Getting through high school has become very challenging for many students. Some try to adapt by looking for methods to make their assignments as easy as possible- especially cheating. Many students turn to cheating on their schoolwork as a last-desperate measure to increase their score on that upcoming test. I feel like in the modern day high school, getting an “A” has become more important than learning the material and actually trying to acquire knowledge. The grade system is partially responsible for the increasing numbers of students who cheat and who do not try as hard as they should.

Cheating has essentially become essential. According to The Wave, “In a survey of 24,000 students at over 70 different high schools, Donald McCabe, from Rutgers University, found that 95 percent of students participated in some form of cheating,” and, “In another study, the Josephson Institute Center for Youth Experts (JIYE) surveyed 43,000 high school students and found that 59 percent cheated once on a test, and 34 percent of all students cheated more than once on multiple tests.”

Cheating has become easier than it ever was before because of the improved accessibility of new technologies such as smart watches, bluetooth headphones, and smartphones. Even search engines like Google are filled with piles of answer keys waiting to be copied. As many classrooms are now converting to education via internet with programs like Google Classroom, directly copying and pasting answers onto an assignment from any website is possible with just a few clicks.  All of this is hurting the current generation, teaching them that being lazy is okay. Students see cheating as an easy outlet to their academic problems without ever realizing beforehand that they are cheating themselves out of an education. There are people who argue that cheating is not on the rise and sometimes it is necessary for students to cheat so that way they can improve their grades and have a better future. I do not agree. I think cheating is not the way to go and students should not use it as an outlet. I think it is better to fail or to suffer from a slightly worse grade. All students should learn from their mistakes and to make revisions rather than to cheat now and fail later in life.