(February 20, 2002) -- Cheating is so widespread in the student body that it seems as if no one cares anymore. Students copy homework during snack and lunch right out in the open, pass notes during a final and whisper answers to each other during a test, and no one gives them a second look. Several juniors commented that “cheating is always an option at Clark because the environment allows it.” There’s something strangely amiss with a high school where students feel comfortable cheating. It’s become a dangerous norm that seems innocuous enough, but it is really a despicable offense that needs to be confronted.

Students do have the responsibility to keep themselves honest and resist the temptation to turn around and sneak those two little answers from the class brain during an exam. But teachers also have a responsibility to confront cheaters and not turn their backs on them. There has been more than one time where a teacher knew that a student was cheating, yet chose to merely shush them or let them get away with a stern look—and a grade they didn’t deserve.

Allowing a student to get away with copying one problem on a homework assignment with just “that one chance” may seem harmless enough, but doing so gives him a feeling of security. Teachers who let students get away with what seems to be something insignificant are doing nothing but actually helping that student and hurting those who turn in honest work.

Casual cheating offenses aren’t the only ones that are overlooked; even more serious offenses go without penalty. A teacher who caught several students in one of his classes going over the questions on an upcoming exam did nothing but comment on the familiarity of the “exercises” they were working on and simply changed the numbers on the exam without even slapping on the consequences that should have been administered.

As long as the consequences of cheating—which include shushing, a tap on the wrist or even nothing at all—do not seem as dire as the crime itself, students will continue to “compare” answers during a test, nonchalantly copy homework and “borrow” lines from another student’s essay.

Teachers need to take action when they recognize cheating and not let it slide by. Stricter enforcement would not eliminate cheating altogether, but it will drastically reduce the open practice of it, and make students think twice about their actions.