Hasson 1

Steven Hasson

Mr. Crane

English 101

25 September 2022

Cheating On The Future

Is cheating building or wrecking futures? Are those who cheat throughout high school the

ones who succeed in life? In the article, "Too Much Pressure," published in the 1998 edition of

Fresh Ink, by Colleen Wenke, they address the effects of cheating. Their main claim is that

cheating is unacceptable and justifies everyone's future. The article explained how cheating has

existed since the first exam and has increased drastically in the last fifty years. It described how

cheating can be the difference between making it into big-name colleges and higher positions in

the workforce. It creates a new form of pressure on students to cheat in order to get an advantage

over their peers. Many students get away with cheating, but even if they are caught, the

punishment has little effect on them. Despite the fact that cheating students get away with it, they

end up compromising their future. Cheating in high school is unacceptable, as it jeopardizes the

future of everyone.

The continuous increase of cheaters in school is not just the lazy students trying to pass.

There is a new era of cheaters. Throughout many or all schools, there has been a dramatic

increase in cheating. In the past, many of the students who cheated were students who could not

pass or did not do the work. But now they are the students trying to get into the big-name

competitive colleges. According to the article, “…the majority of the students who admit to

cheating are college-bound overachievers,” (Wenke 2). It shows us that the majority of the
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increase of students participating in cheating are not lazy students or students who are just trying

to pass. They are college-bound overachievers. These types of students do this in order to toll the

many activities they try to accomplish. Thus not mind compromising their integrity for a better

grade. This pressures the other students to do this as well because if they do not they will fall

behind or be overlooked. I understand the pressure created by those who cheat because they

make it difficult to not do otherwise. I have witnessed that since students are getting away with

cheating that more decide to participate. At times, when you have a huge workload that needs to

be accomplished around the same time, cheating feels ideal. I have seen this happen around me;

students trying to accomplish more than they can handle, then having to choose either to cheat in

order to make it another day or to have fallen behind.

The lack of punishment lets cheating continue and strengthen. Cheating is becoming

more widespread as a result of the absence of punishments for doing so. If students are caught

cheating, it is not a big concern at many schools. It might be as simple as a warning to a lesser

level of citizenship in some schools. As a result, “… penalties for getting caught are mild…

students who cheated… still received good grades,” (Wenke 2). It explains that there is a lack of

punishment for cheating. Those who were caught cheating may still receive a zero on that test or

assignment but that did not affect the end grade in the class. In the author's high school, a zero on

a test did not affect much but there was a loophole in the system in which the lowest grade was

dropped. This makes no difference to those students who cheat. The rhetorical strategy used by

the author was the ethos. They are trying to connect to the attendances by sharing their

experiences of this happening around them and the lack of penalties behind them. As they

connect to their experiences many would be more engaged because of the personal shared
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situation. It also shows that they can connect to what they are presenting. I can connect to the

author's shared experience on cheating not having that big of an effect. Someone I knew decided

to cheat, or as he would say, “use his resources to his advantage,” on a test in physics class. As

we were taking the test in class, the teacher was walking around when he saw someone with a

cheat sheet from a student who had that class the period before. He was confronted and was

given a zero on the test.

There is more pressure now than ever before. Students today are more goal-oriented and

to which they are willing to compromise values to achieve these goals. Many do not have much

internal integrity because of the pressure put on them to be successful. This leads students to do

more in order to achieve or even stay caught up with the other students. According to the article,

“… more pressure placed on students to do well… expected to receive good grades, play a sport,

and volunteer… to be looked at by a good college,” (Wenke 2). This quote demonstrates how

much pressure is put on students merely to be considered by a reputable college. This amount

puts students under pressure to cheat. Any errors result in a college overlooking students. As a

result, many students' motivation shifts away from their ambitions and toward anxieties over

getting into college or generating enough money to secure a high position in the work field.

Some would say that cheating is the only way to get ahead. That cheating should be

acceptable in order to stay caught up with every other college-bound overachiever. Cheating is

the only way to get ahead of the class. If students do not participate in cheating, it could have an

effect on their chances of making it to college. The increased pressure to do well or achieve

higher goals is creating and forcing students to cheat. Now despite that cheating may make it

easier to increase chances at big-name colleges or save time, it will not benefit anyone. Shortcuts
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are taken when it comes to cheating. It is not going to help and it will be seen in the workplace if

shortcuts were taken. Cheating has been lowering students' motives throughout schools. In

addition, “a national survey found a shift in motivation away from altruism and toward a concern

with making money and getting power and status,” (Wenke 2). The result of cheating has shifted

the motivation into making it in life and status. This causes more pressure on students to

accomplish more. Expectations of high greats, playing sports, and volunteer work are set to be

even considered by a good college because everyone else can do the same. Cheating is allowing

rationalized lying as well as finding shortcuts to pursue their goals. This destroys the futures that

students try to create for themselves.

The ways of cheating jeopardize and pressure everyone's future. Cheating in high school

is unacceptable. However, there is a new increasing era of cheaters throughout schools and it is

not just the lazy students; the majority being the college-bound overachievers. These students do

not mind compromising their integrity for a better grade. As there is also a lack of punishment

which leads the cheating to continue and strengthen in schools. In many schools, it is not a huge

deal if students are caught cheating because the penalties are not major. Students are also more

goal-oriented at these ages. But do not have much internal integrity because of the pressure put

on them to be successful, to do more in order to stay caught up with the other students. This

results in many students shifting their motivations away from their goals and toward concerns

about making it to college. They would say that cheating is acceptable in order to be on the same

playing field as every other college-bound overachiever. While this may be true in some cases

despite that it may seem to be the only way to stay caught up with everyone else trying to make it

to the big-name colleges, it does not benefit students and their future goals. This creates bad
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habits like rationalized lying. Cheating students affect their morale, work ethic, and most of all,

their future. Cheating shall not be the base for your future.

Works Cited

Colleen Wenke, "Too Much Pressure." Fresh Ink. 1998.

Word Count: 1361