Cheating In School

There are many debated punishments for people who cheat in school. People who cheat in college and get caught may be able to drop the class to avoid their F grade before anything is filed. "If you had cheated in a class or been accused of it, if you tried to drop once charges were filed, you would automatically be re-enrolled" (Mac Zilber, The Guardian, 4/12/12). This means that once a student cheats, and there is suspicion of them cheating, they cannot do anything to try to avoid legal punishments with the school. 

There are also less severe punishments that use the offenders morals for punishment. Kenneth Bernstein, a 9th grade teacher, said that he had the students turn in a written confession, and also he had them come up with the punishment (Jay Matthews, The Washington Post, 10/28/01). This helps the student to change their ways and realize that they were not right to cheat. 

I believe punishments should not be based on severity, but more on how to actually correct the wrongdoing. I do not believe that a first time cheater should fail an entire class due to their offense. I think the student should be monitored more when taking tests, and they should also have certain privileges taken away, but nothing should be completely ruined due to one mistake. Even though I have not cheated on a test, I know that many people who do so, only do it because of the pressure that is put on them by parents, teachers, and administrators. People should instead try to figure out the problem and help the student through whatever they are going through. If it turns out the student is just cheating because they don't feel like working, I think that they should have harsher punishments though.