Rampant Cheating
Widespread Academic Dishonesty
By Daniel Muniz

Has cheating on assignments and on tests become an accepted norm of our education system?

One annual survey from the “Who's Who Among American High School Students” revealed that 80 percent of their highly ranked high school students admitted to cheating while they were in school. In fact, 95 percent of these cheaters even admitted to never being caught. With such overwhelming success, perhaps it shouldn’t be of any surprise to why so many students cheat if the chances of being caught are practically non-existent.

Or maybe it is also because there are no serious consequences involved with cheating.

One sensational event that grabbed national headlines years ago was in Piper Kansas. Biology teacher Christine Pelton accused 28 students of plagiarizing reports. Although the penalties for cheating were harsh, the school board requested that Pelton trim down the punishment for all of her students. One parent even had the audacity to defend her daughter’s plagiarized report by claiming that her child was unaware of how much she had to “rewrite” the research material that she downloaded from the Internet.

Pelton was outraged and disgusted by the lax attitudes from parents, school officials, and from the local community so she ultimately resigned.

But this educator’s situation is not isolated.

In fact, lots of teachers are often furious and appalled at how spineless their administrators are when it comes to academic dishonesty.

For instance, the punishment meted out amounts to nothing more than a slap on the wrist such as in-school suspension for only that teacher’s class. Oftentimes, the consequences are nowhere the gravity of the offense so many students feel that the punishment is not any kind of deterrence so they keep cheating. And if the kid is part of a “gifted and talented” program, then administrators are prone to being even more lenient since they are often reluctant to punish their cream of the crop.

Additionally, some teachers would rather not do anything at all and it has nothing to do with laziness.

Pathetic administrators who have no backbone do not have the courage to stand behind a teacher when it involves academic dishonesty. In fact, they often see it as the educator’s fault that a student was cheating. The favorite excuse that many principals use is to claim that the teacher is not in control of his or her classroom, thus it is the teacher who should be blamed for the cheating. Sadly, administrators do not have the stomach to face the onslaught of irate parents, especially if a lawyer is in tow.

As a result, a principal doesn’t want to be involved in anything that rocks the boat even if it means watering down the quality of an education. Accordingly, they become more upset at the educator instead of at the offending student. This perverse attitude has forced many teachers to adjust their discipline. It is unfortunate, but certain educators feel that they are completely alone so they would rather look the other way.

Sometimes, a parent doesn’t want to deal directly with a teacher or even with the principal. Some parents go directly to the superintendent of the school district or to the school board to air out their grievances. These confrontational parents feel that they can get better results if they circumvent the administration of their child’s school.

If the superintendent or the school board caves in, then the principal and the teacher may have no other choice but to acquiesce, much like what happened in Piper Kansas. In Piper, the cheating incident should never have been escalated to the school board. It should have been handled solely by the teacher and the principal but parents already know how to beat the system by applying pressure on the right people.

It is outrageous that teachers do not have the backing of their educational leadership when it comes to cheating.

If educators cannot trust their administrators or the upper echelon of their leadership, then they are unable to maintain effective control of their classrooms because of any backlash they might face. Consequently, a generation of students has learned all about this perverse atmosphere and they are effectively exploiting it. And worse, these cheating students have the full support of their parents which makes the dilemma more difficult to handle.

It is time for our education system across the country to enforce the rules prohibiting academic dishonesty. If our society values a quality education, then it cannot tolerate cheating.

Furthermore, parents should not tolerate it either even if it means severe consequences for their offspring. Parents are part of this cycle of bad behavior when they defend their child’s misconduct. Part of the maturation process is to take responsibility for your actions and too many parents have failed in that department.

However, it is also incumbent for our education system to stand up to these irresponsible parents, even when they have a lawyer in tow. Rules are rules and they have to be upheld if our children are going to receive a quality education. Society also has to stand behind our school system especially when they mete out punishment that is unpleasant.

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