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Explanation of how cheating in homework or on tests does not pay - Tricks for Good Grades - Strategies to Succeed in School. Also refer to parents, pressure, expectation, lazy, copy, plagiarize, consequences, moral, honesty, self-esteem, confidence, self- respect, education, Ron Kurtus, School for Champions. Copyright © Restrictions

Cheating to Get a Better Grade

by Ron Kurtus (revised 14 February 2006)

You can get better grades by cheating. But is it worth it? You may be under pressure to get good grades in school that causes you to consider cheating on your homework and tests. If you cheat but are lucky enough not to get caught, you may possible get the good grades you seek. But getting caught cheating may also result in being expelled. Plus there are the long-term consequences of not learning and moral decline. It is a decision you must make.

Questions you may have include:

What type of pressure is there to cheat?
What are the benefits and consequences from cheating?
What should you do?

This lesson will answer those questions. There is a mini-quiz near the end of the lesson.

Pressure to cheat

Parents often pressure their children to get good grades. If their boy or girl doesn't reach a certain level of expectation, the parents may reprimand, punish or ground the student. So the kids may have to cheat to reach their parents' expectations.

Sometimes students will neglect in doing their homework or study for a test. Sometimes they are too busy or forgot to do the work. But more often it is because the students just didn't feel like doing the work. So to avoid doing the work involved and to not let anyone know they goofed off, they will copy someone else's homework or test answers.

Pros and cons of cheating

You may be able to get good grades through cheating, but also you may get caught.

Benefits of cheating

A person who copies the work of others, whether it is plagiarizing material from books or the Internet, or it is copying the homework of another student, ends up not having to work very hard for a passing or even good grade. It is like getting something for nothing.

In fact, in some colleges, there are people who sell homework and test answers. They make money and the student gets a good grade with little work. Everyone is happy.

Consequences of cheating

Getting caught cheating on a test or copying someone else's material for homework can result in a lowered grade and even expulsion from school. If you don't get caught, there is still the problem that you haven't learned the material. That ignorance may come to haunt you down the road, when you are required to apply what you've learned.

In either case, there is also the moral stigma that you subconsciously hold inside of you that you didn't deserve the grade you got and that you are a cheater. Such a person may go far in life, but he or she will never be a champion.

Dumb cheater

There is a story about how Johnny didn't study for his math test, but he sat right next to Mary, who was the smartest kid in class. He decided to use a mirror so he could see her paper and copy her answers. Unfortunately, he copied all the answers backwards. She got a 94 on the test, but he only got a 49. (The grade was backwards too!)

Cheating mother

A high school teacher I know said he received a term paper from a student that had obviously been copied word-for-word from a book with which he was familiar. After he failed the student, her mother called the teacher and demanded he give her daughter a top grade, so she could go on to a good college. The mother saw nothing wrong with cheating, as long as her daughter got top grades.

Hopefully, you don't have a mother like that.

What should you do?

Suppose your parents would like you to get good grades in a class, but you just don't understand the material or maybe you had missed some assignments and weren't ready for the final exam. Also, suppose you had an opportunity to get the answers to the test ahead of time. Should you cheat?

This is a dilemma. On one hand, if you just take the test and try to do your best, you may fail or get a poor grade. But on the other hand, if you cheat, you can be pretty sure you will pass with a good grade. And the chances of getting caught are slim.

The best bet is to take the test and do as well as you can. If you don't pass or get a good grade, so be it. You can't make believe you are what you aren't. And besides, even if you get away with cheating once, it just isn't worth the risk.

Summary

Students may be pressured by their parents to get good grades, or they may be too lazy to do the work, so they cheat on homework or tests. Although they gain in the short-term with good grades, in the end they lose out. If they're caught, they may get kicked out of school. If they don't get caught, they may end up lacking knowledge and morally bankrupt.

Call to action

Although you may be pressured by your parents to get good grades, you should not cheat on homework or tests. If you claim to be too lazy to do the work or are looking for an easy way out, cheating is not the solution. You may gain in the short-term with good grades, but in the end you will lose out. If you are caught cheating, you may be punished and perhaps kicked out of school. At the very least, you will be stigmatized as someone that can't be trusted. If you don't get caught, you will probably end up lacking needed knowledge and skill. You might also become morally bankrupt. Don't cheat!

Realize that you have the potential to get good grades without cheating.

Answers to Readers' Questions

Be proud of the work you do