<p>I wouldn’t go as far as to say that any kid would cheat, as SLightManifesto proclaims.</p>
<p>I also think GreekMom is naive to think that “most kids wouldn’t.” I posted a statistic earlier about how rampant cheating is these days. In fact, research shows that most kids would do what the OP did. I think it’s a fallacy to believe that anybody who did this would steal an ipod. That’s ridiculous.</p>
<p>To reiterate what I said earlier, I’m in no way defending cheaters. I just happen to agree with anonymous, golfer111, and naturally that it’s beyond comprehension why cheating is seen as WORSE than doing something potentially deadly and certainly illegal, which is underage drinking.</p>
<p>I just asked my high stats senior Dd if in the same circumstances would she ask for a copy of test if she knew a friend had one… . she looked at me with a shocked face and said “No”. </p>
<p>I DON’T believe all high academic kids would do it. . .I would hope most would not . </p>
<p>I DO know my 4 high academic high achieving kids would not – and my four kids are NMF or NM Commended with 4.5 gpa type kids who do lots of ECs (and they know how crucial high GPAs are and how important it is, if possible, to get that top 1- 10 ranked student / top 2% class ranking)</p>
<p>Most kids would be willing to cheat, but most kids don’t plan to go to a top-ranked college. I have no hard evidence, but from my experience the most academically inclined kids are much less likely to cheat; makes sense, when just one report for cheating can affect your college chances a lot.</p>
<p>Perhaps you should get some evidence then, because according to UC Berkeley,</p>
<p>“In the past, kids struggling in school were more likely to cheat than high-achievers, but today we’ve created such a fixed-mindset environment in our schools that it is the college-bound students who are the most likely to cheat as they struggle to reach the seemingly super-heroic levels of achievement required for college admissions”</p>
<p>Except there’s no evidence there either. All they give is evidence that cheating in general has risen (which is true but not relevant), and anecdotes about how high performing students cheated.</p>
<p>I completely disagree with amarkov. From my experience, the honors class= cheaters in my school. The supposed “elite” of the school are a bunch of cheaters.</p>
<p>It’s not that they’re stupid or anything, but because of the competitive environment and college admissions in mind, I think a growing number of good kids are cheating to get ahead. This doesn’t mean that they are bad, they’re just tired, sleepy, and misguided…</p>
<p>No evidence… how exactly would you obtain evidence of this, its not like kids are willing to tell anyone if they were to cheat, even if it was anonymous, I don’t see it happening.</p>
<p>@GeekMom, I can’t believe you just equated accepting a test from a friend and stealing an iPod. I think you need to learn a little bit more about your son than you already know. I’m sure he’d accept the test on the same terms as the OP.</p>
<p>If the top students at your school are all cheaters, I can almost guarantee you the rest are too. For a lot of students, cheating on tests isn’t something that you do because you’re desperate, just something you do as a matter of course.</p>
<p>Agreed. At least at my school, the kids who cheat do so regularly–they’ll take a copy of a test on their phone, give out answers to quizzes/tests like candy, blatantly plagerize. And then there are the ones who leave or ask to change the topic when someone asks starts listing test questions. I don’t think there’s a particularly remarkable correlation between the high achieving kids and cheating. </p>
<p>I wonder if grade inflation is fueling cheating, though. B’s and even C’s used to be more common and perfectly respectable for an average student–now, not so much. Even lower-achieving (versus T10/20/whatever-bound) kids feel a certain pressure to get at least B, at least in my school. Not all these kids turn to cheating, however.</p>