statement immediately.” When it comes to actually start a face-to-face conversation students might even forget how to or maybe find it more difficult than in a simple text message. Social skill is a big part of the real world. Nobody is going to know who they really are through text messages, they would have to actually interact with the person. People try to avoid uncomfortable situations, that’s why most things they say or do is through text or social media. According to BBC, “We’ve got into the habit of living in our own world and staring at the device screen even when surrounded by people. When we replace real-life interaction with online communication, we lose the ability to read social cues like tone of voice, facial expression, body language, and direct wording”. It is very clear that people lose how to interact with others in person.

Therefore, limiting internet access will prevent students from having an easier way of cheating. The internet gives “an academic shortcut that is faster than a tutor, more reliable than copying off of friends, and much easier than figuring out a solution yourself “ (National Education Association). Nowadays, students do not have to take the test or quiz to know what’s on it because most likely a friend that has already taken it showed them the questions or answers. “The internet is also used by students for shortcuts with their assignments or even outright cheating” (National Education Association). Some people use the internet as a way of help, but most times it’s probably a way of cheating and making it easier for students to do their work. “One-third of high school students admit to using cell phones or other devices to cheat in school. Six in ten reported that they have seen or know another colleague who has cheated on an exam or quiz“ (Common Sense Media Survey). When it comes to cheating on classwork, homework or even test, it is like if students had each others back. For example, if a student saw another student copying work or looking onto other’s paper, they wouldn’t call them out, they’d rather just let them be. It’s rare for a student to go up a teacher and tell on others for cheating. Classmates witness all types of things but will not bring it to the teacher’s attention.

In today’s society with all of this internet access students find several ways to cheat. (Like asking friends for an answer or even finding the answers online.) With all this advanced technology students can literally find anything out there. Cheating is a big deal and as time progresses more students find different ways of cheating with all of this internet access at school. “Unfortunately, the Internet offers an abundance of variants on how to find the answers to the tests or crib and students make use of them”(blog). Students take advantage of what the internet provides for them.

Nowadays teachers think students are getting good grades based on their knowledge but little do they know that on the other side their just searching everything up. Most teachers put importance to it, but then there’s the other handful that does not really realize it. “educational establishments pay much attention to the uniqueness of the delivered papers as well as try to make everything possible that students could have fewer opportunities to cheat in the exams or test'(blog). Like it says, teachers or others in the world pay attention to what stands out to them instead of helping others that are struggling and that do not have the advantage of cheating, which is not good. It’s most likely for the student that do not cheat to be successful than the student that do. Yes, students that cheat will move forward but they would not have the same knowledge.

Internet addiction is a big issue, therefore, the access to it has to be limited to students. The cause is because of a lack of creativity and thinking, they become more antisocial and it’s an easier way of cheating. Nobody really realizes until it’s thought about and proven.

An immediate effect would be failing the class. Cheating on a college exam is considered a serious offense by any serious educational institution. Depending on the seriousness of the situation, each instructor takes any necessary measures they deem appropriate. The instructor has to follow the College’s policy. Frequently, what usually happens is that the student receives an ‘F’ as the final grade for the class. The ‘F’ representing failing the class. Students who get used to cheating do not develop valuable skills. In fact, it becomes a habit. Toward hiding their deficiencies and ruin their chances of success in various areas of life. Because of that, some Colleges impose harsh academic penalties like suspension or expulsion.

On the other hand, harsh sanctions like suspension or expulsion can occur when a student cheats on a college exam. For instance, in Broward Community college, dishonesty; cheating penalties may include BCC Suspension and BCC expulsion. According to their “Students Rights and Responsibilities” catalog, when a BCC suspension occurs, the student is separated from BCC for a definite period of time. On the contrary, when a BCC expulsion occurs, it becomes a permanent separation. Passing an exam by cheating on an exam turns out to be a disappointment for the student, but it will also be a disappointment for the teacher, parents, and others who have trusted him/her. Although those disciplinary sanctions will not be part of the student’s permanent academic record, it will be part of the student’s confidential record. Thus, it will have a negative effect on the student’s future.

However, not minding if the student is not discovered, or although the danger of being discovered is minimal, the lack of honesty has other long-term consequences. No one would like to go through surgery by a Doctor who was cheating on exams throughout his career. Among other things, a Broward student who cheated on an exam was asked if that helped in a way, and he replied: “I passed the exam, but I did not learn anything from it.’ When students go to college, they are constructing the person they are going to be later in life. Hence, when they are caught cheating the overall effect will be harming one’s future. Regardless of failing the class, or even getting spelled from the school. If somebody graduates using cheating as a tool and then getting a job, what will that person do when they test their skills?

In conclusion, procrastination will always be an irrational and unjustified delay, only bringing negative consequences. Having procrastinated studying will take the student to cheat on exams. Causing overall effects like failing the class, and getting suspended or in some cases, expulsion. Resulting in harming one’s future by not having learned anything positive. As well as adopting inadequate habits. In consequence, when the time comes to a student demonstrate the skills he or she has been taught, they will not know how to demonstrate them. Therefore, if an individual cheats on a college exam, he or she will be the one getting their future affect it.

Nowadays, electronic device has gone widely into the modern college and helped students with their school life. However, these devices also have their negative aspects and affect some students with their studying, including: students’ distraction in class, cheating during class by using mobile devices and the most serious problem, it allows cyber bullying. Therefore, mobile phone should be banned from all Australia school.

Mobile phones can transform from learning tools to classroom interference. During the class students always go on their mobile phone to check their social media or text to their friends. This can easily distract the students and their friends.

Mobile phone distraction in classrooms is also proved by a 2017 study published in the journal Educational Psychology. In that study, students are allowed to use mobile devices, including mobile phones. However, as a result using the devices in class affected the students’ learning methods and their environment, and their subsequent unit and final exam scores hugely that most of their results have going down by 6%.

When you were in school, cheating can be looking at a neighbour’s paper or copying a friend’s homework. Cheating has been the most popular way to pass your homework. Technology makes cheating all too common and too easy.

A study by the Pew Research Center shows that up to 35% of teens admit using smartphones to cheat homework or exams. 65% of the same students surveyed also said they had seen other people cheat on their phones at school.

People can treat or intimidate students through their mobile phones at anywhere and anytime. This includes sending mean messages, emails or phone call someone to threaten them.

Jonny’s three teammate texts to him, saying that is his fault for the team’s loss and telling him he doesn’t have any skills and should quit playing hockey. Johnny is afraid to tell his coach and parents so tolerates the bullying for the entire hockey season. He does not return to hockey the next season.

About 37% of young people between the ages of 12 and 17 have been bullied online. 30% have had it happen more than once.

Also, 23% of students reported that they’ve said or done something mean or cruel to another person online. 27% reported that they’ve experienced the same from someone else

Conclusion: mobile phone is absolutely harmful to the kids’ society, thus we should ban the mobile until kids have the ability to distinguish the positive and negative aspects of online information.

According to the website, collegeexpress.com, they have collected data about students saying, “I want to get the grade, not the education”. The website replies to this common thought saying that even though the pressure of the school grading system can be stressful, and that pressure can lead up the thought of cheating, there is still a way to ace the test without relying on cheating. That way is to read to know more about the things that will be on the upcoming test. Another common thing that students say is “If I cheat, I’m only affecting myself”. The article states, “By cheating and getting a good grade you didn’t actually earn, you can also hurt the curve for the entire class and make the students who are struggling with the material believe there is something wrong with them for not understanding.” More evidence to prove why cheating is a bad thing comes from the website, csusm.edu. They write an article which states, “The Cheater cheats himself of an education. His actions imply that he either does not understand what a quality education is or does not care about getting one…” The things that are taught at school are very important, and they are right that you lose the education that was given by cheating and ignoring all the studies used for the exam.

Also, huge consequences involving cheating are given throughout high school, and even college. collegeexpress.com explains that in high school, “You could get an automatic failure for an assignment, or the whole course, you can be expelled or punished in many ways, your loved ones, including friends and family, as well as educators, could lose respect for you, and you could get that on your permanent record.” Adding forward, in college, “You could be suspended or expelled, you could lose your scholarship(s) or, again, not get any in the first place, you could face copyright infringement troubles. That’s right. You could be sued for cheating on a paper.” These also describe more reasons why you wouldn’t want to cheat on tests and/or assignments like homework.

Cheating, overall is a bad thing for you and others around you. You lose so much, just for a grade or trying to pass by something and choosing not to face it. It is proven by so many that cheating the wrong way to deal with stressful tests. To prevent violations like this in the future, I recommend first, that students who have or haven’t cheated, read essays or articles about why cheating is bad. This will help them to see that there is another way to pass their tests and exams instead of resorting to methods like this. For teachers, there should be showings of what happens to students who cheat and why it is bad, to their students. Doing both of these things will result in less, and hopefully no people that will think they have to cheat to get through.

The most common type of cheating is talking to people while the exam is happening. This type of “collaboration” isn’t a good time to do it, because each test is individual and shows what an individual person needs to work on/what they did good on the test. Although, sometimes collaborating can be beneficial and good to the student, such as when working on a group project, or helping each other on the homework when it is allowed. In conclusion, students should know that it is not a good thing to cheat, and that they should take in the time and effort to earn their desired grade.

Cheating has always been a phenomenal issue, both in the academic setting and in romantic relationships, it is undeniable that it questions one’s loyalty, and thus wears off the safety pin of trust. In this study, cheating can also be referred to as infidelity. Infidelity has been defined as “a violation of a couple’s assumed or stated contract regarding emotional and/or sexual exclusivity.” The act of infidelity (secret romantic activity) with a person other than your significant partner and the violation of relationship exclusivity (i.e. marriage, dating relationship) has been found to have caused deep pain, loss of trust, and uncertainty to the cheated partner. Beltrán-Morillas, Valor-Segura, and Expósito (2019) cited that one of the most unforgivable betrayals in a relationship is the act of infidelity, as it threatens the stability of a relationship and given the high expectation that your partner will remain faithful and loyal to your relationship contributes to reasons why it is indeed an unforgivable act. Ong, Poon, Sibya, and Macapagal (2014) provided three types of infidelity in their study: sexual, emotional or combined. Sexual infidelity is the result of sexual activity done outside the primary relationship. This type of infidelity is also called as physical infidelity, and usually it includes petting, erotic kissing, and sexual intercourse. Emotional infidelity, according to Ong et. al. (2014) does not include any physical intimacy. Intimacy is explained as “generated from forming a deep emotional attachment to someone other than the relationship partner.” Emotional infidelity includes flirting, dating, or spending excessive time with someone outside the committed relationship as it formed an intimate, romantic bond between two people. Finally, combined infidelity includes both sexual (physical) and emotional and said to be the most threatening type to a relationship. Based on the given brief explanations of three types of infidelity, the present study assumes that emotional infidelity is closely related to micro-cheating. Thus, emotional infidelity is used as the main anchor to micro-cheating.

Several studies have been carried on to study emotional infidelity in a relationship. Every research has a different lens on how they view emotional infidelity. However, it is a topic that can always be replicated and not a recent issue in the field of study. Thus, a concept called micro-cheating has recently emerged but has yet to be studied empirically. Micro-cheating still has a limited range of definitions. It is said to be similar to emotional infidelity though experts debunk the idea. Therefore, the area of interest is identifying the nature of micro-cheating according to the perception of college students at the University of Baguio about the concept.

Micro-cheating is an emerging concept that has been an offshoot of the concepts of cheating and infidelity. Emotional infidelity has been defined as falling in love with, sharing emotional intimacy, or spending quality time with someone outside of the committed or primary relationship. There seems to be an assumption that emotional infidelity is defined as being “in love” only. This leaves little room for inclusion of other behaviors, thoughts, or actions that may be considered more emotionally-based infidelity. For example, flirtatious behaviors via technology or in person among coworkers who are in separate, committed relationships would not be considered emotional infidelity unless it was determined that they are “in love” with one another. It is said that flirtatious behavior towards people outside your relationship cannot be considered as an emotional infidelity, unless you feel the fondness of being in love. Therefore, it differs from what the concept of micro-cheating has been. In the study of Morrissey, flirtatious behavior in person or over the technology cannot be considered as an emotional infidelity unless they have the feeling of being “in love.” Its difference with the researcher’s study is that, hypothetically, micro-cheating doesn’t need the feeling of being “in love” to show trivial acts of affection towards another person.

In a study by Cole (2001), three possible explanations underlying the use of deception in romantic relationships were tested. It was expected that deception would be related to the reciprocal exchange of information, the desire to avoid punishment, and individuals’ attachment beliefs. The result of using deception in a romantic relationship shows negative outcome to oneself but it has a modest positive impact on a partner, unless of course it is detected. Since micro cheating is a subtle gesture used by an individual in a relationship, Cole provides an insight of how easily an individual can be deceived and it is mentioned that individuals desired to avoid punishment, that is why they use deception as a method when they did something wrong. Therefore, this can also help the researchers understand why micro-cheating is a vague term in a relationship because it is said that people also often choose to use deception just to avoid punishment. That act alone proves that sometimes cheating is hard to detect, that is why people still engage in such activities even though they know with their own self that it is wrong.

Within a work setting, it might be considered appropriate to form a strong connection with a colleague whom you work closely with. Another area discussed in research is when a “boundary has been crossed” that goes beyond a friendship. The researchers will use the population of college students, therefore, emotional infidelity can be developed in a workplace as well as developing emotional affection in a school setting. Even college students could grow an affection towards one another since college students complete their projects with different people.

In the journal article of men and women showing distinct brain activations of imagery of sexual and emotional infidelity and in the section of its methods, the researcher shows the meaning of emotional infidelity as a condition indicating diversion of partner’s emotional commitment to another partner outside the committed relationship. The brain works differently according to the study, as it mentions that emotional infidelity sentences along with physical/sexual infidelity sentences, the result was that the brain gives people more signals of brainwave activity when they talk about physical/sexual infidelity. Hence, the study dictates that emotional infidelity has less effect on the brain compared to physical/sexual infidelity. Examples of emotional sentences from the thesis; wrote a love letter to another man, had dinner with another man on my birthday, supplied another man with all the money she had saved, telephones her ex-boyfriend every day, always talks with delight about her ex-boyfriend in front of me, emails to her ex-boyfriend every night, gave gorgeous birthday present to her ex-boyfriend, and meets another man more frequently than me. According to Takahashi (2006), all the aforementioned statements were not incorporated with physical cheating but only on the aspect of emotional cheating. In the advantage of the researchers, in the further discussion of the study in the perception of micro-cheating and its boundaries on emotional infidelity, the researchers may use the said sentences in identifying the difference of emotional infidelity and micro-cheating respectively.

To further understand the concept of micro-cheating, the researchers intend to look into its nature through the lens of sex difference. In general, most individuals perceived infidelity as unacceptable regardless of its types, whether it is physical or emotional. However, male and females perceive infidelity differently. Schonian (2013) cited that men tend to react strongly to physical infidelity such as sexual behavior while women are more on the emotional aspect of infidelity. Thornton and Nagurney (2011) added that even though there was no physical contact in the act, women still react strongly to emotional infidelity. There is a higher tendency that women will also react strongly to micro-cheating behaviors as it is closely related to emotional infidelity.

Micro-cheating first emerged in 2004, however, it only reached the public consciousness in 2018 when an article written by Thought Catalog, a digital youth culture magazine, went viral. Melanie Schilling, a dating expert, described micro-cheating as a series of trivial behaviors that suggest a person is committed emotionally or physically to someone outside their relationship. Schilling included emotional and physical aspects of committing micro-cheating. However, it was not specified what kind of trivial behaviors a person does when they micro-cheat. On the contrary, Ty Tashiro, a psychologist and an author, defined micro-cheating as small actions of emotional infidelity and does not involve physical contact. Dr Martin Graff of the University of South Wales, who conducted a study on micro-cheating that is currently under review in the Journal of Personal and Social Relationships explained micro-cheating, he said that it is the “grey area which falls between flirting and unfaithful behaviour”, which means micro-cheating is either flirting or infidelity which proves that the concept of micro-cheating is still vague. The three definitions given by Schilling, Tashiro, and Graff have differences however they have a common denominator, they all said that micro-cheating happens on the online platform, such as reacting to other people’s pictures on social media, which raises the question regarding its context and why it is considered as an act of micro-cheating. Lusinski (2018) claimed that micro-cheating is purely behavior based, it means that sneaking or trivial behaviors like touching someone that may indicate romance is an act of micro-cheating. In contrast to what Lusinski claimed, Graff said that micro-cheating is about context and intention.

On the other hand, Tashiro concludes that micro-cheating and emotional infidelity are the same thing but according to Dr. Fran Walfish, a psychotherapist and an author, there are certain signs to conclude that micro-cheating and emotional infidelity has disparity. These signs include: they completely fill your mind; you modify your routine to see them frequently; you always contact them; and your feelings for them deepen and intensify. The signs stated by Walfish are still not quantifiable, that’s why there are still no established boundaries between the two concepts, in addition to the fact that micro-cheating is still an unknown concept in the field of study.

Postmodern lens. It is a philosophical tradition that challenges the assumptions of modernism. Schonian argue that we can look at infidelity from varied points of view and in doing so, we can characterize infidelity in different ways as well . From a postmodern lens, perception of micro-cheating is entirely subjective, unlike the claims of modernists where it is an objective reality. Although certain variables, like differences in cultural background, may influence the perception of an individual regarding micro-cheating, it can also provide insights on a different aspect.

Triangular Theory of Love. The triangular theory of love holds that love can be understood in terms of three components that together can be viewed as forming the vertices of a triangle. Intimacy refers to feelings of closeness, connectedness, and bondedness, Passion refers to the drives that lead to romance, physical attraction, sexual consummation, and related phenomena, and Decision/commitment refers, in the short-term, to the decision that one loves a certain other, and in the long-term, to one’s commitment to maintain that love. The researchers can use this theory to support the study by understanding that cheating can occur when one component in the triangular theory of love is absent. Such form of love is called fatuous love, which is from the combination of passion and decision/commitment components and in the absence of the intimacy component. This means there is a great desire to be together and the couple is committed to maintain the relationship, however, the level of intimacy can be considered non-existent. Therefore, it will fit the narrative of emotional infidelity since it focuses on passion and commitment and it is done via trivial acts of flirtatious behavior without the form of physical intimacy. This theory can help the researchers in looking into the nature of micro-cheating.

Attachment Theory. The attachment theory by John Bowlby (1950) tackles how a child seeks for support and sense of security towards its primary caregivers, which also shapes individuals’ experiences later on in life.The researchers find this theory vital and relevant to the study for it showcases how attachments affects an individual’s perspective about their own relationship with other people, that can often lead to micro-cheating behavior, taking into consideration the four adult attachment styles namely: anxious preoccupied, dismissive, avoidant, fearful avoidant, and secure.

Evolutionary Psychology. It states that men are less discriminating in choosing a partner . Men tend to engage in short-term mating behavior as it will be more effective in passing on genes. While women, on the other hand, are more involved in long-term mating behavior where they find someone who will take care of their family. This framework strengthens the hypothesis that sex indeed influences the perception regarding micro-cheating.

Being in a vast society that implores gradual change towards modernization and advances in technology, a great deal of challenges has been imposed. Just as how easy an information can be disseminated and acquired, so as deceitful acts and cheating behaviors. The emerging concept of micro-cheating has been controversially apprehended, with the fact that infidelity has been an inflicting issue towards couples.

The conduct of this study provides descriptive elucidation of information about the emerging concept of micro-cheating and how most individuals in a certain relationship retaliate to it. With this study, the college students of University of Baguio, particularly the STELA students, will be given the chance to evaluate their thoughts on micro-cheating behaviors, and to mitigate its impact on emotional and mental health.

The study on micro-cheating can be considered a newly born concept on the consciousness of research. Considering this fact, the researchers intended to approach the concept using the qualitative perspective. This design was intended to indepthly interpret datas, that were derived from semi-structured interviews, observing participants, and to further describe concepts of micro-cheating. It also showcases strengths towards explaining and transcribing the participants perception towards micro-cheating.

The study aims to select research participants through the use of simple random sampling. The eight respondents which compose of four males and four females will be selected by considering several criteria such as:college students enrolled in the University of Baguio, particularly from the School of Teacher Education and Liberal Arts, during the School Year 2020-2021, and who are currently in a romantic relationship for at least six months. In order to get relevant and supported data exclusion criteria were established, such as: participants with ages ranging 18 and below.

The researchers will be using semi-structured interviews to collect data from the participants. A series of questions which consist of 5-five to 10 questions will serve as the data collection method for this study. The series of questions will range from general to specific. The study attempts to question the perception of college students about infidelity in general and moving forward to questions about the perception of micro-cheating and what actions count as micro-cheating.

Some steps will be undertaken by the researchers to gather relevant data for the study that includes: the formulation and approval of structured interview questions, that will aid in the conduct of the interviews. The interviews will be done using electronic platforms, such as video call conferencing (e.g., Zoom or Google Meet) or through the participants emails given the circumstances and the current situation that we are currently in, which pertains to the global pandemic that requires strict obedience to the set health protocols by the authorities.

To fully analyze and interpret the data, the researchers intend to use thematic analysis in apprehending the data that has been gathered. With this method participants’ responses on the interview will be evaluated by conceptualizing themes which according to Braun and Clarke (2019) were a central organizing concept. These concepts were considered to be consistent and show considerable sense of pattern, taking into account the details that were neither explicitly stated nor neglected.

To ensure the study’s high morale standard and that its sole purpose was to contribute to the field of research objectively, some ethical practices will be considered. Informed consent will be given to the participants before the data collection, via electronic form, through emails, and Google Form. Participants will be informed about the process of their participation in the study. They will also be told that they can withdraw or decide not to participate in the study and that there will be no underlying penalties and it will not be taken against them. All information that will be consolidated during the conduct of the study will be kept in utmost confidentiality, and will only be used for academic purposes. If the consent will be sought prior to recording the interviews. Only the researchers will have access to the given data and stored in a safe file drive with password-protected file so that the confidentiality of the paper is secured.

This paper outlines the definitions of cheating, the types of cheating which occur in everyday life, and discusses whether or not cheating is bad. In this paper I take the stance that the act of cheating is always bad. I try to figure out why cheating is bad and understand if there are times where cheating can be justified.

The act of cheating is to be dishonest and unfair, in order to gain advantage over something or someone. This advantage is gained through deception, lies, the breaking of a promise or rule, and an element of secrecy. People who engage in cheating regularly, are usually private about how they have achieved their accomplishments due to the acknowledgement that they have engaged in wrongful behaviour. Cheating is apparent/present in many aspects of life and can take many forms. This includes cheating in sports, cheating in relationships, cheating in education, and cheating in business.

If A intentionally fills out his company’s yearly returns incorrectly in order to lower his tax burden, and the government take these manipulated figures to be correct, A has cheated the government.

As there are many different types of cheating, we first must figure out certain conditions in which an act must include in order to be classified as cheating as opposed to deception or fraud. It seems that the necessary conditions required to constitute cheating:

• The intention to deceive
• The breaking of a promise or a rule
• An element of secrecy

In this case, A has cheated if A breaks a promise to S with intentions of secrecy and deception. The difference with this example as opposed to deception alone is that cheating involves the breaking of a promise, whereas deception involves lying in order to convince others into believing something that is not true. In order to be classified as cheating, an event or act must contain all three of these elements.

One may object by questioning if secrecy is required for cheating to occur and may come up with the example of a student in a class, who has copied from another student in a test. If all the classmates are aware of the copying, has the copying student cheated? This example seems to lack the necessary element of secrecy, and therefore could be argued that this example does not constitute cheating. This however still contains secrecy, as while the classmates were aware of the happenings, the cheating student did not intend for this to occur. Also, all parties involved, teacher and supervisors included, were not fully aware of these happenings, as had they been, they would have undoubtedly stopped it, and so this copying still fulfils the necessary conditions for cheating.

Another objection may be one which seems to lack deception!

Now we must decide if cheating is bad. It seems that most of our examples up to this point would lead to the opinion that it undoubtedly is. I argue that the bad in cheating stems from the bad in deception, and the bad in the breaking of a promise or a rule. This is not an uncommon view, as cheating is often seen as simply another strain of deception.

Deception is bad because it prevents the person being deceived, from making the decisions they would have made, had they not been deceived or lied to, and known all the correct information. It impairs people’s judgements as their circumstances have been skewed by the deceiver.

The breaking of a promise is bad as it damages people’s trust. The breaking of a rule is bad as it goes against the social standards set, and agreed on, by a community or society. Breaking of a rule defies the normalities which are in place to promote equality and to protect those involved. Therefore, breaking of rules is bad as it has potential to lead to harm and inequality.

As cheating involves both the breaking of a rule or promise and deception, we conclude that cheating, too, is bad. I cannot say that any one form of cheating is worse than the other forms, as I believe each causes harm and results in another party being placed in an undesirable position, but some may argue that some forms are worse than others dues to the scale of the negative results produced, for example, a classroom cheating example has small overall results as compared to a large company with false returns.

Then there is the question of if cheating is always bad. Can we ever justify cheating? Let us look at the example of cheating which does not seem as bad.

If A’s partner is abusive and A has tried many times to end the relationship without success, so A secretly resorts to unfaithfulness, is A’s cheating bad? Is A’s cheating justified?

In this case, it seems that A had good reasons to cheat. This however does not mean that the cheating itself was not bad. A’s cheating, while still bad, is justified, as A is forced into cheating as a last resort to try overcome or at least minimise the effects of a greater wrong. This is a rare case where cheating can be viewed as morally permissible, as it involves a small wrongdoing in order to minimise the effects of a larger harm. In order for this to be permissible, one must weigh up the wrong from cheating and the other activity, and the other activity’s wrong must outweigh the wrong in cheating.

If we hold these opinions to be correct, then cheating can be seen as a form of harm. According to the counterfactual view of harm “S is harmed by A if and only if S is made worse off by A than S would have otherwise been had A not occurred” (PowerPoint lecture slides 6). In relation to cheating, the victim of cheating is placed in a worse position than he/she would be in had the cheating not occurred,

At many colleges, being accused of any types of academic dishonesty is a common issue which affects the future of students. Thus, it becomes an educational concern, so in order to eliminate this behavior of the ethical code. Colleges draw up serious policies towards students who, for example, cheat during the exams and sometimes harsh actions against them such as their expulsion from college. First, a lot of students think that cheating is the easiest way to get good marks without making the least effort. This turns to be a very bad attitude so, they become lazy and inactive. in fact, they lose the learning motivation. Moreover, when they get used to cheating, the students become irresponsible, just relying on any other way to pass an exam but not hard working. During the exam, they are begging answers just like begging money from others freely saying “I cannot earn, I cannot do it myself, please, give me money, give me answers” Second, cheating is always wrong because it is dishonest and unfair to those who do not cheat. Cheaters get to make good grades without any work.

When a few students start cheating, then other students feel that they are being cheated out of a grade that they earned and begin cheating to compensate and even the score. Then, how it comes the teachers evaluate all the students in the same way when the students don’t use the same tools. Some of them just rely on their potential as a fruit of hard work and others who don’t make the least efforts.

Those latter sometimes get better grades than the fair ones. It is unfair. Third, one long-term effect of cheating is that you don’t have access to knowledge you never learned in the first place. For example, let’s say you cheat on a structural engineering exam. A few years later, while working as an engineer on building a new pediatric hospital, you need to call upon certain skills that were covered on the exam on which you cheated. Moreover, *’Collapsing any nation does not require use of atomic bombs or the use of long-range missiles. It only requires lowering the quality of education and allowing cheating in the examinations by the students’. A University professor wrote an expressive message to his students, at the entrance in a university in South Africa. The patient dies in the hands of the doctor who passed his exams through cheating, and the buildings collapse in the hands of an engineer who passed his exams through cheating, and the money is lost in the hands of an accountant who passed his exams through cheating. Although many people think that students must be expelled from college if ever committed of cheating, many others think that is not the right way to deal with this issue. For instance, students after being expelled, feel disappointed, as far as their expulsion reveals their weakness which results in losing their confidence, trust, and their creativeness.

Consequently, students` enthusiasm of being educated and graduated will be destroyed, and it will create feelings of anger and hate education. Thus, expulsion omits their challenge of learning and robs them from their opportunities to be competent. So, to avoid all of this, students must be aware of this big problem; they must work harder and never be committed in those affairs. More importantly, going to college is a chance to develop independence and personal skills.

Obviously, education is the key of success in life. In other words, knowledge means power that brings greater responsibilities. That`s why college enhances knowledge with skills to prepare students for their professional goals. To conclude, Students whether they should be expelled from college or not because of cheating remains of a big debate simply because expulsion policy has as many advantages as drawbacks.