No reason to cheat in college

Academic dishonesty in general is subpar and a sign of immaturity. There’s no excuse to be cheating in college.

While cheating should be unacceptable, often it goes unnoticed or unaddressed. It’s baffling to know students continue these bad habits in college, believing cheating will benefit them.

Attending an institution of higher learning allows students to face and overcome challenges while building character. When students believe they’re being clever by gaming the system, in actuality they are cheating themselves. They stunt their own understanding and knowledge.

It may seem OK to cheat once or twice. But many students do it habitually. They end up relying on cheating to pass even the simplest of tests or quizzes.

Students need to realize they will most likely have to use this knowledge at some point during their careers. By cheating their way through courses, they aren’t learning the information. Ultimately, they will enter the workforce without the knowledge they should have acquired during their time at Florida A&M.

When they flub assignments at work and fail to complete tasks they should know how to do, not only do they taint their reputations but they also make the university and all of its students look bad. This is why academic dishonesty must be dealt with seriously.

Students give a multitude of excuses for cheating. But only two reasons should be considered: poor time management and irresponsible prioritizing. People cheat when they do not apply themselves to their studies adequately.

Poor time management and procrastination stresses students, which ultimately drives some to cheat. Before they know it, they have too many assignments due at once, and studying gets placed on the back burner.

Too often students cheat simply because they did not intend to study in the first place. Going out with friends, watching their favorite shows, playing basketball or video games momentarily seemed more important than sitting down at their desks and studying.

There’s no honor or pride in cheating. What’s a grade if you didn’t really earn it? You can’t later recite the information when asked or even recollect any prior knowledge of the subject if it arises later. It’s essentially lying to teachers, future employers and yourselves.

Students cannot be effective contributors to society if they fake their way through school. If students could find interesting ways to study and manage their time and priorities instead of cheating creatively, there would be more graduating scholars instead of dropouts, suspensions and expulsions.

The embarrassment of being kicked out of the university and having people realize you are nothing more than a fraud isn’t worth it.

Just study.