It is the morning of final exams at Mattoon High School, and a student spent his entire night studying hard. The tests are passed out; he glances over to grab a pencil and out of the corner of his eye, he notices a good pal is undoubtedly attempting to copy off of his test.
What would one do when faced with this moral dilemma?
"[I would] turn my body so that he or she is not able to see my test," said MHS sophomore Carley Leitch. "It is not worth getting caught and having the consequence of getting a zero for anyone trying to copy off my test."
Though Leitch would not aid her friend, several students at MHS admitted they would let their buddy cheat off of their paper. According to Mary Nolan, MHS English teacher, letting someone cheat does not benefit that person.
"Cheating can become a bad habit, and students who do cheat regularly may not develop the study skills necessary to further their education," said Nolan.
While cheating is a bad habit, some people wonder why this addictive behavior begins. According to MHS psychologist Jayme Holt, there are two possible reasons.
"The academic material is thought to be too difficult, or [the student] did not study the night before," said Holt.
Nevertheless, cheating is considered inexcusable to most of the MHS staff, including MHS Spanish teacher Randy Krepel.
"Cheating will not get students anywhere," said Krepel. "If they take the easy way out by cheating, they will not understand certain concepts that they will need for that course in the future."
Yet, cheating is not the only academic issue within the classroom walls. Students have also been caught plagiarizing assignments including PowerPoint presentations.
Though Billy Goodale, MHS history teacher, has only been teaching at MHS since the beginning of this school year, Goodale has noticed his students copying and pasting their PowerPoints from several different websites.
"I think [cheating and plagiarism] is a major problem because if students go to college and get in trouble for plagiarism, they will be kicked out, and there are no refunds," said Goodale.
Cheating and plagiarism has not just been noticed by teachers, but administrators as well. MHS Assistant Principal Michael Shaffer said this matter was an issue when he attended high school as well.
"I believe part of a school’s obligations is to correct its student’s behaviors," Shaffer said, "our policy [about cheating] has been around since I started teaching at MHS. The policy gives students an opportunity to correct the situation, whether cheating or plagiarism, if privileges are permitted," said Shaffer, referring to the Cheating and Plagiarism policy on page 35 in the MHS student handbook.
Whether copying others’ work is considered an inexcusable offence or an issue that needs to be resolved, cheating has existed for as long as school has been in session, but how long cheating will continue will remain a mystery.
"[Cheating will persist for] as long as it takes students to realize it is not about the grade, it is about them learning the material," said Krepel.