Academic Dishonesty: Is It A Necessity?

Will academic dishonesty be a threat in the future? Will lies catch up and engulf?

All these questions come to mind when considering academic dishonesty. When students lie and cheat to improve their grades, it will only result in poor long-term habits. Students tend to overlook what could happen when they get caught cheating, and the consequences tend to be severe. Academic dishonesty is one of the worst things a student can do. Avoiding challenges and disregarding the skills required to succeed is a waste of education. Topics and ideas taught in high school resurge in college. If a student were to cheat and not learn the material, it would become harder to work in the future.

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Increasing availability to cheat…has led students to be more dishonest.

— McCoy Mcinerney, junior

Since the pandemic, cheating has been normalized and deceived many students out of learning. McCoy Mcinerney, a junior at La Jolla High, claims that cheating has unfortunately become standard due to the pandemic. “Increasing availability to cheat… has led students to be more dishonest,” McCoy claims he does feel a little guilty for cheating in the past because he respects Mr. Essex and the teachers. However, an anonymous student claims they don’t feel guilty about cheating because they don’t like their teacher. They stated they cheated on an exam because they claimed “it was needed… I wouldn’t cheat if I knew what was happening.” Many claim that cheating is sometimes necessary to pass the class in situations like these.

Every student has reasons to cheat; however, that does not justify the right to cheat because cheating will only build dishonesty between students and teachers. Teachers work hard to teach students to the best of their abilities; they try their hardest to teach and prepare them for the world.