These days, it seems like cheating is everywhere, from the simple home to the classroom. With stories of professional dishonesty, it’s no wonder that studies show academic cheating among children and teens on the rise. But while cheating on a test or plagiarizing an essay may seem a quick way to get a good score, students are actually holding themselves back from the type of meaningful learning that wull serve them best in life.
So how can parents keep kids from cheating in a society that seems to tension winning at any cost? According to Psychologists, the trick is so trim down the motivations that drive cheating in the first place. “ Kids cheat when they become stressed,” who says that as the pressure to get good grades ad high test scores increases, so does the incidence of cheating. They say that although children who cheat in school do not fit any defined profile, they’re usually students who are much more focused on getting good grades and being motivated rather than motivated by a desire to learn. That means that the more pressure students feel, the more likely they are to cheat. And although pen-and-paper notes and other familiar methods are still very much in use, cell phones and other technologies have opened up new opportunities for students achieving for top grades. “Obviously with more technologies there are more methods students use to cheat,” psychologists say. Browsing the internet during a test, texting solutions or taking photos of answer sheets and messaging them to friends are all possible in our “techy” era, and promoting no phone policies can be tough for teachers.
Using technology as a cheating material may be new, but cheating has been around a long time, and it probably won’t go away anytime soon. However, there are things that parents can do to help make sure their children get the most out of their education by getting past the craving to cheat.
By: Gina M. Manrique | Teacher III | Limay National High School | Limay, Bataan