Cheating Essay, Research Paper

Students of all ages have been caught cheating. Recent news reports that cheating among students has risen to ?epidemic proportions?. Cheating is a contagious behavior that can be corrected through home, school, and national levels of intervention.

Lack of moral training both in the home and in schools has been cited as a major reason for the increase in the unethical behavior involved in cheating. Most children begin to learn morals in the home. It is crucial for parents to ?act out? the desired behaviors that they wish for their children to adopt. For example, if children observe their parents cheating on their taxes, the children may rationalize that cheating is okay for them also. Some parents have the attitude of ?do as I say, not as I do.? This attitude will perpetuate the problem of cheating. Parents need to instill the concept that self-gratification comes from the rewards of working hard to succeed.

At school, students need to be treated equally. If one student cheats, the punishment needs to be the same for all students. Favoritism seems to be present sometimes at the school level. School personnel, as well as parents, need to model ethical behavior.

On a national level, politicians, including our President, have been caught in unethical behavior. This mishap has an appearance of a societal problem of moral decline. Our local, state, and national leaders have an opportunity to influence students by setting examples of ethical behavior.

At the home level, parents need to take responsibility for their children?s moral training. At school, teachers and administrators need to be consistent and fair with punishment for all students who are caught cheating. At the national level, leaders need to be held accountable for ethical behaviors. With these interventions the epidemic of cheating can subside.