<p>“the cheater really is insecure and underachieving, and he knows it–because he knows that he could not do well without cheating.”</p>
<p>This is not necessarily true. Many cheaters are highly intelligent and will do well in school without cheating. They are the ones that will do anything just to be a little bit better than the next best person. They will get into prestigious colleges and not fail because they did learn the material in high school. Some cheaters even study a lot because they are afraid of getting even a single question wrong on a test. That fear is what leads them to cheat. They are afraid an imperfection will somehow determine the rest of their lives.</p>
<p>That being said, I think that the “no snitching” rule only applies if the cheater is doing poorly despite the fact he/she cheats. It is the brilliant cheaters that you have to look out for; they are the worst kind.</p>
<p>that’s exactly what i do. i’ll study, and i’ll know every answer but this ONE nagging little question, and i’ll freak out, and then i can’t resist to look over at my neighbor’s paper. i mean, teachers should probably do a better job at arranging test seating.</p>
<p>Let the kid live… If you are jealous of his grades, then maybe you should start cheating too. It might bite him in the ass at some point, but why should you be the classroom police officer? You are not competing with him for a job. Its high school… really not that big of a deal. Half the students in my AP classes had no problem looking over shoulders. Most students rationalize that getting the highest gpa possible is all that’s important and many will risk it.</p>
<p>It seems like its only a grudge of yours… because you dislike the fact that you are working your ass off, while he is dishonestly succeeding. Its a crappy feeling, I know. But no one would respect the kid who ratted out the cheater, even if they could not tolerate him either.</p>
<p>Don’t get involved in someone else’s business over just a grudge. The kid will have a tough time learning to work hard in college… something you have already done.</p>
<p>Back in 9th grade it was really bad. On my way out of the teacher’s classroom, I slipped a folded sheet of paper that explained the how the cheating ring worked on the teacher’s desk. Nobody found out, and everyone involved got in serious trouble. As it was a magnet school, some were dismissed from the program, and others were kicked out of the class.</p>
<p>I guess it depends on the level of cheating as well. If someone with a test later in the day finds out all the questions on the test from the morning class and tries to figure them out on his own, that is one thing. If the test he has is say, pre-calc, and the student hunts down a calculus student to teach him how to do the test problems that he should not have had any knowledge of, well, that is a bigger issue.</p>
<p>I agree. I would mind my own business since it really isn’t your problem. I would find it hard to believe that a student could cheat in every class and get consistently perfect scores if they truly didn’t know the material as you originally stated. Teachers also notice students who can’t reply to questions in class who suddenly get perfect test scores. Some of those things just don’t add up to me. Your final grade is usually some combination of class paritcipation as well as tests.</p>
<p>I think you are better off to focus on your own performance in h.s. and not get overly concerned in things you can’t control and are perhaps reading too much into what you think you see.</p>
<p>I think the dilemma to tell or not to tell boils down to the fact no one likes to be
“the better person” and still fall short of a cheater. This has always happened, does always happen and will always happen. So you just have to do what you think is right. If your morals cannot make you see that you are in fact better by choosing not to cheat (and there is nothing inherently wrong with that), then you can decide to take action. Whatever you decide to do, you are the one that has to live with it. That is really what this comes down to.</p>
<p>You’ll get suggestions from both extremes, but in the end, you have to do what you think is best. Maybe you will come up with something in the middle! Unfortunately, this is not really something someone else can decide for you. You gotta let your moral compass direct you.</p>
<p>I always use this quote when people are stuck in a situation: "Advice is what we ask for when we already know the answer but wish we didn’t.” ~Erica Jong</p>
<p>Something tells me you already know what you want to do about this kid, so go do it. Make sure you consider the consequences of your options. When you make a decision, do not be too concerned of what others will think of you if you believe what you are doing is the right thing.</p>
<p>The ONLY people that are recommending to keep your mouth shut are cheaters. I’m not letting any cheater bump my class ranking, move the curve, or potentially take my spot at a college. I wouldn’t stop until he was in trouble. Cheaters are scum.</p>
<p>Odd that some people here argue that if the person is doing badly one shouldn’t snitch.
There were a lot of people on Wall Street who were doing badly who decided that if they cheated they could do better.</p>
<p>I did not say that they shouldn’t snitch, just that if the cheaters are doing worse than you are, then it really is not your problem. Only when they are doing better than you because of cheating is when it becomes your business, since that affects your class rank, etc.</p>
<p>But you have an excellent point, collegedad2013.</p>
<p>Everyone needs to calm down. Its just high school. Im sure 99.999% of you cheated on a test in your life. Everyone does it, its no big deal. If you want to do something about cheating don’t blame the cheater. Blame the education system that says that a number on your report card is the only things that matters.</p>
<p>Also the OP doesn’t know the situation of the guy. What if he has to take care of his autistic brother and doesn’t have time to study? What if his mother is sick or died and he has to help work to put food on the table? If you rat him out you could jeopardize his chances of getting into a good university, which could be his only way of getting a better life. Just think about the implications that could happen, even to you. Hell in my school you’d get jumped the next day for ratting someone out Lol.</p>
<p>“Im sure 99.999% of you cheated on a test in your life.”
I never have.</p>
<p>“If you want to do something about cheating don’t blame the cheater. Blame the education system that says that a number on your report card is the only things that matters.”
This is a good point. But since that is the way the system is, you have to honor it.</p>
<p>“Also the OP doesn’t know the situation of the guy. What if he has to take care of his autistic brother and doesn’t have time to study? What if his mother is sick or died and he has to help work to put food on the table? If you rat him out you could jeopardize his chances of getting into a good university, which could be his only way of getting a better life.”
If you have to work because you have to put food on the table, colleges will understand that you had to allocate your time to something other than studying. Same thing with the autistic brother scenario. There is no need to cheat, ever.</p>
<p>“Just think about the implications that could happen, even to you. Hell in my school you’d get jumped the next day for ratting someone out Lol.”
This is true, which is why I told the OP to carefully consider his options; it depends on the environment. And “ratting out” a cheater really should not have such a negative connotation. People who do that think it is the right thing.</p>
<p>@latin4life - in the end i guess it all depends on your morals and values. I personally wouldn’t tell on anyone for cheating but I would also try to not put myself in a position where someone would be able to cheat off me. That way it wouldn’t affect me if he got caught ( sometimes the person who lets the cheater copy off him gets hurt even worse than the cheater.)</p>