Based on what I’ve been hearing recently – cheating is more rampant than ever.

Ever since schools have spent long months with remote classes and other drastic changes, some students have turned this chaos into an opportunity of sorts.

I’ve had multiple students (ones I wouldn’t have expected to tell me this in a million years,) admitting to and implicating all their friends into stuff that is straight up cheating.

Remote classes means looking stuff up is easier than ever.

It also means paying attention becomes that much harder – creating more temptation than ever to take advantage of the situation…

No Judgement Zone

I’m not a happy-go-lucky no judgement kinda’ guy. I gotta’ be honest with you here. I can be a bit of a – moving on…

But that’s not the point of this conversation. I want to emphasize this.

In this post, I’m not trying to judge. Stuff has gone a bit crazy for a lot of people. I graduated years ago and I only know so much about how strange this stuff is getting.

What I understand:

1. It’s easier than ever to cheat.
2. It’s harder than ever to get caught.
3. You can improve your short-term results…

And to be completely honest, a huge percent of your competition in class is probably cheating too. That means the students not cheating are at a distinct disadvantage.

4. They don’t even (necessarily) deserve your honesty.

Put another way, I can imagine scenarios where this kind of stuff is perfectly ethical – like lying to protect your friend from the bully coming to beat the crap out of em’ or something. I don’t want to waste time convincing you that cheating is bad for the school – not important. I’m going to focus on the practicality of it.

How To Be Smarter Than Your Friends

From a practical standpoint, cheating is a flawed strategy.

Opportunities usually look like challenges.

When you find out that tons of other students around you are cheating, you’re presented with a challenge.

You’re going to have to work harder to compete with students that have an unfair advantage against you. (Or you could take the risks and join them.)

But that’s also an opportunity because life won’t always give them that unfair advantage. When that unfair advantage disappears, (some of you have already watched this happen, I know it.) the students that relied on cheating will be floundering. Those that stayed legit will get a huge advantage.

Assuming a large number of students cheated, that will just make this advantage bigger because…

Teachers will see the average scores in their classes dropping. Many of those teachers will assume they need to scale down the difficulty. That means, not only will you be better but the work could literally get easier. Your head start could easily catapult you to the top tier of your class.

And seriously though…

How To Completely Fail At Life (And Score High Anyway)

Cheating gives a short term advantage (if done successfully and it remains a secret,) but in the long run, it will always face up against the realities of life.

If your school never notices, maybe your next one will. And if they don’t, your employer will probably notice eventually. They may see your top of the class scores and think you’re all that just to see how much of a dope you are – your scores won’t matter then. (Of course, smart people can cheat too. It’s just a gamble to assume you’re so smart that you don’t need what school is teaching you.)

I’m not saying cheating will make you a failure.

I’m just saying, cheaters are at a significantly higher risk of being a big failure.

Scores matter until they don’t matter anymore. And when they don’t matter, will you be prepared for what you were supposed to be preparing for?

If you are then you can succeed. If not…

Just be prepared.

Why are you cheating?

If you’re cheating because it’s a calculated risk you’re taking to improve your long term prospects in life then –

I disagree with your position (probably) but I understand where you’re coming from. Some students are very successful doing this.

If you’re cheating because:

-you’re scared of failing
-you want to impress people
-you’re lazy
-you’re not capable of passing without cheating
-you like “getting away with it”

Then I think you’re setting yourself up for a very challenging life. These are things that will hold you back for your entire life and they’re way deeper than a number on a report card.

Last thing…

What kind of a world do you want to live in?

I know you can’t stop others from cheating. But if you choose to participate in this kind of a world then you’re going to make it more prevalent. And you’re going to have to live with those consequences…

I’m thinking of a Nietzsche idea that is something like this:

Most people that step into this unethical world end up running through a labyrinth being chased by their own Minotaur of conscience. They think they can handle it before they do it but then they constantly have to keep taking more and more complicated turns to try to justify their actions in their own minds.

10 years from now – you’re a massive success – will you believe you genuinely deserve it? Or will it eat away at you? Will these decisions encourage you to take bigger and more serious risks?

I don’t know. For some people it won’t matter. It would torture me.

You choose the world you want to surround yourself with – if only by what you focus on.

I recommend focusing on honesty, love, and strange Youtube rabbit holes.

Image Sources: jirka_matousek, athenasyarifa, audiolucistore, thecrazyfilmgirl