There was a time when cheating was rare in schools, but today the whole “importance of learning” aspect has been eliminated. Instead, everyone is focused on making the top ten percent of their class or being valedictorian and we seem to have forgotten school’s purpose. School exists so that we will be educated, not so everyone can cheat their way into being successful.

A lot of students today don’t even view cheating as wrong, and most of those who cheat have been doing it for so long that it doesn’t even faze them. This really bothers me because they probably will never stop to think how bad it truly is. When you cheat, you learn nothing, which is why cheating is so serious.

Our society seems to believe that the more material wealth you have, the more successful you are. This frustrates me because it seems many people have become successful by scamming and cheating their way to the top.

If kids think cheating is normal, who knows what they will find acceptable as adults. Most people think that cheating on one little test doesn’t mean that you will cheat again. Unfortunately this is not true because if you can get away with it once, you are likely to do it again. I don’t think teachers and colleges realize just how much students cheat.

If cheating continues in college, students will get nothing out of what they are being tested on. If a college student cheats on all the work they do for their major, when and if they get a job, that person will be totally unprepared and be a total mess at work, yet be paid for something they don’t know how to do.

I am not saying that anyone who has ever cheated is a crook, because that would mean just about every student at your average school would be one, including me. What I am saying is that cheating should be more frowned upon and kids should receive harsher penalties. This is not something you want to hear, but I truly believe that if there were consequences for cheating, students would actually focus on learning. Then we all would be better educated.