Royal Purple

Issue date: 5/7/08 Section: Opinion

A recent poll on www.RoyalPurpleNews.com found that 47 percent of respondents have cheated in some form during their college career.

The end of the spring semester is a bittersweet month. The cold weather has finally lifted, but clouds have quickly descended in the form of final exams.

Exam and its annoying friend Paper dwell on the minds of students for weeks on end while the beautiful weather tries to lure them outside for sunbathing, walks, ultimate Frisbee, cookouts and the like. These temptations are sometimes overwhelming, and students choose spur of the moment fun over schoolwork, and rightly so.

However, the papers and studying are still waiting for them when they get back, and some students may feel the need to make up for lost time by finding the quickest way possible to finishing their projects: plagiarizing or cheating. Although they are quick and, thanks to abundant technology, easy ways to the finish line, they shouldn't even be an option.

Results from a poll from RoyalPurpleNews.com asking "To what extent have you ever cheated during your college career?" show some interesting information.

Of those who responded, 17 percent said they have snuck in a cheat sheet, 9 percent said they have written answers on body parts, 4 percent admitted to plagiarizing on a paper, 4 percent said they have stored answers on an iPod or cell phone, 13 percent said they have used other forms of cheating and 53 percent said they had never cheated during their college careers.

At first glance the results may suggest the majority of Whitewater students have never cheated. However, a poll is not a fight for a majority vote; take a closer look. Add up the remaining responses, and you have 47 percent of respondents admitting to cheating in some shape or form.

If a similar poll was offered to all students with the same results, that would be equivalent to two out of every five students, or nearly half of a classroom of students, admitting to cheating. That is still a large number.

We are an institution of higher education, yet the concepts of honesty and integrity have yet to be grasped by some. Cheating off the paper of the kid sitting next to you might not have been a big deal back in the days of recess and milk breaks, but it's adolescent at this stage in school.

Yes, the difficulty of classes has increased, but the distance between students and the receiving of their diplomas is decreasing; shouldn't students want that diploma to be legitimate? They should, but sometimes crossing the finish line is more important than how you get there.

Students should be all for living in the moment and enjoying the weather, but not to the extent of short-changing yourself by the time you graduate. The next two weeks are awful as everyone receives their final assignments and exam workloads compounded on top of each other.

By the time students graduate, they should be able to stand beside their scholastic achievements, and they should want to as well.

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