kid cheating on homework

What to do When Your Child is Caught Cheating in School? (Elementary, Middle, High-School)

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Cheating. As parents, it’s not something we want to think about.

Sadly, it happens. In fact, if you are reading this right now, it has probably happened to you.

The best thing you can do now is take a deep breath and some advice from someone who has been there.

What to Do When Your Child is Caught Cheating

Get all of the facts from all parties involved. Work with the school to reach a mutual decision about how to go forward. Attempt to find out why your child cheated and then address that issue. Never excuse cheating. This is an instance that requires punishment (grounding, revoked privileges, etc.).

The Story of a Cheater

I cheated. It’s not something I’m proud of, but it is part of my history, and I own it. When I was in high school, my Chemistry teacher left the answer key to an upcoming multiple-choice exam on his desk within plain view.

Seeing my opportunity to become beloved by all of my fellow students, I grabbed the test, quickly made a copy, and returned it unnoticed.

I then shared my prize with the sophomore captain of my high school football team, who proceeded to make enough copies for everyone.

I was a hero until I wasn’t.

As you might suspect, the unhappy ending to this story is that none of us were as sneaky as we thought we were. The teacher caught wind of the scheme and changed the test.

Those who weren’t reading through the answers, who were only filling out the answer bubbles, failed. This was almost everyone in all classes.

In fact, I was one of the only students who didn’t fail, simply because I had given my own answer sheet to the cutest boy at my lab table (I’m still so sorry, Tom) as I knew I didn’t need to cheat in order to get an A.

The following day, the Chemistry teacher revealed to our class that he knew we had cheated.

He excused those of us who had not failed the test while telling all of the others that they would face repercussions in the form of suspension.

My conscience got the better of me and I came clean. I took full responsibility for the “prank” and faced the consequences on my own.

The purpose of this story is to let you know that there are many reasons a child might cheat. Some cheat because, like me, they are looking for attention.

Others cheat because they are short on time, concerned about their grades, forgot to do their homework or were pressured into it.

Cheating is always wrong. However, understanding the reason for the cheating is the best way to prevent it from happening again.

Cheating in Elementary School

It can be argued that cheating in elementary school is the best time for it to happen.

This is because young children can learn the hard lesson of not cheating before they have to face extreme consequences.

A child who cheats in elementary school may just be testing the waters. They are still learning how rules work .

Elementary School Assignments and Essays

Your child was caught cheating on an elementary school assignment. They may have copied someone else’s homework or allowed their own homework to be copied. This is a minor infraction but one that needs to be swiftly managed.

Explain to your child why cheating is wrong . Cheating is the same as lying. By cheating, you are trying to convince someone that you are doing work that you aren’t.

You don’t learn from the lesson and you teach people that you cannot be trusted.

If your child allowed others to cheat off of them, you should explain that this type of behavior is similar to theft. Your child is stealing the other child’s ability to learn.

Punishment for cheating on elementary school essays and assignments can be mild. The school will likely enact a behavior referral , which will cause them to spend some time with the school principal and possibly go on probation.

Repeat offenders will see in-school suspension, detention, or extra work assignments.

At home, you should treat cheating on assignments or essays as you would any other form of lying or stealing.

You should insist that your child apologizes to any teachers and students affected by cheating. They should also lose privileges for a period of time that feels appropriate.

You may also insist that they redo the assignment, even if they are unable to turn it in to the teacher.

Elementary School Tests

Cheating on tests is much more serious than cheating on assignments and essays.

A child that is caught cheating on a test may feel as though they are unprepared, which can cause them to panic and make bad decisions.

Even if this is a temporary error in judgment, swift action should be taken to ensure it is not a repeat occurrence.

A child who cheats on a test will probably suffer from a grade of zero on that exam. Explain to your child that this is the consequence they face for trying to take the easy way out.

Consider hiring a tutor or sending your child to summer school in order to improve their confidence in test taking.

Punishment for cheating on tests should be similar to that for cheating on assignments.

Privileges should be revoked and children should be tasked with taking the time to understand why cheating is wrong.

Cheating in Middle School

Middle school is a time for children to learn how to learn.

This is the time that is most common for children to cheat as they are testing boundaries and also figuring out who they are.

Cheating in middle school is more serious than elementary school cheating but less than cheating in high school.

It should still be taken seriously when and if it occurs.

Middle School Assignments and Essays

What kind of cheating did your child do? Did they copy a paper from someone else? Did they ask a friend to do their homework for them? Did they plagiarize their work from an online source?

All of these examples are serious and must be treated as such.

Your child’s school will likely dole out punishments that include failure on the assignment, detention, or even suspension.

As a parent, you need to accept the school’s decision for punishment. You should not argue that they should give your child another chance.

You and your child must understand that cheating requires heavy consequences.

Facing this at the middle school level will help to ensure that your child won’t attempt to cheat in high school or college.

Your own punishment for your child needs to be done carefully. If you over-react, your child may not stop cheating.

They might become so good at it that they don’t get caught. If you under-react, they won’t see a reason to not cheat anymore.

Your goal needs to be to find out why your child cheated in the first place. Address that problem rather than the cheating itself.

A child who didn’t have time to finish the homework may need to have fewer responsibilities or spend less time in leisure activities.

A child who didn’t understand the homework might need tutoring.

A child who was trying to see what they can get away with needs to know that they have crossed a line.

Middle School Tests

Cheating on a test in middle school usually means that your child is ill-prepared or worried about their grades.

Unfortunately, a child that is caught cheating will almost always receive a failing grade on that particular test. Middle school is the best possible time to learn this lesson.

These grades don’t affect high school transcripts, therefore, receiving a zero is not the end of the world. Likewise, you and your child now know their limits.

Being unprepared for a test might help them to learn how much studying they require and/or what level of classes they should be taking.

If this sounds like I believe cheating on a middle school test is a positive thing, I do not.

What being caught cheating on a middle school test shows is that your student needs help.

Use this as an opportunity to provide the help they need.

They should have plenty of time to work on classes considering they will probably be grounded for a while.

Cheating in High School

All forms of cheating are serious. Few are more serious than cheating in high school.

High school students are preparing for the future.

One wrong move can be the difference between earning a scholarship and not going to college at all. Cheating is an almost certain way to annihilate high school transcripts.

High School Assignments and Essays

A great deal of cheating in high school is done via plagiarism.

High school students may attempt to make subtle changes to papers found online only to find their schemes thwarted by tools like Plagiarism Detector.

Even one copied sentence will cause a high school student to fall victim to their own evil plans.

Another tried-and-true cheating tactic among teens is hiring someone to write a paper for them. They will often turn to their fellow students first, but if that fails, they will seek professionals.

There are online services that are built around providing papers for students. There are also freelance writers who may be willing to earn some money by churning out a quick three-page thesis about capitalism vs. communism .

As a freelance writer myself, I have lost track of the number of times I’ve been sought out by a student who was willing to spend big bucks for a paper I could write in my sleep.

While I’m not willing to do something so unscrupulous, there are plenty of people who have no problem writing a paper for pay.

Most teachers will quickly notice that the new, pristine paper has an entirely different tone than the student normally shares.

Within the last year, a new cheating tool has appeared on the scene. AI products like Chat GPT are free and easy tools that can write about a variety of topics.

The untrained eye might even think they write as well as a human. However, tools like Chat GPT do not create quality material.

They include many factual errors and are often riddled with mistakes and redundant language. It is very easy to spot a paper that was written by AI.

There are tools that check for AI just as easily as plagiarism.

Your high school student will probably face a failing grade if they are caught cheating on homework. They may fail the assignment or, if it is a particularly important assignment, the entire class.

They might also face suspension.

There is little more you can do at this juncture other than attempt to help your student figure out why they decided to cheat and what they could have done better.

The failing grade might be punishment enough.

High School Tests

This is the big one. Cheating on a high school test is serious enough that it can cause a student to fail the entire course.

They may have to repeat the class in summer school. If it is a course that is needed for graduation, they may even find themselves repeating a year.

Students need to know these extreme consequences are not just possible but warranted.

If your child is caught cheating on a test in high school, you need to make them aware that this is behavior that cannot continue.

The education they receive at this point directly affects how well they will do in college. A student who is caught cheating in college can be expelled.

The best thing you can do for your child is try to understand them. Let them know you are on their side.

Also, let them know that cheating cannot be tolerated.

Severe consequences like restricting their car, phone, internet access and after school activities are all acceptable.

Key Takeaways

Cheating is serious but it can also be a learning opportunity.

Find out why your child is cheating, explain the consequences to them and seek solutions to the underlying problem.

Do you have any stories about cheating in school? Share them with us in the comments!

Have You Read These Yet?

• Should I Ground My Child?
• Should You Ground Your Child For Bad Grades?
• 18 and Older House Rules
• How to Deal with a Kid that Lies

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How Teens Use Technology to Cheat in School

Why teens cheat, text messaging during tests, storing notes, copying and pasting, social media, homework apps and websites, talk to your teen.

• Expectations and Consequences

When you were in school, teens who were cheating were likely looking at a neighbor’s paper or copying a friend’s homework. The most high-tech attempts to cheat may have involved a student who wrote the answers to a test on the cover of their notebook.

Cheating in today’s world has evolved, and unfortunately, become pervasive. Technology makes cheating all too tempting, common, and easy to pull off. Not only can kids use their phones to covertly communicate with each other, but they can also easily look up answers or get their work done on the Internet.

In one study, a whopping 35% of teens admit to using their smartphones to cheat on homework or tests. 65% of the same surveyed students also stated they have seen others use their phones to cheat in school. Other research has also pointed to widespread academic indiscretions among teens.

Sadly, academic dishonesty often is easily normalized among teens. Many of them may not even recognize that sharing answers, looking up facts online, consulting a friend, or using a homework app could constitute cheating. It may be a slippery slope as well, with kids fudging the honesty line a tiny bit here or there before beginning full-fledged cheating.

For those who are well aware that their behavior constitutes cheating, the academic pressure to succeed may outweigh the risk of getting caught. They may want to get into top colleges or earn scholarships for their grades. Some teens may feel that the best way to gain a competitive edge is by cheating.

Other students may just be looking for shortcuts. It may seem easier to cheat rather than look up the answers, figure things out in their heads, or study for a test. Plus, it can be rationalized that they are "studying" on their phone rather than actually cheating.

Teens with busy schedules may be especially tempted to cheat. The demands of sports, a part-time job , family commitments, or other after-school responsibilities can make academic dishonesty seem like a time-saving option.

Sometimes, there’s also a fairly low risk of getting caught. Some teachers rely on an honor system, and in some cases, technology has evolved faster than school policies. Many teachers lack the resources to detect academic dishonesty in the classroom. However, increasingly, there are programs and methods that let teachers scan student work for plagiarism.

Finally, some teens get confused about their family's values and may forget that learning is the goal of schooling rather than just the grades they get. They may assume that their parent would rather they cheat than get a bad grade—or they fear disappointing them. Plus, they see so many other kids cheating that it may start to feel expected.

It’s important to educate yourself about the various ways that today’s teens are cheating so you can be aware of the temptations your teen may face. Let's look at how teens are using phones and technology to cheat.

Texting is one of the fastest ways for students to get answers to test questions from other students in the room—it's become the modern equivalent of note passing. Teens hide their smartphones on their seats and text one another, looking down to view responses while the teacher isn't paying attention.

Teens often admit the practice is easy to get away with even when phones aren't allowed (provided the teacher isn't walking around the room to check for cellphones).

Some teens store notes for test time on their cell phones and access these notes during class. As with texting, this is done on the sly, hiding the phone from view.  The internet offers other unusual tips for cheating with notes, too.

For example, several sites guide teens to print their notes out in the nutrition information portion of a water bottle label, providing a downloadable template to do so. Teens replace the water or beverage bottle labels with their own for a nearly undetectable setup, especially in a large class. This, of course, only works if the teacher allows beverages during class.

Rather than conduct research to find sources, some students are copying and pasting material. They may plagiarize a report by trying to pass off a Wikipedia article as their own paper, for example.

Teachers may get wise to this type of plagiarism by doing a simple internet search of their own. Pasting a few sentences of a paper into a search engine can help teachers identify if the content was taken from a website.

A few websites offer complete research papers for free based on popular subjects or common books. Others allow students to purchase a paper. Then, a professional writer, or perhaps even another student, will complete the report for them.

Teachers may be able to detect this type of cheating when a student’s paper seems to be written in a different voice. A perfectly polished paper may indicate a ninth-grade student’s work isn’t their own. Teachers may also just be able to tell that the paper just doesn't sound like the student who turned it in.

Crowdsourced sites such as Homework Helper also provide their share of homework answers. Students simply ask a question and others chime in to give them the answers.

Teenagers use social media to help one another on tests, too. It only takes a second to capture a picture of an exam when the teacher isn’t looking.

That picture may then be shared with friends who want a sneak peek of the test before they take it. The photo may be uploaded to a special Facebook group or simply shared via text message. Then, other teens can look up the answers to the exam once they know the questions ahead of time.

While many tech-savvy cheating methods aren’t all that surprising, some methods require very little effort on the student’s part. Numerous free math apps such as Photomath allow a student to take a picture of the math problem. The app scans the problem and spits out the answers, even for complex algebra problems. That means students can quickly complete the homework without actually understanding the material.

Other apps, such as HWPic , send a picture of the problem to an actual tutor, who offers a step-by-step solution to the problem. While some students may use this to better understand their homework, others just copy down the answers, complete with the steps that justify the answer.

Websites such as Cymayth and Wolfram Alpha solve math problems on the fly—Wolfram can even handle college-level math problems. While the sites and apps state they are designed to help students figure out how to do the math, they are also used by students who would rather have the answers without the effort required to think them through on their own.

Other apps quickly translate foreign languages. Rather than have to decipher what a recording says or translate written words, apps can easily translate the information for the student.

The American Academy of Pediatrics encourages parents to talk to teens about cheating and their expectations for honesty, school, and communication. Many parents may have never had a serious talk with their child about cheating. It may not even come up unless their child gets caught cheating. Some parents may not think it’s necessary to discuss because they assume their child would never cheat. 

However, clearly, the statistics show that many kids do engage in academic discretions. So, don’t assume your child wouldn’t cheat. Often, "good kids" and "honest kids" make bad decisions. Make it clear to your teen that you value hard work and honesty.

Talk to your teen regularly about the dangers of cheating. Make it clear that cheaters tend not to get ahead in life.

Discuss the academic and social consequences of cheating, too. For example, your teen might get a zero or get kicked out of a class for cheating. Even worse, other people may not believe them when they tell the truth if they become known as dishonest or a cheater. It could also go on their transcripts, which could impair their academic future.

It’s important for your teen to understand that cheating—and heavy cell phone use—can take a toll on their mental health , as well. Additionally, studies make clear that poor mental health, particularly relating to self-image, stress levels, and academic engagement, makes kids more likely to indulge in academic dishonestly. So, be sure to consider the whole picture of why your child may be cheating or feel tempted to cheat.

A 2016 study found that cheaters actually cheat themselves out of happiness. Although they may think the advantage they gain by cheating will make them happier, research shows cheating causes people to feel worse.

Establish Clear Expectations and Consequences

Deciphering what constitutes cheating in today's world can be a little tricky. If your teen uses a homework app to get help, is that cheating? What if they use a website that translates Spanish into English? Also, note that different teachers have different expectations and will allow different levels of outside academic support.

Expectations

So, you may need to take it on a case-by-case basis to determine whether your teen's use of technology enhances or hinders their learning and/or is approved by their teacher. When in doubt, you can always ask the teacher directly if using technology for homework or other projects is acceptable.

To help prevent cheating, take a firm, clear stance so that your child understands your values and expectations. Also, make sure they have any needed supports in place so that they aren't tempted to cheat due to academic frustrations or challenges.

Tell your teen, ideally before an incident of academic dishonesty occurs, that you don’t condone cheating of any kind and you’d prefer a bad grade over dishonesty.

Stay involved in your teen’s education. Know what type of homework your teen is doing and be aware of the various ways your teen may be tempted to use their laptop or smartphone to cheat.

To encourage honesty in your child, help them develop a healthy moral compass by being an honest role model. If you cheat on your taxes or lie about your teen’s age to get into the movies for a cheaper price, you may send them the message that cheating is acceptable.

Consequences

If you do catch your teen cheating, take action . Just because your teen insists, “Everyone uses an app to get homework done,” don’t blindly believe it or let that give them a free pass. Instead, reiterate your expectations and provide substantive consequences. These may include removing phone privileges for a specified period of time. Sometimes the loss of privileges —such as your teen’s electronics—for 24 hours is enough to send a clear message.

Allow your teen to face consequences at school as well. If they get a zero on a test for cheating, don’t argue with the teacher. Instead, let your teen know that cheating has serious ramifications—and that they will not get away with this behavior.

However, do find out why your teen is cheating. Consider if they're over-scheduled or afraid they can’t keep up with their peers. Are they struggling to understand the material? Do they feel unhealthy pressure to excel? Ask questions to gain an understanding so you can help prevent cheating in the future and ensure they can succeed on their own.

It’s better for your teen to learn lessons about cheating now, rather than later in life. Dishonesty can have serious consequences. Cheating in college could get your teen expelled and cheating at a future job could get them fired or it could even lead to legal action. Cheating on a future partner could lead to the end of the relationship.

A Word From Verywell

Make sure your teen knows that honesty and focusing on learning rather than only on getting "good grades," at all costs, really is the best policy. Talk about honesty often and validate your teen’s feelings when they're frustrated with schoolwork—and the fact that some students who cheat seem to get ahead without getting caught. Assure them that ultimately, people who cheat truly are cheating themselves.

Common Sense Media. It's ridiculously easy for kids to cheat now .

Common Sense Media. 35% of kids admit to using cell phones to cheat .

Isakov M, Tripathy A. Behavioral correlates of cheating: environmental specificity and reward expectation .  PLoS One . 2017;12(10):e0186054. Published 2017 Oct 26. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0186054

Marksteiner T, Nishen AK, Dickhäuser O. Students' perception of teachers' reference norm orientation and cheating in the classroom .  Front Psychol . 2021;12:614199. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.614199

Khan ZR, Sivasubramaniam S, Anand P, Hysaj A. ‘ e’-thinking teaching and assessment to uphold academic integrity: lessons learned from emergency distance learning .  International Journal for Educational Integrity . 2021;17(1):17. doi:10.1007/s40979-021-00079-5

Farnese ML, Tramontano C, Fida R, Paciello M. Cheating behaviors in academic context: does academic moral disengagement matter?   Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences . 2011;29:356-365. doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2011.11.250

Pew Research Center. How parents and schools regulate teens' mobile phones .

Mohammad Abu Taleb BR, Coughlin C, Romanowski MH, Semmar Y, Hosny KH. Students, mobile devices and classrooms: a comparison of US and Arab undergraduate students in a middle eastern university .  HES . 2017;7(3):181. doi:10.5539/hes.v7n3p181

Gasparyan AY, Nurmashev B, Seksenbayev B, Trukhachev VI, Kostyukova EI, Kitas GD. Plagiarism in the context of education and evolving detection strategies .  J Korean Med Sci . 2017;32(8):1220-1227. doi:10.3346/jkms.2017.32.8.1220

Bretag T. Challenges in addressing plagiarism in education .  PLoS Med . 2013;10(12):e1001574. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1001574

American Academy of Pediatrics. Competition and cheating .

Korn L, Davidovitch N. The Profile of academic offenders: features of students who admit to academic dishonesty .  Med Sci Monit . 2016;22:3043-3055. doi:10.12659/msm.898810

Abi-Jaoude E, Naylor KT, Pignatiello A. Smartphones, social media use and youth mental health .  CMAJ . 2020;192(6):E136-E141. doi:10.1503/cmaj.190434

Stets JE, Trettevik R. Happiness and Identities . Soc Sci Res. 2016;58:1-13. doi:10.1016/j.ssresearch.2016.04.011

Lenhart A. Teens, Social Media & Technology Overview 2015 . Pew Research Center.

By Amy Morin, LCSW Amy Morin, LCSW, is the Editor-in-Chief of Verywell Mind. She's also a psychotherapist, an international bestselling author of books on mental strength and host of The Verywell Mind Podcast. She delivered one of the most popular TEDx talks of all time.

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Why Students Cheat on Homework and How to Prevent It

One of the most frustrating aspects of teaching in today’s world is the cheating epidemic. There’s nothing more irritating than getting halfway through grading a large stack of papers only to realize some students cheated on the assignment. There’s really not much point in teachers grading work that has a high likelihood of having been copied or otherwise unethically completed. So. What is a teacher to do? We need to be able to assess students. Why do students cheat on homework, and how can we address it?

Like most new teachers, I learned the hard way over the course of many years of teaching that it is possible to reduce cheating on homework, if not completely prevent it. Here are six suggestions to keep your students honest and to keep yourself sane.

ASSIGN LESS HOMEWORK

One of the reasons students cheat on homework is because they are overwhelmed. I remember vividly what it felt like to be a high school student in honors classes with multiple extracurricular activities on my plate. Other teens have after school jobs to help support their families, and some don’t have a home environment that is conducive to studying.

While cheating is  never excusable under any circumstances, it does help to walk a mile in our students’ shoes. If they are consistently making the decision to cheat, it might be time to reduce the amount of homework we are assigning.

I used to give homework every night – especially to my advanced students. I wanted to push them. Instead, I stressed them out. They wanted so badly to be in the Top 10 at graduation that they would do whatever they needed to do in order to complete their assignments on time – even if that meant cheating.

When assigning homework, consider the at-home support, maturity, and outside-of-school commitments involved. Think about the kind of school and home balance you would want for your own children. Go with that.

PROVIDE CLASS TIME

Allowing students time in class to get started on their assignments seems to curb cheating to some extent. When students have class time, they are able to knock out part of the assignment, which leaves less to fret over later. Additionally, it gives them an opportunity to ask questions.

When students are confused while completing assignments at home, they often seek “help” from a friend instead of going in early the next morning to request guidance from the teacher. Often, completing a portion of a homework assignment in class gives students the confidence that they can do it successfully on their own. Plus, it provides the social aspect of learning that many students crave. Instead of fighting cheating outside of class , we can allow students to work in pairs or small groups  in class to learn from each other.

Plus, to prevent students from wanting to cheat on homework, we can extend the time we allow them to complete it. Maybe students would work better if they have multiple nights to choose among options on a choice board. Home schedules can be busy, so building in some flexibility to the timeline can help reduce pressure to finish work in a hurry.

GIVE MEANINGFUL WORK

If you find students cheat on homework, they probably lack the vision for how the work is beneficial. It’s important to consider the meaningfulness and valuable of the assignment from students’ perspectives. They need to see how it is relevant to them.

In my class, I’ve learned to assign work that cannot be copied. I’ve never had luck assigning worksheets as homework because even though worksheets have value, it’s generally not obvious to teenagers. It’s nearly impossible to catch cheating on worksheets that have “right or wrong” answers. That’s not to say I don’t use worksheets. I do! But. I use them as in-class station, competition, and practice activities, not homework.

So what are examples of more effective and meaningful types of homework to assign?

• Ask students to complete a reading assignment and respond in writing .
• Have students watch a video clip and answer an oral entrance question.
• Require that students contribute to an online discussion post.
• Assign them a reflection on the day’s lesson in the form of a short project, like a one-pager or a mind map.

As you can see, these options require unique, valuable responses, thereby reducing the opportunity for students to cheat on them. The more open-ended an assignment is, the more invested students need to be to complete it well.

DIFFERENTIATE

Part of giving meaningful work involves accounting for readiness levels. Whenever we can tier assignments or build in choice, the better. A huge cause of cheating is when work is either too easy (and students are bored) or too hard (and they are frustrated). Getting to know our students as learners can help us to provide meaningful differentiation options. Plus, we can ask them!

This is what you need to be able to demonstrate the ability to do. How would you like to show me you can do it?

REDUCE THE POINT VALUE

If you’re sincerely concerned about students cheating on assignments, consider reducing the point value. Reflect on your grading system.

Are homework grades carrying so much weight that students feel the need to cheat in order to maintain an A? In a standards-based system, will the assignment be a key determining factor in whether or not students are proficient with a skill?

Each teacher has to do what works for him or her. In my classroom, homework is worth the least amount out of any category. If I assign something for which I plan on giving completion credit, the point value is even less than it typically would be. Projects, essays, and formal assessments count for much more.

CREATE AN ETHICAL CULTURE

To some extent, this part is out of educators’ hands. Much of the ethical and moral training a student receives comes from home. Still, we can do our best to create a classroom culture in which we continually talk about integrity, responsibility, honor, and the benefits of working hard. What are some specific ways can we do this?

Building Community and Honestly

• Talk to students about what it means to cheat on homework. Explain to them that there are different kinds. Many students are unaware, for instance, that the “divide and conquer (you do the first half, I’ll do the second half, and then we will trade answers)” is cheating.
• As a class, develop expectations and consequences for students who decide to take short cuts.
• Decorate your room with motivational quotes that relate to honesty and doing the right thing.
• Discuss how making a poor decision doesn’t make you a bad person. It is an opportunity to grow.
• Share with students that you care about them and their futures. The assignments you give them are intended to prepare them for success.
• Offer them many different ways to seek help from you if and when they are confused.
• Provide revision opportunities for homework assignments.
• Explain that you partner with their parents and that guardians will be notified if cheating occurs.
• Explore hypothetical situations.  What if you have a late night? Let’s pretend you don’t get home until after orchestra and Lego practices. You have three hours of homework to do. You know you can call your friend, Bob, who always has his homework done. How do you handle this situation?

EDUCATE ABOUT PLAGIARISM

Many students don’t realize that plagiarism applies to more than just essays. At the beginning of the school year, teachers have an energized group of students, fresh off of summer break. I’ve always found it’s easiest to motivate my students at this time. I capitalize on this opportunity by beginning with a plagiarism mini unit .

While much of the information we discuss is about writing, I always make sure my students know that homework can be plagiarized. Speeches can be plagiarized. Videos can be plagiarized. Anything can be plagiarized, and the repercussions for stealing someone else’s ideas (even in the form of a simple worksheet) are never worth the time saved by doing so.

In an ideal world, no one would cheat. However, teaching and learning in the 21st century is much different than it was fifty years ago. Cheating? It’s increased. Maybe because of the digital age… the differences in morals and values of our culture…  people are busier. Maybe because students don’t see how the school work they are completing relates to their lives.

No matter what the root cause, teachers need to be proactive. We need to know why students feel compelled to cheat on homework and what we can do to help them make learning for beneficial. Personally, I don’t advocate for completely eliminating homework with older students. To me, it has the potential to teach students many lessons both related to school and life. Still, the “right” answer to this issue will be different for each teacher, depending on her community, students, and culture.

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You are so right about communicating the purpose of the assignment and giving students time in class to do homework. I also use an article of the week on plagiarism. I give students points for the learning – not the doing. It makes all the difference. I tell my students why they need to learn how to do “—” for high school or college or even in life experiences. Since, they get an A or F for the effort, my students are more motivated to give it a try. No effort and they sit in my class to work with me on the assignment. Showing me the effort to learn it — asking me questions about the assignment, getting help from a peer or me, helping a peer are all ways to get full credit for the homework- even if it’s not complete. I also choose one thing from each assignment for the test which is a motivator for learning the material – not just “doing it.” Also, no one is permitted to earn a D or F on a test. Any student earning an F or D on a test is then required to do a project over the weekend or at lunch or after school with me. All of this reinforces the idea – learning is what is the goal. Giving students options to show their learning is also important. Cheating is greatly reduced when the goal is to learn and not simply earn the grade.

Thanks for sharing your unique approaches, Sandra! Learning is definitely the goal, and getting students to own their learning is key.

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Worried your kid is cheating at school? Here's how parents can address it — and why it happens

Chatgpt and other tech tools can make it easy to cut corners.

Cheating is nothing new, but the problem has been on the rise . A new tool, ChatGPT, is now making it easier for students to cheat and harder for teachers to detect cheating. This free artificial intelligence tool is so good at mimicking human writing and answers, it passed a law school exam with ease . With the introduction of ChatGPT, some educators fear incidents of cheating will skyrocket and many parents are wondering how they can help prevent cheating — and what to do if it happens.

Why kids cheat

Family therapist Kalley Hartman   says that just like adults, children “ want to excel and not fail.” She adds that cheating does not make children “bad kids.” Instead, she explains, “kids may cheat because they feel pressure from family or peers to do well, are afraid of failure, lack confidence in their abilities or don't understand the material.” Others may lack motivation or lack planning skills they need to complete their work, says Candace Kotkin-De Carvalho , a licensed social worker and clinical director of Absolute Awakenings. For some children, “cheating is the easiest solution … to get the grade they want,” Hartman says.

There may be more at play here. Special education advocate Lisa Lightner   says that some children who cheat have “an undiagnosed or … insufficiently supported learning disability.” She adds that children in this position “have been gaslighted their whole lives by teachers, school staff and sometimes even their parents.” According to Lightner, these children are often told “you're fine, pay attention or try harder." Lightner explains that for some of these children, cheating “may be treated as a character flaw when it's self-preservation or survival.”

Underlying all of this is that children are still growing and learning about the world. “Children and adolescents don’t have fully developed brains, so they tend to be more risk-takers, or don’t always see the consequences of their actions. They just impulsively do what comes to mind or what’s easy to accomplish a task,” Dr. Christina Lee, a child and adolescent psychiatrist and the regional medical director for mental health at Kaiser Permanente in the mid-Atlantic region, tells Yahoo Life.

How parents can be proactive in preventing cheating

Psychologist Nick Bach encourages parents to help children understand that success in school is "not just about getting a good grade — it's about being honest and doing the right thing” before the temptation to cheat sets in. He also encourages parents to “set some clear rules at home about cheating, such as no tolerance for plagiarism or copying homework from friends.”

Parents may also benefit from having candid conversations about technology like ChatGPT, and why using it to write an essay in lieu of doing the work themselves would be considered cheating. Depending on their age, children who have grown up with Google and smart devices to help them find answers may also have trouble understanding what exactly plagiarism is. Explaining it clearly and teaching them acceptable ways to present the research they've down in their own words and without proper citations.

Another step parents can take to help prevent cheating is to “be aware of potential struggles their children might be facing that are causing them to have a harder time in school,” says Janette Lorandini , a licensed clinical social worker. ADHD, for example, may make it harder for a child to concentrate in class, while . learning disorders like dyslexia and dyscalculia can similarly make school more challenging. Addressing these challenges proactively can equip children with the skills they need to be successful without cheating and help build their confidence, says Lorandini.

Lee adds that parents can help prevent cheating by teaching children healthy stress management skills, fostering open communication so children will come to them when they are struggling, reinforcing positive behavior by praising effort instead of a final grade or result and setting a good example. “Let your children see you are stressed out but working hard and not trying to find the easy way out, and that you can fall short of your own expectations for yourself and that is OK," she says. "Learning how to cope with failure shows your children they can too."

How parents can talk to their children about cheating

If a child does get caught cheating, psychotherapist Gennifer Morley recommends that parents convey the message of “this is not a situation I like, but it is one we can and will figure out our way through together.” She recommends that parents reassure their child that they “are still loved.” Even so, Hartman says that it’s important to be clear that “cheating is wrong and that they should not do it again.”

To start the conversation, Morley recommends asking your child why they cheated “with actual curiosity” and without insulting them. Parents “must take time to connect and understand, even empathize,” she says. That’s because parents should not put children in a position where they feel they have to “rationalize or legitimize their behavior,” says Morley. Instead, the goal should be to get children “to self-reflect honestly” because “long after they have left [the] house they need to have skills to understand what happened for them without shame and in ways that motivate them to take responsibility,” Morley explains.

“Above all, provide your child with unconditional love and support," adds Kotkin-De Carvalho. "Let them know that you understand why they chose to cheat and explain how important it is to make the right choices in life." She adds that parents should also help their kids develop “the skills they need to be successful in the future without cheating."

How parents can address cheating

Morley says that “some consequences will be organic,” such as those imposed by the child’s school. How parents address the issue at home will vary depending on why the child cheated.

If a child cheated because they were struggling academically, “some really reasonable consequences at home may be supporting them in more structured study time,” says Morley. Hartman also suggests providing tutoring in this type of situation.

If a child cheated because they don’t have the executive functioning skills to meet their academic goals, they may need help figuring out “how long things will take or how to manage time to get them done” and learn how to “chunk” assignments into smaller parts, Hartman recommends. For children who feel “too much pressure to excel,” she suggests telling them “that their grades don't define them and that it's OK to make mistakes.”

Children who knew from the outset that cheating was wrong or who don't know why they cheated “may benefit from some therapy” because they might be “having some other struggles,” says Morley. Hartman adds that therapy can also help children if “destructive perfectionism” led them to cheat.

Lee also recommends that parents look at the big picture when determining a response. “Consider whether your child has a history of cheating or has struggled in a particular subject before,” she advises, adding that this will help a parent understand “if there's a larger issue at play." It’s also important to consider the context around a child’s cheating. “Think about what may have been happening in your child's life at the time of the cheating. Were they under a lot of stress or pressure, or were there any other factors that may have contributed to their behavior?” Lee says. While external factors may not be an excuse, they can help explain the behavior and inform an appropriate response. Lee also recommends that parents work with their child “to come up with a solution that helps them understand the importance of honesty and integrity.”

When determining how to address cheating, Lee says that punishment “isn’t always necessary.” Instead, the goal should be “to provide resources for kids to succeed on their own without having to resort to cheating,” says Hartman. She adds that “with the right support and guidance, [children] can learn to manage their emotions and develop good study habits that will be beneficial in the long run.”

How parents can deal with their own reaction to finding out their child cheated

Morley says that when a child cheats, their parents often feel “ashamed or embarrassed” because the cheating may suggest that they “didn't do the best job raising them.” However, she notes that “kids who have great parents can still cheat or make a myriad of other seemingly obvious mistakes.” She encourages parents to remind themselves that children may cheat because they are “they are still learning about navigating” learning, which is a normal part of growing up and has little to do with parenting.

Because a parent’s feelings of shame or embarrassment “may come out as anger,” Morley says that parents should “sleep on it” before having a serious discussion with their child. Parents are much more likely to “come up with much more insightful and helpful ways forward” if they slow themselves down, she explains.

Above all, says Lee, “encourage children to see mistakes and challenges as opportunities for growth and learning, rather than reasons to cheat."

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My 8-Year-Old Cheated on a Test

Should i punish her.

Care and Feeding is Slate’s parenting advice column. In addition to our traditional advice, every Thursday we feature an assortment of teachers from across the country answering your education questions. Have a question for our teachers? Email [email protected] or post it in the  Slate Parenting Facebook group .

Our very sweet and sensitive daughter is in second grade at our local public elementary school. My husband and I place a high value on academics, but I’ve been dismayed about the amount of homework she gets, all of which consists of repetitive worksheets and rote memorization tasks that evidence shows are not effective. Since January, her homework has been to memorize 20 spelling words each week. Every day we try to practice, but sometimes it’s like pulling teeth. I hate feeling like I’m forcing her to do this extra work when I don’t believe there’s a real benefit to most of it, but I’m a rule follower and so, if the teacher assigns it, we make sure she does it. We’ve tried to build some intrinsic motivation in the form of being proud at being able to do hard things and persevering even when some tasks aren’t fun, etc., but I’m honestly not sure how much that’s helping.

My larger problem is that today I received an email from my daughter’s teacher letting us know that during her spelling test, she was caught with some of the words written down on a sticky note. The teacher gave her a zero and apparently had a talk about “habits of character” (something the school promotes). It sounds like the teacher didn’t demean or punish her, which I’m grateful for. I know we have to talk to our daughter about this, and I’m struggling a bit with how to approach it.

On the one hand, I don’t want to punish or embarrass her—I’m sure the shame of getting caught was bad enough. And I’m worried that she’s so young and feeling this kind of stress around academic achievement already. On the other, I certainly want to convey that cheating is wrong and it’s more important to try hard than get everything right all the time. Mostly I want to make sure we’re using this as a learning opportunity and that she knows that if she’s struggling she can tell us without fear of judgment or punishment. I’m also not sure if I should be engaging with the teacher in a different way—I basically thanked her for telling me and said we’d talk to her. Should I be doing anything else?

—Learning Should Be Fun

Hey There, LSBF,

Wow, this story takes me back. I remember getting grounded for a week for cheating on a spelling test. I was struggling to remember the e at the end of the word orange, so I wrote it on my hand. Unfortunately, my third grade teacher caught me red, or in this case orange, handed. I was mortified when she caught me, so I think you’re spot on with avoiding any additional punishment for your daughter.

Cheating at this age is a natural form of experimentation and boundary testing for kids, especially in perceived high-stress academic environments. Most kids after being caught cheating once or twice give it up as a viable option. (Unfortunately, it is true that in some cases they just get a lot better at it.) But in your case, I wouldn’t make a big deal out of it unless it becomes a pattern. The best thing you can do for her now is to continue disassociating high marks as a primary indicator of success or intelligence, because they just aren’t. Don’t get me wrong, you should still encourage your child to try her best and work hard for good grades. However, getting a high score on every single assignment or exam is an unrealistic expectation for kids, especially at your daughter’s age.

I always tell my students that I don’t really care if they get the right answer all the time—I would much rather see that they tried their best to figure it out. Layering this value into our classroom culture has been a big help in cutting down on paper peeking and builds resilience in my second graders. I also don’t think you need to engage with the teacher any further on this. Just keep encouraging your daughter to try her best and reassure her that a poor grade is not the end of the world, it’s merely a starting point from which to grow.

—Mr. Hersey (second grade teacher, Washington)

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My oldest son will turn 5 at the end of August, which means he should start kindergarten at our local public school this fall. Prior to the pandemic, he had been in a Montessori preschool two days a week, and our daughter, now 2, was at the Montessori day care. The other three days a week they were home with my mom, who happens to be a retired elementary school teacher.

When the pandemic hit, my son’s school closed for the spring. Although it reopened, we haven’t sent the kids back; I worried about the exposure for all of us, but especially for my mom, who is over 65. My mom was able to continue caring for him a few days a week, and he’s made great strides academically because of her teaching.

My question is about what we should do regarding kindergarten for the fall. For some reason, whenever my son hears the word kindergarten, he gets very upset and starts to have what I don’t think is an exaggeration to call a panic attack. He tells us that he wants to go back to preschool, and he doesn’t want to go to kindergarten. I get it. We all loved his preschool, and because we had moved shortly before he started, he only got to go for a few months before lockdown.

The Montessori school started a kindergarten program this year, so we could theoretically send my son “back” to do kindergarten in the fall. But it would be tight financially, and it might affect how many days a week my daughter could go to preschool.

Part of me feels like since this has been such a difficult time for him—leaving his friends and a school he loved—that now is not the time to teach him a lesson about how sometimes we need to start new things, even though they’re scary. But at the same time, I feel like I can’t make any long-term financial commitments because, looking at the world, who knows where we’ll be by September? What if we send him, and then because of financial constraints we have to take him out after a few months and send him to public school after all? What if we do send him to public school, but they go virtual (virtual preschool was a nightmare)?

Is he going to be unprepared for the structure of first grade if he enters public school after having been in a Montessori environment for kindergarten? I’m torn. What do you think is the least traumatic option?

—Public or Private?

To be frank, I don’t see sending him to Montessori as a viable option. Not because there’s any problem entering public school after Montessori kindergarten, but because I don’t think you should be taking on financial burden when it may not solve the problem. It’s possible he’d attend regular Montessori kindergarten and then transition easily and comfortably to first grade. But it’s also possible that he’d attend a hybrid or Zoom year of Montessori kindergarten, or have a year of Montessori kindergarten and then have the same panicked response to first grade, leaving you with the same problem, one year later. Sending him to Montessori kindergarten doesn’t address the underlying issue, which sounds like a fear of school.

A more responsible choice is to try to help him work through his anxiety. I know that putting another burden on him in an already-challenging year seems unfair, but you sound like a sensitive parent, and I don’t think sending him to kindergarten needs to mean throwing him in there in spite of his fears, and holding your breath to see what happens. You can teach him to work through what’s scary, help him build his coping skills, and prepare himself for a challenge. Start by incorporating kindergarten into play. Do you have a toy bus or some blocks to build one? Show that bus taking children (or buttons or whatever else you are using for pretend play) to kindergarten. You can role-play, you can read books, you can start making kindergarten-ready crafts—find ways to make kindergarten part of his daily life in a safe, manageable way. If you’re describing his response like a panic attack, I’m suggesting something akin to controlled exposure therapy. You know he’s safe, and you’re not physically bringing him to kindergarten, and that might take some of the scariness out of the experience.

If you’re able to get to the root of what he is afraid of as well, you can address that fear directly. Books like The Kissing Hand address fear of separation, for example. You can start drawing a heart on his hand every day so he knows you’re always with him, or you can make him Magic Bravery Dust out of glitter and sprinkle it on him to help him feel brave. We tell kids all the time that we can magic away their pain with a kiss; emotional pain is absolutely as susceptible to the placebo effect as physical pain.

I also think there may be some merit to getting in touch with his potential teachers. Not only is it possible that they can meet with him and ease his fears directly, but I’m sure he is not the first child they’ve seen who is afraid of starting school. They may have some tips they know that you can use to help him feel more comfortable to go to school. Ultimately, I think that trying to work through it will be worthwhile, and that putting it off another year buys you nothing, puts a strain on you financially, and is unfair to his sister, who won’t get the preschool experience he got to have.

—Ms. Sarnell (early childhood special education teacher, New York)

I don’t know what to do about my daughter’s unreasonable English teacher, Mrs. Jones. My daughter is a diligent, hardworking student in a 10 th grade English honors class. Mrs. Jones, who’s probably mid- to late-teaching career, continually gives assignments with unclear instructions. My daughter asks Mrs. Jones for clarification and for a rubric to get a sense of what is required, but when my daughter completes the assignments accordingly, she often gets a low grade.

Grading seems to be incredibly subjective and at the teacher’s whim. Mrs. Jones often says that there’s just one right answer on assignments where there’s room for interpretation (for example, what the theme is in a book, or what literary devices are being used by an author). When assignments are returned, my daughter and her friends often compare answers and feedback, and they will have the same answers, but Mrs. Jones will grade them differently (sometimes in my daughter’s favor; sometimes in her friends’ favor). While Mrs. Jones will often amend my daughter’s grade if my daughter points out that she has completed the assignment according to the instructions, receiving that initial grade is extremely stressful, as is the inordinate amount of time my daughter spends trying to read Mrs. Jones’ mind to guess the elusive “right” answer.

Many assignments result in a class average of C or worse, which I feel like speaks to the unreasonableness of this teacher’s grading. She often comments to her class, “You all did way too well on that assignment so I’m going to have to make things harder.” Is this really necessary, especially during this incredibly stressful time with the pandemic? And what is the purpose of that?

While my daughter has gotten good at advocating for herself, it has resulted in a lot of panicking over each assignment, and inevitable conversations with the teacher after assignments are graded. I am not sure my daughter can bear the stress of this teacher any longer, especially in the current environment of the pandemic and our school is still doing all distance learning. Is it appropriate for me to talk to the teacher? Or to the vice principal? And what should I say?

—Feeling Helpless

Dear Helpless,

Oof. What a mess. Normally, I am skeptical when students say that a teacher didn’t provide a rubric or didn’t explain the directions, because often the student is incorrect. However, I know there are some teachers who operate this way, and I am sure that distance learning makes things even worse. Perhaps Mrs. Jones is struggling to convert her teaching materials for online instruction; maybe she would do better if the students were in the classroom with her and she could teach in the manner to which she is accustomed.

It is certainly acceptable to request a parent-teacher conference, share your daughter’s frustrations, and ask Mrs. Jones to clarify how your daughter can be more successful. I feel strongly that you should try this before going above her head to an administrator. My advice is to be specific when describing the problem but also keep an open mind about the teacher’s perspective. For example, “My daughter is very anxious about how to write this essay because she tells me there is not a rubric. Could you give me more information about your expectations for student writing?” Or, “My daughter believes her thoughts about the novel’s theme are an accurate interpretation and doesn’t understand why she is incorrect; could you help us understand why her analysis was off-base?” Through this conversation, you may get a better understanding of where the teacher is coming from; hopefully Mrs. Jones will also feel enlightened hearing your daughter’s point of view.

Unfortunately, if Mrs. Jones is in fact an unreasonable person, this conversation might not be fruitful. And honestly, there’s a strong possibility the vice principal won’t be much help either. Running a school in a global pandemic creates many issues that are higher priority than whether or not a teacher uses rubrics. This is why I think you should have a heart-to-heart with your daughter.

Just how important is this grade? Is a grade in sophomore English worth panicking over? Why is she so stressed about it? And how important is it to you, as her parent?

I don’t mean to sound glib, and I realize that might sound counterintuitive coming from another 10 th grade English teacher. Of course I want my students to care about their grades, but I also want them to keep their grades in perspective. Certainly grades are important, but they’re not that important. I don’t want my students losing sleep over a score on a quiz or an assignment. A low grade is not a reflection of a student’s self-worth. Yet some students (and parents) are so invested in high grades that they take on outsize importance, causing misery all around.

I’m not suggesting that you tell your daughter to give up on her grade in English, but maybe she shouldn’t care quite so much . Tell her that you’re proud of her for advocating for herself, that you recognize and appreciate her diligence, and that you don’t think she should continue to spend so much time chasing after every single assignment in this class if it’s causing her undue stress and frustration.

This is not the last time your daughter will be in this situation; I certainly had instructors like this in high school and in college. Furthermore, if Mrs. Jones is as inconsistent and unclear as you say, then your daughter’s grade is not a true reflection of her learning but rather the whims of the teacher. And while that is not fair, it’s not the end of the world either.

—Ms. Holbrook (high school teacher, Texas)

I am a 12-year-old girl in sixth grade. I have always been advanced in my studies getting straight A’s since first grade. We are currently doing distance learning and no one knows when we will go back to school.

I love math, and it has always been my favorite subject, until now. My math teacher is … let’s just say he’s not meant to be a math teacher. He is a nice enough guy, but he always lectures us and uses math as an extra homeroom. He will go on for 20 minutes about how math will always help us, which I understand, but I want to learn math, not hear about it. I absolutely dread having to go to his class, and I try to find a way out of it almost all the time.

Recently my parents got me tutoring from a neighbor who is teaching me quadratic equations, and the basics of algebra, but I don’t think we should have to. Shouldn’t I be able to learn from my teacher? I understand and quickly solve 90 percent of the math problems within minutes, when he gives us 20 minutes to do it.

My parents just say he is a bad teacher, and that we all have them, but they don’t understand how it is to be doing school from home and to have a teacher who is not teaching. Please help. How can I focus when I don’t want to listen to him? I understand distance learning is hard for everyone, especially teachers, but I have had multiple breakdowns about how I’m getting behind in school. I have always had dreams for myself with colleges, but I feel this teacher will ruin them. I am still ahead in every other subject; I just want to stay ahead in math. Please help me.

—Stumped by Math

Dear Stumped,

It’s already so hard to be in sixth grade—even during a typical year, sixth graders experience a lot of changes in themselves and in their relationships. But regular old “sixth grade is tough” has got nothing on “sixth grade in the 2020–21 school year is tough.” Everything in life has been turned upside down, everyone is struggling and confused, and there is so little you can predict or control. I’m not surprised that your ineffective math teacher feels like the last straw for your patience.

Your parents are right; having teachers that you don’t love is a part of life. Teachers hold a position of authority in school settings, but really, they’re just normal people. Part of what that means is that some teachers are great at their work and some, like you said, are nice enough, but their skills are only OK. That will be true through college, and it’s true of people in other lines of work, too. Here’s the good news, though: Your education and your college dreams are in no trouble at all. If you’re completing your sixth grade–level tasks easily, and studying material far beyond your grade level on your own time, then you’re not falling behind—your skills are as sharp and advanced as always. It sounds like what’s really bothering you is feeling like your time is being wasted during a subject that you really care about. To solve that problem, I think there are steps you can take to feel less frustrated. Could you gather some materials to work on during the downtime when your teacher is not instructing, or when you’ve sailed through work you already know how to do? You could try practicing new skills or concepts on Khan Academy, or asking your tutor to give you extra practice problems or interesting challenges to stretch your skills and mathematical reasoning.

I definitely understand feeling that providing helpful lessons is your teacher’s responsibility, not your own, but even if he were an amazing instructor, he’d still be covering sixth grade math content meant to teach average sixth grade skills, and you’d still be ready for higher-level material. If you can prepare yourself with some extra challenge work, I think it will help you feel like your time is being spent productively, with something engaging and useful to focus on.

Beyond your math class, I am a little concerned about your stress level in general, Stumped—it sounds like this is really bothering you and prompting a lot of worry. College is a long, long way away, and when the time eventually does come to apply, the schools you’re interested in will not look at any of the grades you earned before high school. I really don’t want the idea of college, and your school performance in general, to weigh too heavily on your mind. It’s important, of course, but if you’re having emotional breakdowns about it, that makes me think you need to find some balance. I want you to make sure you are finding ways to safely interact and socialize with your friends and that you’re taking time to relax and enjoy your favorite nonschool activities. Everyone’s stress is unusually high right now, but if you’re finding it hard to ever feel carefree or have fun, or you notice yourself worrying about school all the time, please make sure to talk to your parents or another trusted adult in your life about the possibilities for getting some help to manage your feelings.

You’re doing great.

—Ms. Bauer (middle and high school, New York)

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Parenting Adolescents About Cheating in High School

Cautioning how the short-term gains may not be worth the long-term costs..

Posted October 24, 2022 | Reviewed by Michelle Quirk

• By high school, many students have tried cheating—like copying homework, bringing sneak sheets to tests, and plagiarizing content.
• Cheating is justified as a skill to get ahead, something everyone does, as beating the system, or as turning the odds in one's favor.
• Cheating is tempting to do for the easy gains to be had, but since all cheating is lying, there are always costs of dishonesty to be paid.

Although I believe most parents would counsel their adolescent against cheating in high school as a violation of academic and ethical rules, many self-report surveys (Google “research on student cheating”) suggest that most students have tried cheating at one time or another.

In fact, the explanation that “everybody does it” is often used to normalize and justify cheating. Thus, common practice provides social permission for such cheating behaviors as copying homework (“borrowing answers”), sneaking information into tests (“cheat sheets”), and plagiarizing content for one’s own (“pirating”).

Justifying Cheating

Several adolescent rationales justify these behaviors:

• Cheating is treated as a practical skill: “It’s what you do to get by or get ahead.”
• Cheating is getting around unfair adult authority: "It's about beating the system."
• Cheating is turning the tables in your favor: "It's how you create your own luck."

So, how might parents address the issue of cheating with their teenager ? Should they say nothing about a behavior that is so commonplace and simply let it go? I think not, because the core dynamic in cheating is too serious, too risky, and potentially too formative to ignore.

Simply put: cheating is lying . Performance is faked to fool other people into believing one knows more or can do more than is truly so. Cheating puts the adolescent in a false position with other people and with themself. It masks a person’s true unwillingness or incapacity to perform. Make a regular practice of cheating, and the young person risks making a habit of lying.

Rather than make cheating a conduct issue between parent and teenager, and the young person acting defensive with the adult, I think it works better to treat cheating as a concern for how the adolescent is treating themself. To do so, parents can acknowledge the temptations to cheat and then suggest some possible costs.

Temptations to Cheat

Of course, a teenager wouldn’t cheat unless there were some immediate gains from doing so. Consider a few:

• Saving time
• Appearing to know
• Escaping from effort
• Beating the system
• Outsmarting the exam
• Getting out of work
• Tricking authority
• Passing a test
• Completing a paper
• Meeting a deadline
• Fooling the teacher
• Making a better grade
• Getting an edge
• Satisfying parents
• Retaining eligibility
• Getting into a program
• “Doing what everybody else does”

There are many motivations to cheat that argue in its favor. By acknowledging these, parents are not voting to support cheating. They are simply recognizing that there are tempting gains to be had. Parents can declare that how much to cheat in school, and in life, is matter of choice that people must weigh every step of the way.

They can explain: "'How honest do I want to be?' is a question everybody, young and old, asks all the time; ‘How much do I want to get away with?’ is another. So: whether to cheat or not in school is your choice. However, you do need to know that the gains from cheating do not come free.”

Possible Costs of Cheating

When you cheat:

• You don’t honestly earn what you get.
• You cheat on friends who choose not to cheat.
• You are being dishonest with others and yourself.
• You create a false impression of your capacity.
• You cheat yourself out of learning more.
• You cheat yourself out of an honest outcome.
• You cast a vote of no confidence in your actual capacity.
• You create a secret history you don’t want others to know.
• You treat yourself like a liar.
• You feel like a phony.
• You sacrifice effort that can strengthen self-discipline.
• You choose ignorance instead of knowledge.
• You corrupt an honor system that depends on truth.
• You risk facing negative consequences if caught.
• You live with fear of being found out.
• You lose trust of others when they find you out.
• You get a reputation for being a cheat.
• You risk cheating again and starting a habit that can be hard to stop.

What to Suggest

So parents might consider saying something like this: “Of course, whether to cheat in school is entirely up to you. However, from what I’ve seen in life, cheating often proves to be a bad bargain. It turns out not to be in your best interests because whatever short-term gains you get are usually not worth the long terms costs you pay.”

Carl Pickhardt Ph.D. is a psychologist in private counseling and public lecturing practice in Austin, Texas. His latest book is Holding On While Letting Go: Parenting Your Child Through the Four Freedoms of Adolescence.

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How to Prevent Today's Children From Cheating

Help your kids learn right from wrong in the face of new and inventive ways to cheat, copy, and steal..

Even good students can be tempted to cut corners from time to time. And the practice of cheating is almost as old as school itself, though its manifestations have changed over the years. Computers have brought advancements to the academic world that we never dreamed of while perusing the World Book . The Web makes it much easier for your child to do research — but also easier to cut and paste information from an Internet source and pass it off as his own work. Internet-related cheating is rampant, but as opposed to crib notes or copying someone's paper during a test — practices kids know are wrong — many computer-savvy kids are unclear about what is and is not plagiarism. A rapidly expanding form of Internet plagiarism is the rise of so-called "paper mills": Web sites providing fully written term papers which students can download (usually for free) and submit as their own writing. Happily for teachers and parents, there exist counter-sites, such as Plagiarism.org and TurnItIn.com , which provide tools for detecting plagiarized papers. (Enterprising cheaters may soon come up with counter-counter-sites to block the detection tools, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.) Teachers should inform students that these Web sites exist and that the teachers are prepared to use them. Keep Your Child Honest So, what can teachers and parents do to encourage kids to behave ethically in a world where cheating runs rampant, not just among school peers but among business leaders, politicians, and other adult "role models"? Here are a few pointers:

• Have a discussion with your child about cheating and plagiarism, and make sure she is clear about her school's (and your) expectations. If the school has a written ethics policy, review it together. If the school doesn't have such a policy, suggest they craft one.
• Avoid becoming over-involved in homework. Homework is designed to show the teacher what the student knows — not what the parents know.
• Lower the grade pressure! A pressure-cooker mentality to keep grades high and gain admission to elite schools may be implicitly condoning shortcuts.
• Don't ignore reality. As tempting as it might be to deny that your child would cheat or plagiarize, or to attack his teacher or the school for wrongly accusing him, take a step back and consider whether it might be possible that he is in the wrong.

The New York Times

Motherlode | talking to children about cheating: dishonesty is worse than a bad grade, talking to children about cheating: dishonesty is worse than a bad grade.

I’ve had cheating on the brain this week because I’ve been researching an article about creating cheating-free classrooms. A few friends asked me to write about how parents can best address the topic of academic dishonesty with children.

Students cheat for lots different reasons, but chief among them are the competition for grades, the pressure of high-stakes testing, the failure to prepare or understand academic material, and, as reported in one study, the thrill of “ cheater’s high .” Whatever the reason, cheating ramps up during middle school , where just over 60 percent of students reported cheating on exams and 90 percent admitted to copying another students’ homework, and peaks during high school, where about 75 percent of students admit to having committed acts of academic dishonesty.

Researchers in another study found that almost half of all students have committed “ cut-and-paste plagiarism ,” lifting text from websites and passing it off as their own work. What I find most disturbing, as a teacher and as a writer, is that more than 75 percent of undergraduate students believe that copying off the Internet, whether through for-profit essay websites or cutting and pasting snippets of text, is not a serious offense. In fact, as I was researching this piece, I discovered one of my own published articles for sale at a popular essay retail outfit (and to add insult to injury, I was on sale for just $10 a page).

Despite these statistics, 34 percent of parents don’t talk to their kids about cheating because they don’t believe their children would cheat . It would be lovely if those 34 percent of parents who don’t believe their children would cheat happen to overlap with the parents of those 30 percent of undergraduates who are not cheating, but I hardly think so.

If you are ready to be honest with yourself and admit that your child is likely to cheat sometime during her academic career, here are some ways to turn that dishonest impulse into a valuable life lesson.

First and foremost, talk about academic dishonesty. Place that elephant right in the middle of the room and describe it. Don’t assume your child understands the difference between collaborating and cheating, paraphrasing and plagiarism. Brush up on the definition of plagiarism and the reason we give others credit for their work. Discuss the realities of cheating: Academic dishonesty can destroy her reputation as an honorable person, not to mention her relationships with teachers.

Next, get to the root of the reasons behind the cheating. Find out why she is cheating. Does she not understand the material? Has she asked her teacher to clarify? Talk to her teacher about your concerns, and find out if her teacher has any insights into the cheating, whether it’s to gain a leg up on her peers or to get around having to ask for help. In my experience, the most common parental response to an accusation of student cheating is denial, so teachers will find this line of inquiry refreshing. It will also go a long way toward reinforcing the partnership between you and your child’s teacher.

Frame your conversation around school in terms of individual effort and personal goals rather than grades and test scores, as competition fuels academic dishonesty. Dissuade your child from comparing grades with her friends, and teach her that learning is not a means to an end, but the end itself.

Speaking of friends, if you discover your child talking or texting with friends during homework time, ask whether or not her teacher has given students permission to work together on assignments. If she’s not sure, talk to the teacher about her guidelines regarding collaboration and homework.

Think about your own involvement in your child’s academics. Do you help your child with homework? One in five adults admits that he has completed part of his child’s homework assignment. Worse, adults that do this believe that helping their kids with homework is fair. This is your child’s education, not yours; let your child discover her own answers and keep your participation in her homework to a bare minimum.

If your child has not been caught cheating (yet), remind her that even when she gets away with it, dishonesty undermines her future success. If she’s cheating, she isn’t really learning the material, and she will be behind when the next unit begins. In courses such as math or science, where one concept or skill builds toward the next, students can get so far behind they are unable to recover.

Finally, if you catch your child cheating, don’t cover for her. Take this opportunity, while she is still young and the stakes are still low, to hold her accountable for the consequences of her actions. Lisa Heffernan, writer of the parenting blog Grown and Flown , offers advice plucked from her own parenting:

If it is a choice between cheating and a lower grade — take the D. I tried to convince them that they would rather face my short-lived disappointment with a poor grade rather than my devastation, humiliation and sadness at my failures in parenting and their faulty moral compass. I let them know that far from going to bat for them, if they were found to be cheating, I would let them burn in the fires of both their school’s and our home’s disciplinary hell.

Cheating is only a failure if there is no lesson learned in its commission, and it is our job to help our kids locate that lesson amid the embarrassment and reprisal. An episode of plagiarizing on a high school science report will result in a zero and detention today, but later, out in the professional world, that plagiarism can spell the end of a career. Cheating may be endemic in our nation’s schools, but parents have the power to reverse this trend, one family at a time.

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Stephen Gray Wallace, M.S. Ed., is president and director of the Center for Adolescent Research and Education (CARE), a national collaborative of institutions and organizations committed to increasing favorable youth outcomes and reducing risk. He is a consultant to summer camps on staff training and teen leadership programming and has broad experience as a school psychologist and adolescent/family counselor. Stephen is a member of the professional development faculty at the American Academy of Family Physicians and American Camp Association and a parenting expert at kidsinthehouse.com , NBC News Learn and WebMD. He is also an expert partner at RANE (Risk Assistance Network & Exchange) and was national chairman and chief executive officer at SADD for more than 15 years. Additional information about Stephen’s work can be found at StephenGrayWallace.com .

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3 Steps for Parents to Take When Teens Cheat in School

Parents should let teens make mistakes, but help them avoid erring again, says one school counselor.

3 Steps to Take When Teens Cheat

Steve Debenport | Getty Images

The first step a parent should take is to have a meeting with the student and educators involved.

No parent wants to deal with a teen who has cheated on school work, but it happens.

Nearly 200 students were involved in a cheating scandal at one Georgia high school recently, while nearly 40 Arizona high schoolers didn't graduate last spring because of cheating, according to local news reports.

"Kids nowadays are inundated with tons of stuff where cheating is kind of normal," says Chris Ozarka, a math and computer science teacher at Batavia High School in Illinois . For instance, some professional athletes get away with using performance-enhancing drugs , he says.

Students view these incidents and may think cheating is OK. And Ozarka says that besides cheating being seen as more and more "normal" among teens, pressure from parents for good grades to get into college can also lead to cheating. Decreased pressure from parents may help students feel the need to cheat less, he says.

It's also important for parents to be proactive about having conversations about cheating, he says.

If a high schooler cheats, parents can take the following steps to remedy the situation.

1. Have a meeting with educators and the student: Families can discuss what happened in these meetings with the teacher, student and perhaps school counselor, says Heather Swope, a school counselor at Fairfield Area High School in Pennsylvania and a licensed professional counselor.

"Students should be involved in all meetings with teachers at the high school level and their voice needs to be heard," she says. "So they're taking an active part in their education at that point."

Recently, Ozarka has had students who cheat tell their parents over the phone while he's in the room to take ownership of their mistake, he says.

2. Ensure teens face appropriate consequences at home : Consequences should depend on what the family regards as important, Swope says. She says her own children lose electronics if something is going on – a big deal for them.

Ozarka says he hasn't encountered many cheaters, but he has had some. He tries to make tests where information students could easily obtain via Google, like formulas, are given, since teens would be able to search online for this information in real life. On these tests, it's almost pointless to cheat, since the tests focus on seeing if students understand harder concepts, not if they have memorized information.

3. Make a plan to help students regain trust with parents: "Find ways to say, 'You know what, you made a mistake, OK. Here's the consequence,'" says Swope. "Basically, let them have a clean slate so that they aren't constantly trying to battle something that's over."

Some parents keep bringing up their kids' mistakes, but teens are supposed to make mistakes – that's how they learn, says Swope.

If students continue to cheat in school, perhaps adults need to explore what's really going on, she says – whether it's academic expectations at home or something else.

Ozarka thinks parents should focus on being proactive, and teach morals and ethics to students from a young age so they don't cheat. "It's really hard to change that habit once a student ends up being in high school," he says.

Parents can also help teens ensure they take classes that challenge them appropriately and help teens avoid spreading themselves too thin with school, jobs and extracurricular activities, he says.

"The biggest thing is let them make mistakes and help them to not make mistakes again," says Swope.

Have something of interest to share? Send your news to us at [email protected] .

Tags: education , K-12 education , students , parenting , academics , cheating , high school

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• Why Kids Cheat and How to Deal With It

“In some cases, children cheat because they can,” says Dr. Rick Capaldi, California-based psychologist and co-founder of Outreach Concern , a non-profit school-based counseling agency. “Children are going to cheat because it’s an easier alternative then to invest time and effort, such as studying for exams or doing homework. It’s easier to cheat to be successful,” he says.

Uncovering the causes and the reasoning behind these actions is the first step to eliminate cheating all together, at home or at school.

Why Do Kids Cheat?

A young child is often told that cheating is wrong, but many adults don’t understand that kids don’t always know how to define cheating. Is it stealing? Is borrowing ok? Offering a clear definition of what cheating consists of can help clear up any confusion.

According to Lisa Share, coordinator for the early childhood education programs at Walden University , cheating can include copying from a classmate, pulling information directly from the Internet and passing it off as your own, allowing someone else to complete the work or looking at resources that are restricted during test and homework time. Provide your kids with examples to help them define cheating.

Kids cheat in the way they play, too, says Capaldi. “Whether it’s at sports or friendly games of competition, they want to win,” he says. “Ironically, they also cheat at relationships, something they carry with them well into their adult years.”

What prompts kids to cheat can vary, says Share. Older children, especially, may cheat for many of the following reasons:

• Disengaged with the curriculum or teacher
• Lack of time due to after school activities
• Fearful of the stakes attached to doing poorly
• Receiving pressure from family or teachers
• Peer pressure
• Exhaustion or poor sleep habits
• Enjoyment of the challenge
• Self-pressure to do well

Self-pressure is one of the most common reasons why pre-teens and teens succumb to cheating, says Ben Bernstein, California-based psychologist and author of “ A Teen’s Guide to Success and Test Success .” Teens are under a lot of pressure from parents, peers, teachers and society to succeed, he says. “Pressure brings on anxiety and they are anxious that they will fail, they won’t get into a good college or that their elders will be angry if they get less-than-stellar grades,” he says. “Cheating is a shortcut – a quick, pressure-release valve.”

How to Derail Cheating

When your child is caught cheating, it’s important to take a hands-on, direct approach to change the behavior and help him or her understand the significance of the action. How you approach the situation, though, is crucial, says Debbey Thomas, coordinator of the Richard W. Riley College of Education and Leadership at Walden University . “It is my recommendation for parents not to holler, scream, spank or harshly chastise students who cheat,” she says. “Parents should first take time to sit down with their child to find out if there was not enough time to study, if the material was too hard, or if they were just goofing off.”

Outline and enforce consequences for cheating, too. “This should be something that matters to the child,” says Bernstein, “such as the loss of computer privileges, curtailing social activities or stopping a weekly allowance.”

Once your child and you have absorbed what has happened and the consequences, have a discussion about why your child chose to cheat. “Talk about the pressures and the anxiety she may be experiencing,” says Bernstein. “Cheating is not acceptable but the reasons for it need to be understood and addressed so that in the future your child can deal with the pressure and anxiety differently.”

To deter cheating, serve as the example, too. Cheating begins at home, says Cipaldi. “Parents, guardians and family influencers need to instill good values in their children; stressing the fact that winning is not as important as fair play and good sportsmanship,” he says. “Succeeding inside and outside of school is done by putting in the footwork, whether its practice at a sport or game or getting good grades by investing time in studying and doing homework.”

It’s imperative that parents instill in their children the real value of achieving success through good old-fashioned hard work, says Cipaldi.

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Your Cheatin' Teen: How to Deal When Kids Cheat

Published on: august 29, 2013.

It wasn’t the first time this mom had masqueraded as her daughter. Homework tampering was routine, and when the double helix of anxiety and grade worries spiraled, mom would end up writing entire papers.

And we wonder about the origins of the cheating epidemic among teens?

This widespread trend (one 2012 study reports that 51 percent of 23,000 high school students sampled admitted to cheating on a test) is related to multiple factors: Kids feel pressure to achieve, anxiety about their futures, and less stigma about cheating. Believing “everybody does it” soothes the guilt pangs. Since the stats show these cheaters are half-right, parents have an uphill challenge pushing the honesty agenda.

Middle school students cheat more than elementary students because of increased pressures to get high grades. According to Eric Anderman, Ph.D., of Ohio State University, kids who feel their school values academic performance (good grades, high test scores, being smart) over learning are more likely to cheat. Whatever happened to valuing curiosity, understanding and trial-and-error learning?

Thanks to today’s high-tech world, it’s easier for kids to cheat—it just takes a few finger strokes of the keypad for someone to cut, paste and plagiarize. And texting is accessible and ubiquitous, as officials at New York City’s well-known Stuyvesant High School discovered when students traded answers during the statewide, standardized Regents Examinations last year.

High-stakes cheating

Back in the day (the dark ages of our youth), it was the struggling student who was most likely to venture to the dark side of cheating.

Not these days. Now, countless high-performing students are joining the cheating throngs, claiming they have to resort to deception and dishonesty to compete in the cutthroat, competitive college-admissions game.

Educational Testing Service researchers report that 86 percent of high school students believe that most students cheat at some point—and that between 75 and 98 percent of college students say they’ve cheated in high school.

In my clinical practice, I hear the classic excuses during conversations with teens: “I’ll just die if my grade point drops by making a ‘B’ [or C or D]”; “If I don’t make good grades, my parents will take away Facebook”; “It’s the only way I’ll get into a decent college”; “Since everyone else does it, I’m screwed if I don’t do it too”; and “I need to keep up with my friends.”

The most poignant? “My parents are obsessed with grades—they say that they just want me to do my best, but what they really mean is that they will freak out if I don’t make mostly A’s.”

Taking a stand

What can parents do? They need to take a strong stand—and make it clear to their teens that representing work taken from another source as their own is cheating. This includes lifting content without citation from reference material, purchasing a paper online or copying homework.

When we see parents who find their child has cheated and insist that he or she confess to a teacher, we should consider them heroic. That’s because their child usually learns a triple-whammy moral lesson: the importance of honesty, the moral consistency of the parent model, and the compassionate response of an elder when a student and parent take the principled road less traveled.

And what happened to our mommy-daughter cheating duo? They’re in recovery. Yes, they’ve had some slips, but mom swears that she won’t bail her daughter out at the eleventh hour (or at 1 or 2 a.m.) and finish her papers. And it is as hard for the daughter to go it alone as it is for the mother not to come to the rescue. They are intertwined in an anxiety dance that tricks them into thinking that the daughter is in a life-threatening situation if she turns in mediocre work: C’s! Community college! Depression! A lifetime of poverty, slacker marriage prospects or worse!

This scenario is not uncommon—and getting away with cheating encourages more of the same. The reality is, cheaters are frightened to embrace honest outcomes. Reform at the individual, family and school levels requires community-wide, outspoken support for valuing learning more than grades, honesty over a conspiracy of silence, and the courage to buck the cheating trend.

As parents, we need to spotlight honesty and fair play while sympathizing with the perpetual pressures our teens feel. Simply moralizing about fairness and honesty at the dinner table isn’t enough. We should support our kids’ commitment to hard work (work that’s their own) and encourage them to resist that temptation to cheat.

Laura Kastner, Ph.D., is a clinical professor of psychiatry and psychology at the University of Washington, psychologist in private practice and author of Wise-Minded Parenting: 7 Essentials for Raising Successful Tweens + Teens .

HELPING YOUR TEEN RESIST THE URGE TO CHEAT

• Talk about the cheating trends with your children.
• Tell your child the importance of honesty and that you’d rather have him prioritize learning and get a B than cheat and get an A.
• Examine the values of your school. Get involved if it is preoccupied with tests, grades and status and not taking the necessary precautions against cheating, burnout and extreme competition.
• Address your own parental anxiety about your children feeling pressured by you to make high grades. Ask them!
• Is your child overscheduled and feeling tempted to cheat because she can’t possibly get everything done? Decompress and delete . . . something!

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Is Your Child Cheating?

Do you know how and why teens cheat at school? Use these ideas to reduce the likelihood that your teen will cheat.

Although some kids have always cheated in school, today’s tech gadgets have made cheating easier than ever before. In a recent survey, 52 percent of teens said they have used the Internet to cheat, while 35 percent admitted to using cell phones to cut corners.

Many teens justify their actions by arguing that “everyone is doing it.” And to a certain extent, they’re right — most kids are doing it. A study by the Josephson Institute of Ethics shows how prevalent the problem has become. In a 2008 study, 64 percent of high school students admitted to cheating on a test that year. These students often do not even know that what they’re doing is wrong, believing that “the end justifies the means.” They may further rationalize their cheating by claiming that it’s harmless because it doesn’t affect anyone else.

How teens cheat

While low-tech methods are still used, such as notes concealed on the tongue of a sneaker or on the tail of a shirt, high-tech methods are becoming increasingly popular. A few of those methods include:

• taking photographs of the test and e-mailing the photo to other students.
• instant messaging, with a predetermined code, during tests.
• programming math formulas or history dates into a graphing calculator.

Why teens cheat

Technology isn’t the only motivating factor. David Callahan, author of The Cheating Culture , believes it’s also the result of a winner-take-all society where you’re supposed to do whatever it takes to succeed. And well-meaning moms and dads unwittingly add to the problem when they push their children to excel.

Time pressures also contribute to cheating. Many kids are so overscheduled that they do not have time to effectively study for tests or complete their homework.

Kids who are bored also tend to cheat. Any student who sees no value in a class or a particular assignment is more likely to cut corners.

Elementary school children may initially cheat as a way to please a teacher or parent, but the pressure to cheat intensifies in middle school when grades are no longer expressed with smiley-face stickers and check marks. Now the letters A and F scream success or failure, and for the first time, kids discover that their performance is important. By high school, cheating is no longer the exception but the norm. Even intelligent kids may cheat to maintain their position at the top of the class. In the upper grade levels, there are typically two types of cheaters: poor performers desperate to pass and high achievers driven to get a 4.0 grade point average.

The cheating doesn’t stop after a teen’s high school graduation, either. The same habits are practiced throughout the college years, and recent media reports about banking, investors and politicians are evidence that dishonesty continues throughout the adult years. That’s why parents need to play an active role in helping teens develop a biblical view of academic integrity. Let’s take a look at what parents can do to encourage teens to live in a way that is honest and counter-cultural.

What’s a parent to do?

Kids need to understand that ambition is fine, but honesty and integrity are more important. Knowing that technology helps kids refine their ability to cheat, parents need to clearly articulate that shortcuts are not desirable or acceptable.

We need to help our kids understand that cheating is a form of lying and stealing and it does affect others — both now and later. Cheating hurts honest students who must compete with their dishonest classmates for scholarships and other opportunities. And no one wants to go under the knife someday and discover that the surgeon cheated his way through medical school.

Teens need parents to emphasize honesty and integrity. They need to be taught that lying and cheating hurt relationships with peers, with adults and with God. They need to understand that the end does not justify the means. Cheating is always wrong in God’s eyes (Deuteronomy 25:16; Luke 16:10) — and that’s reason enough to avoid the temptation. 

How to prevent classroom cheating

The following are some ways to reduce the likelihood that your teen will cheat :

• Model honesty. Your teen needs to see that you don’t lie, cheat or steal.
• Clearly communicate what constitutes cheating. An eighth-grader may not be aware that copying Internet material is considered plagiarism, and a high school student may not understand that allowing friends to copy homework is not really helping them.
• Spell out what is unacceptable. Include a clear description of the consequences of cheating — both long- and short-term.
• Check your Internet browser’s history to see if your teen has visited websites that sell written papers. Confront her if she has. Consider locking your browser so the history cannot be cleared.
• Refrain from emphasizing achievement. Such attitudes place pressure on kids to succeed.
• Guard against overscheduling. Choose extracurricular activities carefully to make sure your child has adequate time for homework every evening.
• Teach teens not to go along with the crowd. Study the Bible together to clarify God’s perspective on issues such as integrity and honesty.
• Pray for your teen. Ask God to give him the grace to be honest and to bring him accountability when he’s not. Getting caught in the little things might keep him from trying to get away with the big things.

Copyright © 2011 by Tammy Darling. Used by permission.

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What do ai chatbots really mean for students and cheating.

The launch of ChatGPT and other artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots has triggered an alarm for many educators, who worry about students using the technology to cheat by passing its writing off as their own. But two Stanford researchers say that concern is misdirected, based on their ongoing research into cheating among U.S. high school students before and after the release of ChatGPT.  

“There’s been a ton of media coverage about AI making it easier and more likely for students to cheat,” said Denise Pope , a senior lecturer at Stanford Graduate School of Education (GSE). “But we haven’t seen that bear out in our data so far. And we know from our research that when students do cheat, it’s typically for reasons that have very little to do with their access to technology.”

Pope is a co-founder of Challenge Success , a school reform nonprofit affiliated with the GSE, which conducts research into the student experience, including students’ well-being and sense of belonging, academic integrity, and their engagement with learning. She is the author of Doing School: How We Are Creating a Generation of Stressed-Out, Materialistic, and Miseducated Students , and coauthor of Overloaded and Underprepared: Strategies for Stronger Schools and Healthy, Successful Kids.  

Victor Lee is an associate professor at the GSE whose focus includes researching and designing learning experiences for K-12 data science education and AI literacy. He is the faculty lead for the AI + Education initiative at the Stanford Accelerator for Learning and director of CRAFT (Classroom-Ready Resources about AI for Teaching), a program that provides free resources to help teach AI literacy to high school students. 

Here, Lee and Pope discuss the state of cheating in U.S. schools, what research shows about why students cheat, and their recommendations for educators working to address the problem.

Denise Pope

What do we know about how much students cheat?

Pope: We know that cheating rates have been high for a long time. At Challenge Success we’ve been running surveys and focus groups at schools for over 15 years, asking students about different aspects of their lives — the amount of sleep they get, homework pressure, extracurricular activities, family expectations, things like that — and also several questions about different forms of cheating. 

For years, long before ChatGPT hit the scene, some 60 to 70 percent of students have reported engaging in at least one “cheating” behavior during the previous month. That percentage has stayed about the same or even decreased slightly in our 2023 surveys, when we added questions specific to new AI technologies, like ChatGPT, and how students are using it for school assignments.

Isn’t it possible that they’re lying about cheating? 

Pope: Because these surveys are anonymous, students are surprisingly honest — especially when they know we’re doing these surveys to help improve their school experience. We often follow up our surveys with focus groups where the students tell us that those numbers seem accurate. If anything, they’re underreporting the frequency of these behaviors.

Lee: The surveys are also carefully written so they don’t ask, point-blank, “Do you cheat?” They ask about specific actions that are classified as cheating, like whether they have copied material word for word for an assignment in the past month or knowingly looked at someone else’s answer during a test. With AI, most of the fear is that the chatbot will write the paper for the student. But there isn’t evidence of an increase in that.

So AI isn’t changing how often students cheat — just the tools that they’re using? 

Lee: The most prudent thing to say right now is that the data suggest, perhaps to the surprise of many people, that AI is not increasing the frequency of cheating. This may change as students become increasingly familiar with the technology, and we’ll continue to study it and see if and how this changes. 

But I think it’s important to point out that, in Challenge Success’ most recent survey, students were also asked if and how they felt an AI chatbot like ChatGPT should be allowed for school-related tasks. Many said they thought it should be acceptable for “starter” purposes, like explaining a new concept or generating ideas for a paper. But the vast majority said that using a chatbot to write an entire paper should never be allowed. So this idea that students who’ve never cheated before are going to suddenly run amok and have AI write all of their papers appears unfounded.

But clearly a lot of students are cheating in the first place. Isn’t that a problem? 

Pope: There are so many reasons why students cheat. They might be struggling with the material and unable to get the help they need. Maybe they have too much homework and not enough time to do it. Or maybe assignments feel like pointless busywork. Many students tell us they’re overwhelmed by the pressure to achieve — they know cheating is wrong, but they don’t want to let their family down by bringing home a low grade. 

We know from our research that cheating is generally a symptom of a deeper, systemic problem. When students feel respected and valued, they’re more likely to engage in learning and act with integrity. They’re less likely to cheat when they feel a sense of belonging and connection at school, and when they find purpose and meaning in their classes. Strategies to help students feel more engaged and valued are likely to be more effective than taking a hard line on AI, especially since we know AI is here to stay and can actually be a great tool to promote deeper engagement with learning.

What would you suggest to school leaders who are concerned about students using AI chatbots? 

Pope: Even before ChatGPT, we could never be sure whether kids were getting help from a parent or tutor or another source on their assignments, and this was not considered cheating. Kids in our focus groups are wondering why they can't use ChatGPT as another resource to help them write their papers — not to write the whole thing word for word, but to get the kind of help a parent or tutor would offer. We need to help students and educators find ways to discuss the ethics of using this technology and when it is and isn't useful for student learning.

Lee: There’s a lot of fear about students using this technology. Schools have considered putting significant amounts of money in AI-detection software, which studies show can be highly unreliable. Some districts have tried blocking AI chatbots from school wifi and devices, then repealed those bans because they were ineffective. 

AI is not going away. Along with addressing the deeper reasons why students cheat, we need to teach students how to understand and think critically about this technology. For starters, at Stanford we’ve begun developing free resources to help teachers bring these topics into the classroom as it relates to different subject areas. We know that teachers don’t have time to introduce a whole new class, but we have been working with teachers to make sure these are activities and lessons that can fit with what they’re already covering in the time they have available. 

I think of AI literacy as being akin to driver’s ed: We’ve got a powerful tool that can be a great asset, but it can also be dangerous. We want students to learn how to use it responsibly.

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Are Your Kids Cheating with ChatGPT: What Parents Need to Know

Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think creatively.” Students learn by conducting research, using problem-solving skills , and challenging themselves to investigate new ideas and ways of thinking.

However, technology has introduced a new challenge to the learning process. Artificial intelligence language models such as GPT-4 and ChatGPT have enabled students to receive quick responses to any questions they may have reducing the need for research and thinking.

Many school districts including the New York City Department of Education have banned the use of ChatGPT, according to the National Education Association (NAE) . 

However, the question remains “Are your children cheating with ChatGPT, or is it a great tutoring and literacy tool ?”

We break down what parents should know about ChatGPT, and how you can encourage kids to use AI like ChatGPT for schoolwork without getting in trouble for plagiarism. 

Related: What to Do When Your Child is Cheating

What is ChatGPT?

ChatGPT is a chatbot that answers questions, supports individuals with various tasks, and allows them to converse with an AI. It was developed by OpenAI, a research and artificial intelligence company. ChatGPT responds in a human-like manner, making it nearly impossible to tell that an AI created the responses.

ChatGPT is being used universally because it can provide knowledgeable answers to millions of questions. According to the  Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) , this AI tool has grown in use among kids and adults even faster than platforms like TikTok and Instagram! 

ChatGPT had approximately 100 million active users two months after its release. Its rapid growth is a result of the numerous tasks it can perform.

According to  Forbes , ChatGPT can:

• Create emails instantly.
• Write algorithms or codes.
• Create essays on any topic.
• Give advice on relationships and family life.
• Create lesson plans and quizzes.
• Get assistance on any complicated subject.
• Generate ideas on every topic.
• Summarize any article or research.
• Help improve students’ thinking skills .

Is AI like ChatGPT Considered Cheating?

Using artificial intelligence language models like ChatGPT, according to  ResearchGate , poses numerous issues, including plagiarism and academic dishonesty. 

Students can use chatbots like ChatGPT to write an entire essay or complete homework assignments that would otherwise require more independent research, synthesis, and analysis. The aim of education, which is to educate students on critical thinking and doing research, is lost with the usage of ChatGPT and other forms of AI.

According to  CBC , many school students have admitted to cheating with ChatGPT. Middle, high school and college students use the program to do their schoolwork. Students who do not like to do schoolwork or find difficulty in certain subjects are motivated to use ChatGPT because it guarantees them higher grades. The widespread use of ChatGPT to complete assignments has led to many schools across the United States trying to ban ChatGPT and stop students from cheating. 

Can Students Get Caught Using ChatGPT?

Yes, many K-12 teachers have caught their students cheating with ChatGPT. There are AI cheating detection tools that parents and school educators can use to determine whether a student used ChatGPT to complete their schoolwork.

Parents should be aware that traditional plagiarism detection tools do not detect content created by AI as plagiarism. As a result, using AI cheating tools to check essays is required. These AI cheating tools can identify AI-written text in essays and articles. They have limitations, but they can still be used by parents and teachers when assessing students' work.

On January 23, 2023,  OpenAI released a new technology that can distinguish between texts written by humans and texts written by artificial intelligence. They have made AI text classifiers in the past, but the new one is far more advanced. However, it is crucial to know that even the new technological classifier still has a few limitations.

Limitations of the AI Text Classifier

• The AI text classifier does not always give accurate results.
• It could only be used for texts written in English.
• It will not work on an updated version of ChatGPT or other language models.
• The classifier is only reliable when used on long texts (above 1000 characters). 1000 characters are equivalent to about 200 words.
• 9 percent of the time, the classifier gives a false-positive. That means some human texts can be falsely classified as AI-written texts.

Some schools are taking a different approach by encouraging teachers to change the format of assessments. They believe that assessments should require students to prove they understand the topic by explaining topics in their own words rather than simply writing down information.

How to Talk to Kids about ChatGPT and Plagiarism

Students must grasp how ChatGPT and other AI language models might be used unethically. According to  Education Week , parents and teachers must talk to children about ChatGPT and plagiarism. Here are some suggestions on how to talk to your children about the risks of using AI to do their assignments and how doing so harms academic integrity.

• Explain to your child what plagiarism is and how copying and pasting text from ChatGPT is considered plagiarism and a form of cheating. It should not be used as a shortcut to complete schoolwork.
• Explain to your children the importance of researching and creating original content in the process of student learning. By researching, students develop essential skills needed for the future. Some of these skills include creative thinking and problem-solving skills.
• Tell them that ChatGPT can create a complete essay about any subject, but claiming those essays as theirs is considered cheating.
• Tell your children that teachers can now use the new AI text classifier to find out if they have used ChatGPT to complete schoolwork.
• Analytics Insight urges parents to explain to their children that generative AI like ChatGPT is not a search engine. It gets its responses from data previously embedded in the program. This means there is a possibility that the information it provides is false.

5 Ways to Use AI/ChatGPT as a Homework Tool Without Cheating 

Open Universities Australia is encouraging students to use ChatGPT positively. Here are 5 steps on how to use ChatGPT and other forms of AI to help with homework without cheating and plagiarising.

 Use ChatGPT to Get Ideas for Assignments 

The first step to completing assignments is brainstorming. Your children must get an idea of how they want to approach the topic they are writing about. They can ask ChatGPT to give them ways to analyze a topic. 

For example, if they are writing an essay about the harmful effects of television on children, they can ask ChatGPT to give them ideas on how to outline their essays. By using ChatGPT as a brainstorming tool, your children would have an idea of how they are going to write their essays, but they would still have to research and use creative thinking to write them. As a result, the learning process is unharmed.

Use ChatGPT as a Research Tool 

Research is a crucial component of the learning process. There is nothing wrong with your children using ChatGPT to help find trustworthy sources on any subject. When ChatGPT recommends trustworthy websites, they should read and analyze the articles without its help. 

This saves students time searching for trustworthy websites. Keep in mind that ChatGPT can analyze and summarize articles; but, it would be considered cheating if the AI chatbot does the analysis instead of the student.

 Use ChatGPT to Simplify Complex Subjects 

ChatGPT can answer any question your children have. It can simplify very complicated texts and explain complicated subjects in an understandable manner. By using it as a tutor, students can get answers to all their questions at any time. It could also help your children improve many learning skills. 

According to  Study.com , 67 percent of teachers agree that ChatGPT should not be banned but used to help kids develop their skills. ChatGPT can help children improve in the following skills.

• Creative thinking
• Problem-Solving skills
• Data Science
• Analysis of Texts
• Programming

4. Use ChatGPT to Check Spelling and Grammar 

ChatGPT can proofread your children’s essays and make suggestions on how to enhance them. Students should only read the recommendations and not copy and paste any altered texts created by ChatGPT. Students' writing skills will improve in the long run if they keep the tips in mind when writing in the future. 

As a bonus, parents may also save some time if you often volunteer to proofread your child’s assignments before they’re turned in.

5. Use ChatGPT to Cite Trusted Sources 

ChatGPT can be used as a reference tool to help create in-text citations and bibliographies for more trusted academic sources where students are getting their information. If they only rely on ChatGPT as their main source without researching the information it presents, that can be seen as plagiarizing. 

Help Kids Understand the Consequences of Cheating 

The use of ChatGPT and other forms of AI programs among school students is a controversial topic. Students cheating with ChatGPT has proven to harm the student learning process. Many school districts have banned the use of this program to reduce the number of cheaters in schools. 

However, according to  NPR , it is unrealistic to completely ban students from using ChatGPT for schoolwork because everyone is cheating. As a result, children should be taught how to use ChatGPT to assist them with homework and help enhance their skills.

Blose, A. (n.d.). As ChatGPT Enters the Classroom, Teachers Weigh Pros and Cons | NEA . https://www.nea.org/advocating-for-change/new-from-nea/chatgpt-enters-classroom-teachers-weigh-pros-and-cons

ChatGPT in The Classroom . (n.d.). Study. Retrieved May 2, 2023, from https://study.com/resources/chatgpt-in-the-classroom

Cheguri, P. (2023). Top 10 Drawbacks of Using ChatGPT in Academics. Analytics Insight . https://www.analyticsinsight.net/top-10-drawbacks-of-using-chatgpt-in-academics/

Clay, I. (2023). Fact of the Week: OpenAI’s ChatGPT User Base Has Grown Faster Than TikTok’s or Instagram’s. ITIF . https://itif.org/publications/2023/02/13/openais-chatgpt-user-base-has-grown-faster-than-tiktoks-or-instagrams/

Cotton, D., Cotton, P., & Shipway, J. R. (2023). Chatting and Cheating. Ensuring academic integrity in the era of ChatGPT. ResearchGate . https://doi.org/10.35542/osf.io/mrz8h

Hristova, B. (2023, February 2). Some students are using ChatGPT to cheat — here’s how schools are trying to stop it. CBC . https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/chatgpt-school-cheating-1.6734580

Klein, A. (2023, March 7). ChatGPT Cheating: What to Do When It Happens. Education Week . https://www.edweek.org/technology/chatgpt-cheating-what-to-do-when-it-happens/2023/02

Marr, B. (2023, March 1). The Best Examples Of What You Can Do With ChatGPT. Forbes . https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2023/03/01/the-best-examples-of-what-you-can-do-with-chatgpt/?sh=16d9c8e1df11

New AI classifier for indicating AI-written text . (n.d.). https://openai.com/blog/new-ai-classifier-for-indicating-ai-written-text

Open Universities Australia. (2023, February 16). How you should—and shouldn’t—use ChatGPT as a student . https://www.open.edu.au/advice/insights/ethical-way-to-use-chatgpt-as-a-student

Wood, P. (2023, January 26). “Everybody is cheating”: Why this teacher has adopted an open ChatGPT policy. NPR . https://www.npr.org/2023/01/26/1151499213/chatgpt-ai-education-cheating-classroom-wharton-school

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It's Ridiculously Easy for Kids to Cheat Now

Once upon a time, students looking for shortcuts to their math and English homework still had to make an effort: flipping back and forth in the textbook, borrowing the "teacher's guide," or buying the CliffsNotes. Today, homework-help sites and apps make it a lot easier to cheat. Kids can solve even complex calculus equations just by uploading a photo of the problem or get chapter-by-chapter literature summaries on their phones.

While many of these same homework helpers can also teach kids how to work out problems on their own, the temptation to take the quick route is always there. The resources below are some of the easiest to misuse, although they can be used responsibly -- especially with adult supervision. It's important for parents to be aware of these tools so you can help kids to learn how to use them without sacrificing learning. 

So, should you let your kid download these apps at all? That depends. Keeping an eye on things and checking in regularly might be enough. If you're able to have your kid do their homework in a public space, you can get a handle on any  multitasking  or distractions (such as an app with all the answers on it). It's worth checking their devices to see if they've downloaded a homework helper and, if so, talking about using it appropriately.

Here are some of the most popular:

Photomath . To get an answer with this app, you just have to point your device at the problem (typed or handwritten), scan it, and -- bingo! -- there's the solution. Photomath displays the steps required to complete the problem for free; if you pay for the upgrade, you can get even more detailed explanations. Used with guidance, this app can be an enormous help for a kid who's struggling (and for parents, whose math skills might not be up to the task).  How parents can help : Take advantage of the free explanations to really drill down on trouble spots. 

Mathway . This app is similar to Photomath in that you can type in or take a picture of a math problem and get the answer for free. But to see the steps to get the correct answer, you have to subscribe. That makes it a bit harder to cheat, since most teachers want to see the work. For a higher subscription level, kids can also have access to a live tutor.  How parents can help : The Mathway website offers some additional features such as the ability to create practice worksheets and access to a glossary, both of which can be especially helpful before a test. 

MyScript Calculator . Instead of typing, scanning, or taking a picture, this $2.99 app lets you write the problem on the screen with your finger or stylus. Then, it transforms what you've written into typed text and solves the problem. (For a greater challenge, you can turn off automatic access to the answer and decide when to view the solution.) MyScript Calculator is especially good for kids who have trouble with handwriting equations, since the app makes nearly any scrawl legible.  How parents can help : Parents of younger kids need to make sure kids are entering the problem correctly, since there's more room for user error.

Socratic Math & Homework Help . With a broad scope of subjects, including chemistry, economics, and history, this app covers more ground and offers more resources and background material than other homework helpers. After you upload a photo of your question, you get the answer, as well as step-by-step solutions, graphics, and video culled from high-quality sources such as Khan Academy to help you better understand the problem. The wealth of information can be great -- if kids really use it.   How parents can help : Encourage kids to study the background material without going too far astray.

Slader Math Homework Answers . Getting answers from an app is one thing, but crowdsourcing answers to textbook questions is tricky business. The results can run from totally accurate to really iffy. Slader Math Homework Answers actually offers more than math cheats: It has the answers to the most commonly assigned textbook homework. The problem -- other than helping kids cheat -- is that a lot of the answers come from users, which means there are plenty of incorrect answers available. So, even though the app description says "experts" provide a lot of the solutions, user reviews tell a different story. How parents can help : If your kid legitimately wants to use this app only to check work, it might be helpful, but given the possible incorrect answers and temptation to cheat, it might be best to avoid.

Sparknotes . If your kid turns in an essay about To Kill a Mockingbird but never cracked open the cover, it's likely they turned to some online resources to cut out the middleman (the book). Sparknotes offers a wealth of information, including full transcripts of famous plays and poetry, plus resources kids can use to learn more about literature. Other sites in this category include  Shmoop  and LitCharts  -- and they all specialize in information likely to appear on tests, such as plot analyses, character information, and even key quotations. How parents can help : These sites can be used to supplement kids' research when used appropriately, but they require oversight to avoid plagiarism.

Essaybot . For some kids, writing essays feels impossible, so they go online for help. But sites like Essaybot and  123helpme.com give more than guidance: Kids can cobble together essays from pre-written paragraphs or even buy a selection of essays ranging from "good" to "powerful." They even promise to evade the plagiarism detection software teachers often use. How parents can help : Sites like these are best avoided entirely. Instead kids can use a wide variety of other sites and tools that offer real help.

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Kristin cavallari is open to having kids with her new boyfriend mark estes, kristin cavallari open to having kids with new boyfriend.

Kristin Cavallari may be a new mom in the future -- at least that's what she's saying ... 'cause her boyfriend wants to have kids.

The reality star explained on her "Let's Be Honest" podcast that her 24-year-old BF, Mark Estes , has his sights set on being a dad -- and because of this, she's been mulling over potentially popping out another baby with him, assuming everything works out.

So far it looks like Kristin -- who's currently 37 herself -- might be leaning towards expanding her brood ... even joking with her cohost her future little one could become so famous it'd be her one-way ticket into retirement ... 'cause the kid would be so freaking good looking.

Jokes aside, KC is giving it some serious thought ... saying her 3 other kiddos -- Camden , 11, Jaxon , 9, and Saylor , 8 -- are old enough to help out with a new baby. BTW, she shares those three children with her ex-husband, Jay Cutler .

Kristin admits she still hasn't figured out if Mark's the one, even though their romance has been on a good track since February.

Kristin recently posted a pic of Mark having a chat with one of her kids, so on its face -- she seems to think he's already showing fatherly qualities ... which might be why she's even talking about this.

Cavallari wasted no time going public with her relationship with Mark after TMZ posted cozy photos of them hanging out down in Cabo 2 months ago.

KC has looked head over heels ever since ... and now, parenthood might be on the horizon (again).

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