Needed Answers

So what can parents do to stem the tide of cheating? Starting at preschool age, parents can teach their kids the value of honesty-explaining it, expecting it, and demonstrating it. Providing youth with the tools to make good decisions will make students less likely to cheat. Emphasizing that learning is a steppingstone-rather than a detour-on the road to success can help a student to rely on his own effort. Besides, cheating to get a good grade can backfire when a child is expected to know something that he never learned or didn't bother to memorize.

Still, messages about the meaning of honor and knowledge may mean little to young people who fear being left behind by peers who are willing to play the cheating game. Getting a student to stay on the path of honesty is more likely when parents practice what they preach about the value of learning by easing off on pressure for high grades, honors classes, and admission to top colleges. Parents also can help without doing their child's assignments-this only fosters the idea that it is okay to get a good grade when someone else does the work.

Both parents and educators can step up their efforts to uncover cheating. Parents can become savvy about what wireless devices can do and what resources are available on the Internet. Checking the Web sites a student visits and reviewing his work to see if it looks too polished can cut down on cheating and provide opportunities to address it.

Educators are becoming more aware of the latest cheating methods and are responding with technology such as software that matches the text in student papers against material available on the Internet.

However, guarding against cheating must go hand in hand with clear standards about what cheating includes. Honor codes (a pledge to be honest) also can help. Yet, while honor codes call for doing the right thing, they may not give students a clear idea of why honesty matters.

School staff and parents may get students to pay more attention to their pleas for truth by appealing to students' sense of fairness. Showing that cheating threatens an equal shot at success for everyone can give new meaning to an idea that many students may find hard to apply.⁹

In sum, cheating in school is widespread, aided by technology, and often seen by students as normal or even necessary. As a result, parents must be alert to cheating and start early in teaching their children about fairness and showing them that honesty is worth the effort.

Sources

Additional Resources

• Scholastic.com. Success Tips From the Principal: How To Help Your Child Succeed in Middle School, last referenced 6/13/2006.
• The Ups & Downs of Adolescence, 2003. Parents: Never Say Never, last referenced 6/13/2006.

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