Troy High: Cheating Central

Cheating.

What a complicated topic – so of course, our essay this week had to be on it. I really couldn’t come up with a better blog post to describe this week than a snippet from that same essay, so enjoy:

 

Troy High School is known for its tough academic courses and its history of producing brilliant and competitive students. Never once has it been revealed just how little of that is actually achieved through personal effort. In fact, one could describe Troy High as an academic gambling pit – filled to the brim with cheaters of all kinds. Which is more than ample reason to advocate for a second look at the honor code; a code that is desperately in need of rewriting to meet the needs of the newer generations of students.

 At Troy High, cheating has become a rite of passage – a habit that is often times encouraged by fellow peers instead of dissuaded. The only warning that most of us ever issue the other is ‘don’t get caught’. Troy High is what Dirmeyer, Jennifer, and Alexander Cartwright would consider a school full of “cheater types”. They assert that students who are surrounded by “cheater types” tend to “cheat [more] than would normally do so, creating a culture of dishonesty” (Source C). Cheating has become something that is tossed around lightly – “that GBBE quiz? I think I’ll just cheat off of my phone. It’s not like my teacher will find out”. My own friends have exhibited the same behavior – writing equations on erasers and their hands – under the guise that, as stated by Philip Altbach who is a scholar at Boston College, “’It’s just easier to do’” (Source D). With how many students get away with cheating on tests, quizzes, and homework assignments, the question of what purpose does the honor code serve if it isn’t implemented arises, indicating the need for a revisit and perhaps rewriting of the honor code itself. The issue, however, lies in the notion that students must hold each other accountable to the school rules – not take turns breaking them. The students at Troy High are so used to cheating that forcing them to stop may produce the same reaction as someone in withdrawal.

 

Signing off for now,

Reality Sucks