Fulton
Arschiel Fulton
Professor Dr. B. McGregor
English 1302 – 230
2 February 2015
Most, if not all, of my generation would say that college/school, can be very
challenging and involves a lot of hard work. Recent interviews that I have completed and
movies that I have watched show many students have found ways to overcome this
obstacle by cheating of some sort. “Everybody does it,” according to David Callahan (N.
P.). The Cheating Culture demonstrates how cheating has infested American life. Some
individuals believe that cheating is okay when doing certain assignments such as
homework, quizzes or even major tests. Some students also believe this has nothing to
do with their major or job, so they do not care. Cheating has definitely increased over the
last decade and seems to not be slowing down anytime soon. In determination to find out
why students take such risks in cheating, and knowing the consequences, I watched a
movie entitled Cheaters, and completed two interviews with Tarleton State University
students. I also explained a personal experience where cheating was involved. In the
following paragraphs I will see why students take the risk of conducting such actions
knowing the possible outcome if caught in the act of cheating.
One reason students cheat is because they think some classes or some material
may not be relevant to them. For example, in Nathans article, she discusses many
reasons students cheat, including how students believe its okay to cheat on “meaningless
or irrelevant assignments”. This shows that some students are enrolled in school and
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required to take certain courses, often they believe that taking that class is relevant to
them. Therefore, the students believe that it is ok to cheat in the classes. In the movie
Cheaters, about nine students from Stienmetz High school competed in an academic
decathlon competition. The students wanted to win the competition against Whitney
Young magnet school and would do anything necessary to accomplish this goal, even if
their tactics were unethical. When the idea of cheating was brought up, each students had
a different reaction, some wanted to cheat and some did not think it would be a good
idea. After being forced to cheat by the teacher and other students, the individuals against
it started to accept the idea of cheating knowing the ultimate goal was to dominate
Whitney Young magnet school, and make Stienmetz High School stand out for their
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