In today’s fast-paced society, students are pressured to be the best so they can be prepared for college or a career.  Students are so concerned with receiving a good grade it does not matter how they achieve it, causing a major educational problem: cheating.

Students may cheat for many reasons.  But it does not matter if a student is overscheduled or afraid of disappointing his parents, students caught cheating can be punished very severely. The Lake Zurich High School handbook states “Cheating on classroom tests and/or possession of unauthorized tests or materials will be considered serious violations and are grounds for failure of a semester course or a full year course.”

“I think time pressures kids if they’re involved in a lot of activities,” Justine Repplinger, teacher, said.  “The most common kind of cheating is the kind kids don’t think is cheating, and that is copying people’s homework. I don’t know if kids even view that as cheating anymore, but it is.”

About 75% of high school students confess to some sort of academic cheating, according to The Educational Testing Service/Ad Council Campaign to Discourage Academic Cheating. The excuses for cheating may vary from staying eligible for sports to wanting to keep that B in the class.

“I think some [students cheat] because…they don’t want to fail,” Brianna Guadiana, junior, said.  “If they fail, their grades are going to be bad, and then they probably can’t play a sport or anything.”

The cheating, especially plagiarism, doesn’t stop with high school though; it continues into college and even into careers if people lie on job resumes.

“I think [plagiarism] is a problem at every age, even for adults sometimes because the internet makes it easy,” Repplinger said.  “I think more and more people are paying other people to write their papers or going to online services where papers are already written, especially in higher education like universities and colleges.”

The Internet has made cheating on assignments like essays and reports very easy.  With a simple cut and paste, it is possible to take someone else’s work and use it.

“With the internet, it’s very simple to find websites or essays that students have used for their own work, so we always talk about that [in class],” Dawn Kozlicki, English teacher, said.  “I try to perfect those scenarios by always talking about plagiarism at the start of the school year…. I teach them how to cite to avoid plagiarism… so they’re never stuck in that situation.”

There is always the temptation to cheat on tests and homework, but the consequences, academically and socially, are tough. 

“It’s the old saying, you’re really only cheating yourself. You’re not going to pass the test if you don’t do the practice,” Repplinger said.  “You also lose respect from your teachers. You may not think you lose respect from your friends, but if you’re always copying somebody’s homework, chances are they’re starting to get angry… so you’re losing that chance for a true friendship.”