Fail with honour than win by cheating

Latwell Nyangu Youth Interactive Writer

Academic cheating is not a new phenomenon and many students have survived unscathed.

Although we may prefer to fail with honour than win by cheating, it remains a mystery on how some of us have succeeded.

Cheating in college is so commonplace that students often do it without realising and the dialogue around cheating is deeply flawed.

But cheating has more to do with the meaning of “winning” in today’s society. “Winning” is not just something to brag about; it’s something to put on a resume.

There is such a drive nowadays to be the absolute best, not out of ambition but out of necessity. This trend has been on the rise for years. Grades are no longer enough; you have to have extracurricular and experience. But even that is not enough. You have to win to be seen.

And cheating has become a bigger problem now than ever before. With the switch from in-person classes to online, students have found ways to cut corners and put less effort into their work through whatever means necessary.

This feeling that “everyone does it” is always commonly said by students as a reason that they decided to be academically dishonest.

But the important thing to remember is that you have one reputation and you need to protect it. Once identified as someone who lacks integrity, you are no longer given the benefit of the doubt in any situation.

By this point, turning in fake papers, cheating in exams, copying the work of others and outright plagiarism has sadly grown inescapably woven into the education sector.

There is this perception that at college we help each other. Selfishness in college is actually discouraged, and it’s agreed that there is no competition at college but academic cheaters are an exceptional case.

Research shows that once you cheat, it’s easier to do it the next time and the next, paving the path for you to become genuinely dishonest in your academic pursuits.

Fellow students who would be cheaters or those doing it, cheating in college is a form of self-deception, it shows you don’t trust yourself.

We go to college to learn. We cheat ourselves when we coast on the efforts and scholarship of someone else.

I agree that cheating is everywhere, in football, in marriages, relationships, in search of jobs, at work, among other areas and the courts are ceased with a lot of matters involving cheating.

But the academic cheaters are on the increase where we have seen many students, invigilators and officials being reprimanded for the crimes of exam cheating.

Some of them have been forced to write reports on why they were caught cheating.

Yes, no matter how small the dishonest deed is, at the end of the day, cheating is cheating.

Sometimes it can feel like everyone around us is dishonest or taking shortcuts but I feel it’s their way of their survival.

We have heard about integrity scandals across different platforms and sometimes we witness our fellow students cheating and seemingly getting away with it.

I have never been an invigilator myself, maybe because I don’t have time or some other weird reasons, but I have been a student for several exams.

The experience has allowed me to see some students use what are called discs where they write some short notes, some write on their clothes or uniforms. Some write on their thighs especially ladies while some leave the answers in the toilet.

And when you ‘them’ ask to go to the toilet, know they will be going to check some answers. I can’t prove that but those are some of the theories of the academic cheaters.

Some of the exams are leaked before the day of writing while some exam papers are leaked during the early hours of the exam date, especially the high school scandals.

Speculation is also rife that some fellow students pay some individuals to write for them, while some tip the invigilators to do magic for them.

It is common that during some exams, fellow students can copy from another student or allow another to copy your work. Unauthorised collaboration on a take home assignment or examination. Using notes during a closed book examination. Taking an examination for another student, or asking or allowing another student to take an examination for you.

We found this happening, it happened way before we were born but there are disadvantages in cheating.

To ask anyone where these guys are, we will not get the exact answers but they are doing well wherever they are.

Whether they cheated or not, their lives are going on well.

In my assessment, I have noted some reasons on why some of us cheat.

Some students might cheat because they have poor study skills that prevent them from keeping up with the material.

Students are more likely to cheat or plagiarise if the assessment is very high-stakes or if they have low expectations of success due to perceived lack of ability or test anxiety.

Every student will face down the temptation to cheat on an assignment in his or her lifetime. Unsurprisingly, statistics abound regarding the what’s, how’s and whys behind academic dishonesty — and many will surprise those who find such actions deplorable.

When we fail to excel with integrity, it may be called cheating, academic misconduct, academic dishonesty, or an academic integrity violation.

Cheating occurs when a student attempts to get academic credit in a way that is dishonest, disrespectful, irresponsible, untrustworthy or unfair.

Students report that they resort to academic dishonesty when they feel that they won’t be able to successfully perform the task while fear of failure prompts students to get unauthorised help, but the repercussions of cheating far outweigh the repercussions of failing.

First, when you are caught cheating, you may fail anyway as well as tarnishing your reputation as a trustworthy student.

Fellow students, cheating establishes habits that will hurt you in the long run since when your employer or graduate programme expects you to have certain knowledge based on your coursework and you don’t have that knowledge, you diminish the value of education for you and your university.

The most common reason students cite for committing academic dishonesty is that they ran out of time.

The good news is that this is almost always avoidable. Good time management skills are a must for success in college as well as in life.

You could fail a class, be dismissed from your major, or even be expelled from your school.

The severity of the consequences depends upon the type of academic dishonesty.

Let’s fight this cheating syndrome fellow students.

Ask me, school work is not a walk in the park, it’s a mammoth task to be called a graduate.

Others can do good but you can do the best without cheating.