Every year, kids in school cheat on tests. One sophomore I interviewed admitted, “I’ve cheated before, it’s no big deal.” But it is a big deal: according to a poll conducted by Who’s Among American High School Students, around 95% of school students have cheated on a test, quiz, or homework during the course of their high school education.
Recently at Great Neck North High School on Long Island, administrators discovered that many students were paying others to cheat on their SATs for them. According CBS, most students at the school knew of at least one college student who offered their test-taking expertise for money. According to a junior at the school, students paid a dollar a point, and were guaranteed a score of 2100.
To cheat on the SATs, these students who were paid to get through a photo ID check, handwriting sample, and an admission ticket. The students’ fake SAT scores were cancelled and the colleges they applied for were notified.
Cheating on a state test is a big offense, but there are also other kinds of cheating going on in school. Copying homework from another student or the Internet is plagiarism and a federal offense. For the most part, most teens feel the same way a sophomore I interviewed feels. “I’m not really worried about the consequences. Everybody cheats.”
Because of the pressure to get good grades and get into a good college, along with sports and homework, some students take the easy way out and save time by cheating. An anonymous WHB student admitted, “School and homework are really stressful, and cheating just eases that stress.”
Overall cheating is obviously wrong and can lead to something more serious than a detention. Think about this the next time you want to look at somebody else’s paper! Cheaters never win, and winners never cheat!