Thinking About Cheating on a Test in School?
Why some students justify cheating in school.
We’ve all done it.
And if you have never done it, well then, this article may not be for you — but keep reading just in case you change your mind by the end of the article.
As you may or may not know, I was a horrible math student growing up. I hated math when I was in elementary school and eventually earned the nickname ‘wondering eyes’, especially when it came time to taking tests.
I eventually came to love math in my high school days and felt a sense of pride when other students wanted to cheat off of my answers during the test.
During my university days as an engineering undergraduate, we did as those who came before had done — cheated on assignments, exams, and projects.
See, with engineering at least, students begin to bond through their shared desires to help each of us who made it past the first year “keep our heads above water” in this field of study because of how overwhelming the material would get — especially during exams.
So the question I want to address in this article is — why do students justify cheating on tests?
I’ve thought this through, so let’s keep reading to find out my answer.
That One YouTube Video
I began my teaching career in 2002 and so in 2024 I will be coming up on my 22nd year of teaching, if my math is correct.
So it’s safe to assume, I’ve had my fair share of students who wanted to cheat on a test, assignment, or project.
When I would catch students cheating, I would remind them that when they cheat on a test — “they are only cheating themselves” out of an opportunity to show what they’ve learned.
However there would come an event that would teach me something — that the more time I spent as a teacher — I forgot what it was like to be a student.
In 2020, I decided to start my YouTube channel to help share knowledge I’ve gained when it comes to teaching — with both teachers and students in mind.
I must have forgotten what it was like to be a student when I made this one particular YouTube short (see below) that I titled “Thinking About Cheating on a Test in School?
On the outlook it seems I am addressing students on the topic of cheating and that cheating on tests is not something to consider doing.
But what my end goal was in making this video was to help out teachers with a free resource I made when they do encounter students who cheat and want to take some disciplinary action.
Well, some people didn’t appreciate this video and were sure to let me know.
The first comment highlighted a student’s frustration about what schools offer students and how it has nothing to do with what they actually want to do in life.
I’ve heard this statement many times over the course of my teaching career, and to be honest, it’s one I really struggle with — especially when students have made it clear as to why they justify cheating.
Students justify cheating for two main reasons:
- They just don’t care about what they are learning
- They care more about gaining the highest mark possible than what they are learning
As a student myself, it was for the second reason I would cheat and allow others to cheat off of my tests.
Now, to be clear and make a sort of disclaimer here: I wasn’t a serial cheater, nor do I advocate the idea of cheating to succeed in school.
The goal of my writing this article is to say, here’s a situation and let’s admit there’s a situation, and let’s deal with it accordingly.
And now the real question I want to address is — what do these reasons for cheating really tell us about being a student?
What Students Tell Teachers When They Cheat
It’s all about perception and emotions.
The perception some teachers may have is that students just didn’t prepare enough, show enough effort, or yes, even care enough to study and get the high marks they would get if they just put in more effort.
Often times, these types of teachers place little emotions towards students’ attempts at cheating because these teachers fancied themselves as ones who never cheated while they were students in school.
And this is what students intrinsically tell these teachers when they cheat in their classroom. If teachers have negative perceptions and emotions towards students — they will often times cheat as a means to surviving the semester or school year with this type of teacher.
The Don’t Care Scenario
When students have reached the conclusion that they don’t care about what the teacher is teaching — it is more often than not because students have not had the opportunity to connect with the message the teacher should communicate with the students.
The message that teachers need to communicate to students with each lesson either implicitly or explicitly is — let me show you how this will benefit you as a student!
This is especially important when it comes to teaching test-taking strategies and how tests connect to the real world. When they change their perceptions around tests, they may begin to care more about the subject they are learning — and may not be inclined to cheat.
The Perfect Grade Scenario
My teaching experience has shown me that students who cheat because they want those perfect scores, more often than not, are doing so to remain pleasing in the eyes of their parents.
These extreme types of parents take on the perception of teachers whose students don’t care. Parents put pressure on their children to succeed and will judge them as uncaring if they do not succeed.
These students want to remain pleasing to their parents, and therefore, their emotions towards this situation remain in a state of panic until the goal is achieved. Now, when students don’t understand, they may resort to cheating to help get the grade in the end.
When teachers see these students struggling with wanting to be the perfect student — a consultation with the parents may help bring everyone on board to the real fact that life is not perfect, but we must try to do our best with the right approaches each time.
What Students Should Be Taught in Schools
YouTube now has provided many opportunities for new careers to flourish — and thanks to some of the most popular YouTube channels out there— students think they can have it easy — all without school.
When students see popular YouTubers, TikTokers, or Instagram Influencers enjoying their life through video gaming, or living their life traveling the world, or eating as much as they can, all while making money — some students may come to the conclusion that doesn’t need a well-rounded education to be as successful as these influencers and that cheating will solve their problems.
What students should be taught in school is that nothing worth having comes easy.
It takes dedication, time, effort, and, most importantly, skills to build and maintain success in life.
After all, is it really worth writing on your hand or arm just so you can cheat on a test? Again it’s all about perception.
How about this perception for you — what a test really aims to test is how well you work under the pressure of a time crunch.
And so I ask my gaming students — don’t you put yourself under a time crunch while playing a game — aren’t you putting yourself under some kind of test?
Learning to speak the language of your students in today’s classroom can really help to give teachers the ‘power’ they may have lost when technology came in the classroom.
The Real Power Behind Teaching
The point I hope to make in writing this article is that when hope is lost in a classroom students will resort to doing things to help them survive. Students will continue to cheat when they feel hope is lost.
While we, as parents or teachers, can’t change when students decide to cheat, we can let them know that we will listen to their frustrations and help them to see the power within themselves to make changes for the better.
The real power in teaching comes in allowing your students to share (within reason of course) their frustrations with you and hear them out because I have found that when you take the time to listen — students will follow your example and listen to you.
The worksheet I show at the end of the video is a reflection sheet that gets students to write down what they did wrong and reflect on why it does not benefit them or those around them to act in a negative manner.
I share this resource in my article entitled “Where Have All the Good Behaving Students Gone.”
If you enjoyed this article, please read more on the topic of student learning in these articles below.
