Causes of Cheating in School Work
Thejana Munasinghe
With a recent spike in the percentage of students remotely studying from home,
cheating increased to 74% in online exams. Too tough of a curriculum, personal issues
and habits, and the inability to understand risks are the main reasons for cheating in
schoolwork.
Over the years, many schools have opted for higher complexity curriculums with
an increase in pupils and competition. With a fairly low acceptance rate for most good
universities, students must study day and night to enter. This creates distress and in
turn, leads to cheating due to an inability to absorb information efficiently. Additionally,
curriculums nowadays contain mediocre amounts of topics and subjects to cover in just
a small period of time. This is highly inefficient and genuinely shows the student
cheating as a better path. Finally, the lack of motivation to study in the first place,
primarily due to the points mentioned above, will force the student to compromise and
copy. Conclusively, the tough and vigorous syllabi used in schools today is the one of
main culprits for cheating.
Personal issues, peer pressure, and habits are prospective causes of cheating in
school work. Many students, especially whilst living and studying from home, have to
deal with family concerns, mental issues, and physical issues. This contains a student's
ability to focus and study before a test. Peer pressure and visual learning are two
causes of dishonesty. Cheating might have a 'cool kid' persona to it, making students
who truly study as 'nerds'. Ranks of popularity and self-importance, therefore, are a
leading factor of such actions. Lastly, pure habit and the inability to STOP might explain
why. The human brain isn't completely trained to focus on specific ideas for hours on
end. Therefore, it always searches for an easier way; thus cheating. This may
eventually lead to a habit and later a mild addiction. Conclusively, several personal and
habitual factors play a role when discussing the causes of cheating.
Lastly, cheating may be the cause of student's ignorance towards the future.
Cheating in the present will not benefit in the future, especially in entering college. Most
colleges and universities require students to write entrance exams that contain material
from high school years. Entrance exam takers who have cheated in secondary school
need to cramp endless hour's worth of time due to not know most of the skills. When it
comes to job applications, cheating may have caused low grades in both university and
high school - leading to lower positions. Finally, most students suffer from anxiety or
writers' block, especially in exams. Although this can be eased with therapy, most
students around the globe either cannot afford it or are unable to access it.
In conclusion, numerous reasons are there that cause cheating in school. Too
tough of a curriculum, unstable personal issues, habits, inability to understand risks and
mental illnesses are all causes, to name a few. Schools and parents have the
responsibility to act and prevent such actions.