<p>I hate it. It's become so pervasive at my school it's absolutely disgusting. I'll give you an example; my math final is next week. Everyone I talk to is loading up his/her calculator with formulas and programs to aid in cheating, and they're all so smug and cavalier in doing so; "Oh, yeah Joe, can you send me that formula list program of yours?" I'm horrified. The worst part is that those of us who won't be participating in this massive orgy of academic dishonesty are at a serious disadvantage, as those who are cheating almost certainly won't get caught, and will almost certainly do better than those of us who, as a matter of moral principle, won't cheat. The old proverb "Cheaters never win" is simply untrue. There are so many people in my school willing to whore themselves out for more points. They'll get better GPAs, get into better colleges, and won't feel the slightest moral compunction for having cheated. In short, they'll win.</p>
<p>Oh, and it's worst among the most competitive kids. What if someone's 97 GPA isn't really so? What if it's the result of cheating? What if someone's 85 GPA is scrupulously honest? It's unfair, and the fact that our society has allowed cheating to be socially acceptable is a telling indicator of how far we've fallen. It's infuriating, and every time I see someone sneaking a peek at a list of formulas or joking about how he'll cheat this time, I realize how much of a disadvantage there is in being honest.</p>
<p>I know exactly how you feel. Kids in my math class basically exchange papers with each other, but I know how guilty I would feel if I turned them in. </p>
<p>I guess that's what I regret the most; I never turned anyone in. </p>
<p>I should tell you, though, cheating isn't as acceptable as you think. I'm guessing you go to a competitive hs. Mine isn't, but you would think so by how many people cheat. I hate to tell you "They'll get theirs in the end", but they will. </p>
<p>The only thing I can say is, well, I don't know. Turn them in? It's not as easy as it seems.</p>
<p>Cheating is always a difficult issue to cope with. You are absolutely right, many scores won't be true to the person. Also, it is a delicate issue to report any case of cheating.</p>
<p>However, I certainly don't agree that cheaters win. Sure they might end up going to good colleges, but that doesn't guarantee a good life. Once they get into the real world they will be stressed beyond their limit about cheating. If they are able to in their career, they will live with that for the rest of their life.</p>
<p>So don't worry, moralists aren't that badly off.</p>
<p>rat em out if you hate it that much. just slip an 'anonymous' note to the principal. but high school is where people cheat and get away with it. it happens everywhere, and they won't get stopped unless they're terrible at it. i'm hoping this stops once college rolls around and people actually need to know things to pass.</p>
<p>hah. that's why at my school...teachers who are proctoring math/science exams are math/science teachers and are required to clear students' calculators right before the exam. This gets rid of all programs, etc.</p>
<p>It is a delicate case to report cheating---you run the risk of turning the whole school against you.
I reccomend that you send an anonymous, well written letter to your principle about how cheating is rampant among students at your high school (NOT naming names), and how they cheat (programming things onto calculators), and that there is an easy way to combat this (clear calculators before exams)</p>
<p>It would be fantastic if you could do this, and next year they implement a rule of clearing calcs before finals and don't tell the students of this before their exams, so they come in thinking they're all set and then they have no clue what to do because they were supposed to cheat. easy way to catch them.</p>
<p>I used to say "it'll come back to bite them in the a$$ at some point," but you know what? I know regular cheaters going to Harvard, Yale, MIT and Williams next year.</p>
<p>I've decided to do what some have recommended; I'll slip an anonymous note into the box of my math teacher tomorrow morning, explaining the problem and what to do about it. I'll also urge her to share it with the principal and other science/math teachers.</p>
<p>I totally agree that there is wayy too much cheatin going on in high schools across the country but the example u gave isnt really cheating. My math teacher actually encrouages us to make programs for tests. Unless the questions are really simple, having a simpel formula in ur calculator wont really help that much. Plus wat about those people with ti-89's. Apparently they can basically solve almost any questino for u but that isnt considered chaeating.</p>
<p>cheaters never lose (which sucks) , one of my friends who is about 6 years old than me, cheated throughout high school, got into Harvard and cheated throughout his 4 years there, and now he has an amazing job making about 190k per year (not bad for his second year out of college...)</p>
<p>I'm not going to rat them out; I'm going to tell my teacher to clear the students' calculators, if possible, and if not, to be especially vigilant for cheating.</p>
<p>My teachers all clear calculators before the tests. Some even have their own "collection" of calculators (from ones kids left behind) and they make kids use one of those. Some people manage to cheat, but all the people at the top of our class got there honestly.</p>
<p>Oh who gives a rats ass what someone else does. If they want to risk cheating to get extra points but also put themselves in a position to get into trouble, thats a decision they make themselves. Unless them scoring better is directly affecting your scores, stop whining about it and just do your own business. Do I think cheating is right or fair? No. But you should stop worrying about what other people do and worry more so about yourself.</p>
<p>People are such pansies when it comes to dealing with cheating. It's not just the teachers' obliviousness, but students' permissive attitudes that make cheating such a wide spread thing. I'm sick of hearing about this "anonymous" nonsense or this "karma will get them" failure. Are people so worried about what cheaters (who people who look the other way at cheating) think of them? I suppose calling out specific people is a big step, but what's wrong with standing up and saying "Hey, I heard about some programs. You might want to watch out for that"?</p>
<p>It's right to worry about others cheating because it wrecks the playing field for everyone else. It's not something you can just mind your own business about until some universal force decides to do something about it. Threads like these make me lose faith in people. When did it become looked down upon to actively pursue what is fair?</p>
<p>If you are an honest student, cheaters steal from you. High school is a competitive situation, and all students are vying for rank, offices, grades, recs, etc. Their gain IS your loss. It is theft, plain and simple. It isn't them against the man, it's them against you.</p>
<p>I agree with posts 18 and 19. This was discussed fairly recently, too, on CC. Reporting the existence of cheating could be something as general as warning authorities to look into it given how widespread it is. It could be giving examples of the varieties of cheating that are done. I do understand that students feel uncomfortable naming particular names, and doing so without your own anonymity, and I understand why that is true. But there are a lot of options short of that, that nevertheless comply with a requirement of a responsible & moral person to communicate when immoral or unethical events are occurring. These are the kinds of decisions most people have to make as they grow into adulthood. Why not start now?</p>
<p>If you say nothing, while having knowledge, you are contributing to the problem, and to the continued exploitation of yourself, the faculty, and the reputation of the school. Imagine if it became so unchecked that word got out into the community that cheating was an epidemic at your school, maybe more so than at others. How would that affect the credibility of even your own diploma, your own college admissions?</p>
<p>Here's what I did in high school: I beat them on all the tests without cheating, because even with all the formulas the kids who cheated were dumb and I wasn't.</p>
<p>Are you not friends with any of these cheaters? Because, you know, eveyone of my friends cheated, I never thought it was a big deal, I just thought they were stupid for risking something like that. Would I have ever ratted them out? NO, they were my friends, and it would be a horrible thing to tell the teacher.</p>
<p>If I contributing to the cheating then so be it, they never affected my scores. Seriously, you can't memorize the formulas? Because this is the only way these kids are cheating, and you actually have a significant advantage when you can pull a formula out of you head rather than surfing through lines of stored memory to find the right one. Why can't you beat these kids is my question.</p>