The topic of students cheating in high school has been well researched before. Numerous studies have been done and analyzed. Academic cheating includes a wide range of offenses, from sharing homework to acquiring the test questions in advanced. The percentages of students that admit to cheating has changed over years. According to one study by The Josephson Institute of Ethics, in 1996 64% of students admitted to cheating, and that increased to 70% in 1998 (http://www.glass-castle.com/clients/www-nocheating-org/adcouncil/research/cheatingfactsheet.html). However, according to a more recent study also conducted by The Josephson Institute of Ethics, the percentage of students that admit to cheating have decreased in recent years. In 2010 the percentage of students that cheated on an exam was 59%, but by 2012 the percentage dropped to 51%. Also the percentage of students who admit to copying homework has decreased from 34% to 32% (http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2012/11/25/high-school-students-cheating/1719297/). Also, it appears that the reason students cheat has changed over the years as well. In previous decades, struggling students saw cheating as a means of doing better in a class, whereas in more recent years “high achieving” students are also cheating (http://www.glass-castle.com/clients/www-nocheating-org/adcouncil/research/cheatingfactsheet.html). Students at Stuyvesant High School, an extremely high achieving high school, described why they, and other students, cheated. The number one reason was pressure to achieve. Many students may have felt the need to get the highest grades in order to stand out. Some used cheating as a way to deal with the pressure of tests. Another reason for cheating appeared to be disrespect for faculty members. For example, some students cheated on a French final because they felt their teacher had not taught them anything. Also, the punishment issued for cheating may not be severe enough to discourage students (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/26/education/stuyvesant-high-school-students-describe-rationale-for-cheating.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1&b). Some studies support the fact that that students in honors classes cheat at a high rate. According to one study, 80% of “high achieving” students admit to cheating (http://www.caveon.com/resources/cheating-statistics) The ethics of cheating may also be a factor in whether students cheat or not. According to one study, 51% of students did not think that cheating was wrong (http://www.caveon.com/resources/cheating-statistics/). Students may also balance the morality of cheating against its benefits or the importance of the assignment. For example, copying homework would be less wrong than cheating on a test (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/26/education/stuyvesant-high-school-students-describe-rationale-for-cheating.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1&b). Also, students have come up with many ways to cheat; this may affect what students count as cheating. Some students write the answers on water bottle wrappers, create a system of tapping codes, or copy answers onto their scrap paper (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/26/education/stuyvesant-high-school-students-describe-rationale-for-cheating.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1&b). Cheating has also become technologically sophisticated. According to a study, 58% of students admit to plagiarizing from the internet. Some students have even hacked into teacher’s computers and have stolen exams (http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6539855.html). Another factor in student cheating may be lack of fear of being caught. According to one study, 95 % of students that cheat had not been caught. http://www.caveon.com/resources/cheating-statistics/). One study showed that most cheaters have not been caught (http://www.glass-castle.com/clients/www-nocheating-org/adcouncil/research/cheatingfactsheet.html) The information was found by using the search engine Google. Key words such as “percent of students admitting to cheating in high school” were entered. Sites were selected based on if the information present was relevant to the topic. Sites that contained statistics as the result of studies were preferred.
