Over the years, various reports have shown that 1 out of 3 students have taken part in cheating during an examination in school. The rate of the act of cheating and cheaters within high schools, colleges, and other educational institutions is increasing day by day and no one is quite sure what the actual reason behind this behavior is. Cheating is always questioned but the responses of students seem to fluctuate from time to time.
Reasons Why Students Cheat
There are not one but various forms of cheating. Students do not necessarily have to be in an examination hall in order to conduct cheating. They might cheat on an assignment, a normal class test or even on their homework. Here are a number of reasons cheating is becoming more of a trend when it should actually have deteriorated quite some time ago:
Pressure Keeps Rising
Psychologists have conducted multiple researches on the subject and the findings have stated clearly that the belief students hold as well as the situation they are placed in greatly impacts their behavior. Some students learn at a slower pace than others and require more attention and care in their class in order to actually learn.
Many teachers play a huge role in this behavior as well. They place too much pressure on the student and some teachers even tend to participate in making fun of the not-so-bright students, which is a great step to killing their confidence. This is the reason why when students lack capability along with their confidence, they are more than likely to participate in cheating.
“Everyone Does It”
When questioned, many students have given this response to why they cheated on their examination. Most students get the confidence to cheat when they see their friends doing it and successfully getting away with it. Studies have shown that the maximum number of cheaters only cheated when they saw their peers doing the same. Even with the knowledge that cheating is wrong, students often look to their peers to understand which behavior is acceptable and which is not. However, when a student feels like their teacher actually cared, they would avoid participating in cheating.
When Importance Is Placed On the End Results Rather Than the Learning Process
Uncountable teachers make the mistake of placing value on grades instead of learning during their classes. Such teachers are partly accountable for the behavior of their students. They do not make it a point to clarify their concepts and help their students actually learn something during their classes. Oftentimes, a student will never question their teacher, mainly because they do not think their lessons are important enough. Many students avoid asking questions to understand what is being taught to them due to fear of their uncooperative teachers who offer little to no support.
Put an End to Cheating
It is more than likely for a student to cheat again if they have cheated in the past at some point, and managed to get away with it. It is not rocket science to put an end to cheating and it can be stopped with a few simple steps and a lot of dedication from parents and teachers, both. Here are a few ways to put an end to cheating:
Show Students That You Care
Let it be known to the students that you care about what they learn and how much of it they understand, more than you care about their end results and their grades. Of course, do not make it seem as though you do not care about their grades at all because this will make them stop caring about their studies all together. However, this greatly depends on the opinion of a student. If a student perceives their teacher actually cares about them, they are more likely to give up cheating and start caring about their learning processes as well.
Give Them a Sense of Belonging
Teachers should treat their entire class of students as equals instead of picking a favorite. When a teacher picks on a student and makes fun of him/her, the student loses most of the confidence he/she has, especially if the teacher compares them to a brighter student.
Treating all of them as equals and showing them they all matter is helpful as this has a positive impact on students. Class projects and assignments are another fun thing which helps students to enjoy the process of learning and when they learn, they will quit their cheating habits for sure.