Cheater, Cheater, Pumpkin Eater

I have been disrespected and cussed at. I have endured abbreviated cursing (a later post, I promise).  I have been mocked and teased. I have had to talk to condescending and rude parents and endured the condescension of co-workers.  I have been belittled, ignored, and outright disobeyed.   I even had a student walk out of class to talk to his “agent” on the phone, and then another walked out of class because he was upset about taking a test.   All things that usually get teachers upset, however, not me. Not really.

For me, there really, there is only ONE thing that burns me up as a teacher. REALLY gets me angry.  Makes me want to retire. To quit right here, right now. To give everyone an “F,”  or hold a “burn the papers in front of their eyes” party.

That one thing that REALLY gets me upset?                     

                                                          

                                                                 CHEATING

Nothing gets me angry like cheating.  An inexplicable feeling of rage, combined with intense disappointment in the student and despair over the whole of the future generations comes over me whenever I catch a student cheating. (And catch them I do. Thanks to handy inventions like turnitin.com, or a recent little start-up "google" ... or when students turn in the same paper. Or hide papers behind books, under other papers, inside notebooks. Or write on their hands. Or have answers on erasers that they erase as I pass by ... or have answers on phones....)

I hate cheating so much, I start to get angry just thinking about it - my face flushes red, my blood pressure rises, my heart starts racing. I can’t even talk; I lack the adequate words to express just how much I detest it.  (I can’t even describe my current emotional state just writing about cheating)

To me, cheaters are no different than drug dealers and other lowlifes. They are taking the “easy way” out. Trying to manipulate the system. Using others to advance themselves.

If I had my way, students who cheated would immediately fail the class. If I had my way, students who cheated would have to serve community service house - picking up trash, or painting buildings, or cleaning lavatories - show them their future occupations if they continue down the path of cheating ...   

Suffice to say, I NEVER cheated as a student. NEVER.   And, I never let others cheat off of me. (A fact which earned me the nickname of “school girl.”  My retort to the guy who started calling me that, was to call him “Manuel” because – I predicted – he’d be dong manual labor in his future if he kept cheating)

So, I don’t understand why a student would be compelled to cheat. I can't have any sympathy or empathy having never "been there" myself. It baffles my mind. I can only imagine reasons why a student would cheat: perhaps the pressure to be perfect … or not understanding the assignment … or having waited too long to get started on an assignment and then just taking the easy way out.  (Or maybe just sheer laziness. a lack of morality. a lack of character) 

Lame excuses in my book.  Not a good enough reason. There is never a "good enough" reason to cheat in my opinion.

Cheating is the one thing that WILL catch up to you one day.   It shows such a lack of moral character. I always tell my students that it’s not worth it – sacrificing your integrity, your character, your reputation for a grade. A measly grade that won’t matter in 10 years. A grade that no one will remember in several weeks. A grade that has really no lifelong impact or significance.  (Especially in my class where no one grade carries enough weight that a student will fail or not graduate due to not doing well on any one assignment.)

But your character – who you are, what you do when you think no one will notice – THAT will remain with you forever. What you do when you think no one will notice will matter in "real life" - when what seems so important in high school is just a memory.

What you do when you think no one will notice is what I remember about my students. And, trust me, I never forget who cheated. Never. If no one else remembers, I remember that kid who tried to get away with it.  I might forgive. We might be able to move past it, to have a friendly relationship – but I will remember that very telling fact about your character – what you willingly sacrificed in exchange for something that in the end, doesn't even matter. 

To quote Emerson, "Character is higher than intellect. A great soul will be strong to live as well as think."  I can only wish that more of my students knew and lived like this.