The exchanging of answers for homework and the sly craning of heads during tests — you see it all the time. Unfortunately, cheating is a sight that students are used to. Kids know that cheating is morally incorrect but they do it anyway.

I can honestly admit that I have compared homework answers with other kids and have asked others how a certain test was if they had taken it before me. However, I still know that I have to understand the reasoning of a certain answer before I put it down as my own and and I know that I can’t ask too much of my friends about tests.

Cheating is wrong; but honestly, it won’t ever stop. There will always be those certain students who get through school by merely getting answers from another source, peering at other’s tests or looking online for solutions before even attempting questions on their own. Things may end up okay at that moment, but in the future, the life of independence will not be easy for them. Cheating creates an unfair consequence for everyone, even for the cheater.

Students don’t always get the grade they deserve- – for better or for worse. It’s a common experience for a student to work countless hours on a certain major assignment and end up getting a lower grade compared to a student that borrows other people’s work and perhaps spends only about 30 minutes on it. You can’t help but feel angry when that happens to you.

People need to realize that in the long run, cheating is essentially taking the hard way out, not the easy way. If someone can use all their energy to cheat, they might as well take their time to actually do the work themselves.

Everything takes an effort. If you really care enough to try to get a good grade — even by wrong actions — then actually doing all the work is even more rewarding and advantageous. Let’s start listening to our consciences again and do the right thing. Cheaters never prosper and more importantly, true hard work pays off tenfold.