Many students cut-corners, collaborate or copy homework, and they’ll admit to it. However, they won’t admit to cheating, the true name for what they are doing. Cheating is also known as academic dishonesty and is described as communication with other students about prior assessments, copying another student’s work, presenting someone else’s work as one’s own and much more. Students often cite the pressure and competition of the school and students as their reason for cheating. The administration and the teachers have tried to get students to end their cheating ways, but it often doesn’t work.

“I think that the competitive nature of HIghland Park causes some students to feel the need to cheat in order to obtain [ the ] grades that they desire,” junior Claire Lempert said.

Although the pressure and competition created by the school might lead students to cheat, that still doesn’t make it okay. In Highland Park cheating is punishable by scoring the grade as a zero and sending the student to the Honor Council where further actions may be taken. However, this is a light sentence compared to what happens to students attending college. At many colleges academic dishonesty, cheating and plagiarism, can be punishable by; class failure, expulsion or suspension, legal consequences and academic reputation. Academic reputation seems like a silly thing compared to the rest of the consequences, but academic reputation can affect further schooling, jobs and a person’s general perception.

“ When you get into college there are more dire consequences, even legal consequences that can arise if you are suspected of cheating,” Lempert said. “ It’s not worth it because it should be a learning experience, it’s why you go to school. It should be about educating yourself and not just taking information.”

Cheating also affects the way that peers view each other. Students who cheat may seem cool within their group of friends, but outside of that group they are often made fun of and ridiculed. There is also the fact that students cheat to get the grade they want. Grades have become more important than learning to a large portion of students in America, which leads students to believe that a number is more beneficial than an education. This leads to a flawed system of education in which students are not invested in their own learning and thus are wasting their time in high school and college. This also leads to teachers not caring about their students education, why should they be invested when the students are not? All of these issues and more stem from students cheating in school.

Cheating, in any form, is not something allowed in Highland Park, whether it be the high school or the elementary schools. However, even though there are harsh consequences students continue to cheat. Even though the competitive nature of the school may push people into putting their grades in front of their morals, that doesn’t keep students from suffering the consequences of their actions. Students should want their work to be 100 percent theirs, but the truth is that students don’t always do what they should.