Teachers: Understanding Cheating in the Classroom

Cheating has been a negative word in all aspects. When you cheat in marriage, that's not good. When you cheat in a game of poker (even though some people consider gambling bad), it's bad.

We can't cheat in anything if we don't want to get negative feedbacks. Cheating has been an absolute negative. We can't cheat time, death, life, games, exams and I can't think of anything that is allowed to be  cheated. Cheating anything always leaves a mark of guilt.

Of course we CAN but the argument is that we SHOULD NOT. There's wall between life and cheating which was build by our society. This is a social restriction that everybody has to observe obedience to in all aspects of life and living.

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In the classroom, cheating is, of course, disallowed. Two child philosophies govern this restriction in the classroom: the child-depravity theory and the innate-goodness theory.

The child-depravity theory states that children are naturally evil and teachers must nip their tails before it grows and lays eggs. One way, according to this theory, of nipping this evil in the bud is to discourage cheating. Because of this wisdom, it also followed that people who cheat are Satan's disciples.

The innate-goodness theory holds that children are, by birth, good people. Unpleasant behaviors are only caused by social pressure and confusion. This theory gives the teachers the responsibility of guiding them to discover their goodness inside. To prevent them from turning in the wrong side, teachers must discourage cheating.

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Another educational philosophy states that the classroom should push through morale and spirituality. This educational philosophy is idealism. This philosophy is realized using the students' conscience. Some teacher actually lead a prayer before an examination or talk about Jesus to discourage cheating.

Cheating, in the eyes of idealism, is a form of stealing. Stealing is not good.

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I remember my teacher in high school saying that cheaters will never amount to anything. She said that cheaters will never reach their dreams and will never succeed in life. Questions always flash in my mind whenever I remember these pieces of wisdom.

Has she not cheated when she was studying? Is cheating inevitable? How about other people who succeeded in life but cheated their exams in high school and in college? Is cheating an indication that one shall suffer poverty and disappointments in life?

I don't encourage cheating but saying that cheaters will never amount to anything, will never achieve their dreams and will never succeed in life seems to be over the fence since teachers can discourage cheating in many other ways.