Don’t copy it’s cheating

Don’t copy it’s cheating

Cheating and copying are quite frequent at schools. Despite all of the teachers’ efforts, students use various methods to cheat and it’s difficult to root out.

Have you ever asked yourself why that is? Is our approach to the issue perhaps inadequate? If we supervise, forbid or punish it and fail to raise the awareness of students on the reasons for why cheating is wrong, are we really changing their minds about it?

Cheating is often thought of as wrong because it breaks certain rules and because teachers tend to take it personally. But in order for students to understand why cheating is wrong, they should know and understand the reasons that make it wrong.

You should explain to them that:

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  Copying and cheating in tests is very similar to lying. Regardless of whether they are copying from someone else or the Internet, the student is claiming that something is their original work even though it’s not.
  
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  Assuming the work of someone else is equivalent to stealing. When they copy from someone, students steal someone else’s words and work and pass it off as their own.
  
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  Cheating and copying in tests is not the right thing to do. It’s not right by the students who actually studied or by the teacher.
  
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  Those who copy and cheat are just masking their lack of knowledge. By hiding their insufficient knowledge, students are just lowering their chances for success in different fields.
  
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  A student who cheats or copies shows that they don’t understand the fact that education is so much more than just memorising facts and solving problems, because it is also there to help us learn about ourselves and find our place in society so that we can be happy and successful.
  
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  Students who copy or cheat devalue their diploma. When you know that students receive high marks by copying or cheating at a school or faculty, the diploma awarded by that institution becomes less valuable on the job market and in society compared to diplomas awarded by institutions where a mark is an objective estimate of the student’s knowledge and effort.
  
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