To Cheat or Not to Cheat

I remember my teacher saying that students that are in more advanced classes are more prone to cheating. As I think about it, it kind of makes sense. They are usually under a lot of academic stress and the idea of cheating looks really enticing to boost those grades up and maintain competition with the other students. Focused on these personal reasons, the students are unlikely to follow the school honor code. The honor code is read to us in almost every class at the beginning of the year. The teacher sounds so intimidating reading off the punishments designed for cheaters. But even with the warnings, students do not hold onto their integrity. Sometimes they get caught, and other times, they don't. What's worse is that some teachers rely too heavily on the students to behave themselves. They would just place you in a room with the test and leave. 

This honor code situation can be compared to your mom. Imagine your mom telling you not to go on the computer while she is away for work or else, you would get punished. She leaves. Your fingers itch to go on the keyboard and spend endless hours watching stupid videos but a part of you holds back, afraid and cautious of the punishment of your mom finding out that you went against her order. Do you go on the computer? Or be a good child and go do something else? Choices can be difficult but most people would choose to cheat  on a test if the teacher left the room. But of course, there's the chance that the teacher might spontaneously come back into the room and catch you red-handed. 

My teacher once told my class a story about how he would catch the cheaters. In an school he once taught at, the door to his classroom had a little window above it. There were these set of stairs across from his room. If you sit at just the right place on the staircase, you could see through the small window into he classroom and have a clear view of the test takers. So every time he had people make up the test, he would hand out the test, leave the room, and sit on the stairs. Right away, the students whipped out their phones to cheat, unaware of the teacher watching them. My teacher would then casually walk into the classroom and confiscate their tests for cheating. I thought this was a brilliant and funny way to catch cheaters. 

In the end, the honor code doesn't really quite work out the way it is supposed. Students will cheat even after taking an oath of integrity and adding on the pressure of social influence, students will be inclined not to report cheaters because they wouldn't want to be labeled as the "snitch".