<p>Without hesitation.</p>
<p>No, I wouldn’t. Why?
Because it simply does not matter to me what any one individual in the class gets on the exam. He could cheat his way to a 95, but it makes little difference to me as long as I get a good score honestly.</p>
<p>I had to think about this for a bit as I was contemplating doing it too. I would only say yes if I had actually seen them do it, they got a higher score, and I didnt do so well AND I worked very hard. </p>
<p>This happened in my Calc 3 final where the teacher was just oblivious to Americans (seems like, since he was from India and we had to explain to him what certain things in pop culture was). The teacher said that we could go to the bathroom any time and there were lectures in the back of the large auditorium, so anyone could go outside with their Ipods/phones look up answers and come back in…at any time. I saw many people walk outside and not come back for at least 20 mins. The average for the final was actually higher from the other two tests where it was a bit harder to cheat. Not saying that that was because everyone cheated, but I’m sure alot of people did</p>
<p>I created an account just to post this.</p>
<p>“rat someone out”</p>
<p>…Really?</p>
<p>Not letting the professor know that someone cheated is toleration. You’re saying that the action is O.K by not helping prevent it in the future. </p>
<p>I also notice that most of your justifications for not telling the professor are self-centered. You’re worried about what other people will think of you…for doing the right thing? People have been abused to no end for doing the right thing in the past, doesn’t make it any different; cheating is cheating. Saying that you would only tell the professor if it affected you is incredibly selfish. That might as well be saying that something is right or wrong depending on the score you achieve. </p>
<p>I don’t understand why you all have to draw a grey area for why something not allowed can be O.K in some situations and not in others. Some things are black and white. Cheating should NEVER be tolerated.</p>
<p>^
According to <em>you</em>, snitching is the right thing to do. </p>
<p>I don’t see anything wrong with being selfish in this situation and thinking about how it will affect you. I personally think it’s more selfish to tell on someone who’s cheating when they’re not hurting anyone and telling would only hurt them. It serves no purpose but to possibly show how “upstanding” you may be and probably get them expelled. I’d rather let a kid cheat and it not affect anyone than tell and screw that person’s life up.</p>
<p>I’ll respond to your ideas.</p>
<p>“I don’t see anything wrong with being selfish in this situation and thinking about how it will affect you. I personally think it’s more selfish to tell on someone who’s cheating when they’re not hurting anyone and telling would only hurt them.”</p>
<p>They’re hurting themselves. They’re also ignoring preparation for whatever field they prepare to enter, and have a greater chance of not being prepared for the job they (might) will be hired to. Disregarding even that, they’re allowing themselves to weaken their own morality. It doesn’t matter whether someone says it was “just that one time”, they have a greater chance of cheating in the future, in more sensitive situations, if they become complacent with their actions. </p>
<p>“It serves no purpose but to possibly show how “upstanding” you may be and probably get them expelled.”</p>
<p>Putting “upstanding” in a negative light is despicable and unsurprisingly used by people who dislike your lack of toleration for cheating. If you’re afraid that people are going to think you called out a cheater because you don’t like the person, that’s their problem. The people that really know you should be able to tell if you did it for honorable reasons or not. I personally believe it’s more selfish to worry that others think you’re being a “tatle-tale”. I also believe it’s a maturity issue.</p>
<p>“I’d rather let a kid cheat and it not affect anyone than tell and screw that person’s life up.”</p>
<p>They made the mistake. You shouldn’t feel bad to be responsible simply because they made a poor judgement call. Of course if you asked me whether or not I’d want someone to call me out if I cheated I’d probably say no; It wouldn’t matter, I made the mistake and should be expected to pay the consequences. The school sets down guidelines and rules, if a student decides to break one, people usually expect it to be acted upon. Unless we all decide to become complacent and allow things to get worse in the future. </p>
<p>That’s just my take on the issue, and I won’t budge on it.</p>
<p>^Not everyone’s “morals” are as “strong” as yours. I don’t see cheating as a huge deal at all. And “they’re hurting themselves” is BS. Would you rat out someone under 21 for drinking heavily? Or what about someone who was doing drugs? You can’t impose your morality on other people, morals are not universal. Even if you don’t believe cheating to be okay, it’s absolutely ridiculous to snitch on someone for cheating <em>because</em> “they’re allowing themselves to weaken their own morality.” There are a thousand better reasons to snitch (and I wouldn’t even snitch) that don’t make it sound like your head is stuck up your butt. People are allowed to hurt themselves and if that’s your only reason for wanting to snitch, I would seriously rethink how you see the world, because your “morals” are not universal, buddy.</p>
<p>PS, I wouldn’t tell because I wouldn’t want to screw that person’s life up either. We’re not robots, we can use discretion. I wouldn’t feel bad about not telling, either. I have made the personal decision not to screw anyone’s life up if I can help it, and that involves not snitching for anything.</p>
<p>JugaBro, you are awesome 
I agree with you 100%</p>
<p>To RoxSox:</p>
<p>“Would you rat out someone under 21 for drinking heavily? Or what about someone who was doing drugs?”</p>
<p>Yes. I wouldn’t be surprised if this seems cruel to you, but I personally believe it’s right.</p>
<p>“You can’t impose your morality on other people, morals are not universal.”</p>
<p>You’re right, people have different ideas on morality. BUT, I don’t believe it’s imposing my idea of morality by letting the professor know that a rule has been broken. I feel like that you’re implying that what the cheater did isn’t wrong, when by the school’s standards, it is. The school gets to decide how immoral or “wrong” the decision was through the punishment they decide. I’m not the one who chooses the kid to be expelled, but the school decides what their decision deserves.</p>
<p>“it’s absolutely ridiculous to snitch on someone for cheating <em>because</em> “they’re allowing themselves to weaken their own morality.” There are a thousand better reasons to snitch (and I wouldn’t even snitch) that don’t make it sound like your head is stuck up your butt.”</p>
<p>“A thousand better reasons”: I assume these are the ones that “hurt people” then? The ones that make it appear logical that you “snitched” on them? “Oh, he obviously snitched on the guy because it ruined the curve and gave him a B instead of an A, I totaly understand that”. I understand that the example I just quoted isn’t the only scenario that can exist, it could be that some kid will be accused of allowing a cheater to cheat off of him, even if it weren’t true. What happened to (what I consider) doing the right thing, simply for the sake of it?</p>
<p>Yes, I know you probably consider this me sounding like my head is “stuck up my butt”. It likely sounds like I’m some self-righteous “denouncer-of-wrongs”. I don’t care, people can think what they like. I’m going to stick doing what I believe is the honest thing to do. I don’t tolerate cheating.</p>
<p>“PS, I wouldn’t tell because I wouldn’t want to screw that person’s life up either. We’re not robots, we can use discretion.”</p>
<p>I personally believe that even if it causes them a great deal of problems, including getting expelled, it was their decision that they should have to deal with. I personally believe it’s being able to make “the harder right” as it’s known. But that’s my opinion.</p>
<p>“I wouldn’t feel bad about not telling, either. I have made the personal decision not to screw anyone’s life up if I can help it, and that involves not snitching for anything.” </p>
<p>I can understand that, even if I don’t agree with it.</p>
<p>@JugaBro</p>
<p>I don’t really care if they’re “hurting” themselves, honestly. That’s their business. I have enough of my own stuff to deal with without worrying about what the next guy is doing. As long as it’s not truly life-threatening, like actually serious and worth paying attention to, fatal if you will, then I just don’t care. </p>
<p>Them “weakening their own morality” sounds like a personal issue to me also. And that’s assuming that their morality was as exalted as yours to begin with. Different people have different morals. Fact. </p>
<p>As for a cheater getting a job in their chosen field, I would say that employers know who the best man for the job is. And if that person is able to do what the job entails, then cheating didn’t really “hurt” them did it? If he can’t do the job, he’ll be fired. It’s simple, really. </p>
<p>My position on this issue doesn’t have much to do with what people think of me at all. It’s more of what I’ll think of myself. I personally don’t think snitching is necessarily “honorable”. I don’t think that has anything to do with my level of maturity, it’s just how I see this. </p>
<p>I know cheating is not good and I don’t do it myself, but I don’t see it as the serious issue some of you guys view it as. </p>
<p>And I didn’t intend to use “upstanding” in a negative light, nor do I think it would “despicable” if I had chose to do so. I was only implying that some people who “tattle” on others may think too highly of their “deed”.</p>
<p>If cheating wasn’t really a serious issue, then schools would not have serious consequences when someone was caught. At my hs, if you are caught cheating on a test, then you receive a zero. If you are caught cheating in one of the dual credit classes, then you are taken out of all dual credit classes that you are taking. That student is then not allowed to enroll in any more dual credit classes while in hs. We had to sign a code of ethics which shows how seriously my school takes it. I also know that colleges look at cheating in the same way. I believe that if you feel someone is doing something wrong, then you should do something about it. At what point do we just turn our heads and at what point to we decide to do something? If anything, let those around you know how you feel about cheating (or whatever it is) and they will usually not get you involved. I am also bothered to hear that people get upset because they know a certain someone has cheated their way through homework and tests. If you know that someone has been doing that, and you haven’t done anything at all about it then guess what… those feelings you are feeling about the situation are your own fault. If you sit by and say nothing, then you are feeling something that you could have changed. Sometimes doing what’s right isn’t easy and it doesn’t make you popular, but do it anyway.</p>
<p>LOL @ RoxSox and Juga.
RoxSox, there’s nothing wrong with “snitching” on someone if they’re breaking the rules. I love seeing people get caught.</p>
<p>Re: “If cheating wasn’t really a serious issue, then schools would not have serious consequences when someone was caught.”</p>
<p>So if cheating is only a serious issue because of the consequences <em>if</em> someone gets caught, then it’s not that serious if that person doesn’t get caught.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>the sentence you quoted didn’t mean cheating is only a serious issue because of the consequences <em>if</em> someone gets caught. You have the implied cause and effect backwards.</p>
<p>Yeah, I did. But my point is that cheating is only a big deal because of the big trouble that you can get in if you were caught. If the consequences weren’t so dire, no one would care as much.</p>
<p>Students wouldn’t care as much. It’s certainly not the case that academic dishonesty is only a big deal because the punishment is significant.</p>
<p>Why else do you think it’s an issue?</p>
<p>DB, loving to see people get caught isn’t universal. I personally won’t mess up someone’s life if I can help it, whether it’s cheating or whatever.</p>
<p>But I recognize I’m arguing with a ■■■■■ here, so whatever.</p>
<p>I agree with essceejay as well. If there were no significant punishments for cheating, I think everyone would feel the same way morally about it (I mean their personal beliefs wouldn’t change, not that they would all feel the same) but I don’t think it would be as big of a deal. I personally don’t care a lot about cheating though. In instances where other people are cheating, I don’t think it concerns me, and while I understand why people would think it does, I stand my ground. I don’t think I can impose my morals on other people, ever, for any reason.</p>
<p>I would undoubtedly tell the professor.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>The cheater was accepted to the University, and there are likely thousands of honest applicants who would have loved their spot.</p></li>
<li><p>I’m not going to let the curve (and my grade) suffer when I worked harder than other students. Some of you are saying “It would only drop your grade from an A- to a B+.” And you’re happy getting a 3.3 GPA instead of a 3.7 GPA for the sheer fact that other students are cheating? Sure, catching one person won’t make a difference, but you can say the same about anything. One person donating to charity won’t make a difference, and it doesn’t benefit you to donate to charity. Those are viable reasons not to donate to charity, am I right?</p></li>
<li><p>I would much rather have the reputation of being a “snitch” than the reputation of being a cheater. If you actually respect a cheater more than a snitch, then maybe you belong in middle school.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>
</p>
<p>So what would you do if someone broke into your room and stole everything of any value?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>[Integrity</a> (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)](<a href=“http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/integrity/]Integrity”>Integrity (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy))</p>