The Challenge of Being Bright

A survey of high school students listed in the Who’s Who Among
American High School Students provided the following statistics:

• Eighty-eight percent judged cheating to be “common” among
  their peers.
• Seventy-six percent confessed they had cheated. (In a 1940s
  national sample of college students, 20 percent admitted to cheating
  in high school when questioned anonymously.)
• The students ranked copying someone else’s homework as the most
  frequently practiced form of cheating (65 percent of the cheaters);
  cheating on a quiz or test ranked second (38 percent); consulting
  a published summary in lieu of reading the book ranked third (29
  percent); and plagiarizing a published work ranked fourth (15 percent).

Every parent hopes to have a genius for a child, but
very few actually do. However, most students are able to make good grades
and succeed in school on their own through hard work and studying, even if
school doesn’t come easily. Parents have a responsibility to encourage
their children to achieve academic success through their own efforts and
not to cheat their way to good grades. Faith Tibbetts McDonald, a writer
for Christianity Today, has identified through her research the top
four excuses students use for cheating in school:

• Excuse #1: “If you want to pass, you have to cheat.” Students
  are under enormous pressure today – to succeed, to graduate,
  to get into college. With parental pressure, increasingly difficult
  subject matter and intense competition, students often feel that
  they have no choice but to cheat. Dr. Sally Morrison, assistant
  professor at Wheaton College in Illinois, says sometimes the problem
  is not so much the student, but his/her parents or teachers. “When
  students cheat, we need to ask why they feel so insecure about
  the subject matter,” she says. You might find that your child
  feels he needs perfect grades to please you. That’s why parents
  need to make sure they set reasonable expectations. It’s
  essential that we emphasize effort and attitude at least as much
  as grades. Teachers have responsibilities as well. Studies show
  that cheating occurs more often in a classroom where the teacher
  is disorganized and inattentive to student behavior. Other factors
  that might make cheating a tempting option: vague penalties for
  cheating; the teacher offering unclear reasons for learning, or
  a final grade based on only one or two papers or tests. When teachers
  provide study sheets, offer study sessions and use various forms
  of assessment (tests, presentations, projects, papers, etc.) cheating
  decreases. If you sense that your child is feeling intense pressure
  from a teacher, or that he/she doesn’t see the value of a
  particular subject, talk to the teacher about ways you can help
  your child succeed in school. Ask what you as a parent can do to
  add to what your child is learning in class. Help your child find “real
  world” applications for what he/she’s learning. Point
  out the ways you use math during the day or the importance of understanding
  how our government works. Although promoting school changes may
  seem like a daunting task, Dr. Morrison says it’s the first
  step is developing a rapport between parents and teachers. Look
  for ways you can work with your child and the teacher to create
  an academic atmosphere in which learning is maximized.
• Excuse # 2: “I’m not smart enough. I have to cheat.” Children
  often use the excuse, “I’m not smart enough” in
  one of two ways. They either truly believe they can’t do
  the work, or they use it as a cop-out when they don’t feel
  like studying anymore. To tackle the second issue (laziness), help
  your child divide homework into manageable chunks – do half
  the math problems before dinner and the other half after. For big
  tests or projects, help your child plan ahead and create a schedule
  to complete the task on time. If confidence really is a problem,
  your attitude can be crucial in helping your child feel more capable. “Sometimes,
  parents inadvertently teach children that cheating is the only
  way to pass by habitually giving them too much homework help,” says
  teacher Robin Ann Fabros. She says she’s seen projects and
  book reports that were obviously completed by parents. Children
  can sense when their parents don’t think they can handle
  the work on their own. So while making yourself available to help
  with homework can be a great encouragement to your child, doing
  the work for him/her can have the opposite effect. You can avoid
  helping too much by clarifying the amount of homework help the
  teachers consider acceptable. For example, ask your child’s
  teachers how they feel about parents typing book reports. Ask how
  they would like you to handle errors that you find as you type.
  If you truly feel that a homework assignment is too difficult for
  your child, then let the teacher know. Also, the idea that it’s
  impossible to succeed without cheating often comes from the most
  innocent sources. Take video games for example. Kids often search
  the Internet for codes or “cheats” to help them win.
  Many games are actually designed so that a crafty player can surf
  the Internet and discover a secret code or shortcut that will allow
  him to advance or even win the game without completing each level.
• Excuse # 3: “Copying homework isn’t cheating. It’s
  working together.” Some kids are genuinely uncertain about
  the specifics of cheating. School culture can actually contribute
  to this confusion. Many teachers encourage teamwork and require
  kids to work in groups. In turn, kids may stretch the concept and
  assume copying someone else’s homework and handing it in
  as their own is okay – a “type” of teamwork.
  In addition, some school districts have “homework help hotlines.” Unfortunately,
  many students don’t see the difference between the help they
  receive here and getting the answers from a smart friend. Students
  are especially confused when it comes to identifying plagiarism.
  Consider the many Internet sites that advertise homework “help.” There
  are literally thousands of these sites. Although many include a
  disclaimer (in small print) declaring that papers are provided
  for “reference only” and students should not turn them
  in as their own, several sites offer the ability to download free
  or reasonably-priced papers and book reports. Even if you know
  your child isn’t visiting these sites, he/she has likely
  heard about them from her friends. It’s important that you
  talk to your kids about the subject, explaining that turning in
  a “copied” paper is cheating, they will not have earned
  the grade, and what the consequence is. It’s also important
  to help your children understand that giving answers to another
  student is just as wrong as taking them.
• Excuse #4: “Everybody else does it.” When kids see
  others cheating, especially without being caught, it’s easy
  for them to question the importance of integrity. Provide your
  kids with the motivation to be honest. Emphasize that you value
  honesty and integrity over high grades, and back this up when report
  cards come in. Remind your child that he/she will feel better knowing
  he/she earned the grade, rather than cheated to get it. One student
  in the research indicated that “cheating makes [him] feel
  cheap because [he] wonders what grade [he] would have gotten if
  [he’d] done it on [his] own.” Tell
  your kids that if they study hard and do their best, you’ll
  be happy, and so will they. Teaching kids to take the moral high
  road is never easy. When it comes to building character in children,
  active involvement and consistent examples are crucial. As you live
  a life that reflects honesty and integrity, your kids will learn
  what it means to stand up for what’s right and take pride in
  a job well done.