For most students, having a good future is their top priority. However, the stress and pressure to get a promising future can sometimes lead to cheating, whether it be on homework, tests, or quizzes, or even in physical education games. Students try so hard to perform well that they compromise the integrity of their work.

Chemistry teacher Sarah Steinke explains her belief on why students cheat: “There is a lot of pressure to perform well.” Steinke believes that students often cheat on homework or tests by asking what the questions and answers were. She adds, students “invertedly cheat” by doing so. English teacher Kristen Williams holds the same belief.

Out of the 5 teachers interviewed, all claim that cheating has not gotten easier. They all stated that there has always been cheating. However, Physical Education teacher Joe Kravitz explains “the Internet makes students more resourceful. There are a lot more resources to purchase papers . . .  [the Internet] aids them to problem solve.”

Although some teachers experience catching a student in the act of cheating, they all have different forms of consequences. For example, Robb Schultz, a U.S. history teacher, states, “They get a zero [on the assignment] and a phone call home. They can’t take retakes ever.”

However math teacher, Jennifer Gray, talks to the student for their first-time offense. She believes there are not many students who cheat. She explains her reason for having a conversation with the student first: “It is hard to tell who cheated. You can’t call someone out without proof.”

Overall cheating among students has not gotten worse, but technology has changed the way they cheat. According to the article Plagiarism: Facts and Stats,  “1 out of 3 high school students admitted that they used the Internet to plagiarize an assignment” (Plagiarism.org). Because cheating has always been around, and the Internet has evolved, the Internet has changed the way that students cheat.