1. There is growing evidence that cheating is becoming
more common and more accepted among North
American high school students.
2. A recent national survey conducted by Rutgers’
Management Education Center found that 75% of the
4,500 students questioned had participated in serious
cheating. In addition, more that 50% admitted they had
plagiarized work from the Internet.
3. Perhaps the most disturbing finding of the study is that
many respondents don’t see anything wrong with
cheating. In fact, for many students, cheating has
become a survival technique in high school. There is
increasing pressure on students to achieve high marks
and it is becoming more difficult to get accepted into
good colleges and universities.
4. According to some students, cheating is an efficient
way to cut corners and more and more students are
using this shortcut. Others do not think that copying
questions and answers from a test is even cheating.
5. Many students believe that getting good grades is more
important than being honest. They think that better
grades lead to better colleges and universities and
better universities lead to better careers and better lives.
6. As one student stated, “What’s important is getting
ahead. It’s not how moral you were in getting there.”