Are students really cheating more?
AI and technology are getting more and more advanced as time goes on — to the point where it has become widespread in our modern world. We wanted to see how aware teachers are of students cheating and putting integrity behind them.
We interviewed several De Pere High School teachers to see if they were aware of cheating amongst their students and what impacts the cheating might have on the students’ futures.
When asked if teachers were aware of cheating, science teacher Mrs. Provost answered strongly, saying, “Yes. Lots of them. And there’s kids that are cheating that you can’t catch. But you do whatever you can to hopefully have them not cheat.”
Knowing that the teachers are aware of cheating may not be a deterrent at all for students.
Mrs. Provost states, “I’ve heard a lot of teachers say that they look the other way with cheating because they don’t want to have to write another assessment. Cheating is punishing the teacher and not the kid.”
Math teacher Mr. McGill also noted that, “A lot of students get away with it. I can’t catch everyone’s pencil writing on their chromebook.”
Teachers were very easily able to list some of the most common methods they see students using for cheating. Some of these strategies were the classic notecard in the calculator, writing on the hand, pulling out phones, sliding paper under the computer, glancing at other’s papers, computers, and more.
Science teacher Ms. Englebert and Mrs. Provost noted that the most common method of students cheating nowadays is taking pictures or writing down questions on tests or quizzes, and sharing them with students in other classes, or absent students. The biggest issue is students helping their peers cheat, rather than cheating for themselves.
The teachers we interviewed also noted that students have gathered more ways to cheat on assignments since the lockdown school year, 2020-2021. Teachers noted that kids would create group chats sharing answers to tests, looking stuff up on other devices, and more.
“I think students have just become more tech savvy,” Mrs. Englebert observes.
Upperclassmen who experienced lockdown in high school are more aware of methods of cheating and tend to get away with it more frequently. Mrs. Englebert touched on the fact that she catches freshmen students cheating the most.
We also asked teachers about the newly widespread usage of Artificial Intelligence (AI). We asked her whether or not using AI should be considered “cheating”.
“With AI, I think you go in with the intent of using it for cheating,” Mrs. Englebert said. “I think that it can be used for good [and for learning], but I have a lot of students who I don’t feel like are using it that way.”
We also asked about the consequences of cheating. Mrs. Englebert noted that cheating, albeit for a better grade in the near future, will eventually affect those who are cheating in the long run.
“[When you cheat], I think you’re only cheating yourself,” Englebert said. “I do think at some point it does catch up with you whether that’s now, whether that’s in 10 years from now, it’s going to catch up with you.”
Mr. McGill seemed to agree, noting that, unfortunately, some students are having a hard time not cheating.
“There’s definitely some kids that fall into those bad habits,” he said. “Now the option is stop cheating or work hard, and they’re struggling with that.”
