Cheating Is a Relative Term and Most

Cheating is a relative term and most likely has numerous different definitions that depend on the point-of-view of the event and persons involved. Human beings are not perfect and are expected to fall short of expectations on a daily basis. Due to the inherent flaws in man, cheating will definitely occur. My personal definition of cheating is as follows: cheating is an intentional act that intends to deceive or gain an unfair advantage over somebody else. Fairness and justice are important principles for society to follow in my opinion and when they are ignored consequences of an unpleasant nature should be expected by those within that society.

In today's world, technology has allowed distance education to be a practical and useful method of education. With this new technology comes a large responsibility of all parties involved to ensure that fairness and justice are demonstrated throughout the constructs of any online or distance education course. Although my personal definition of cheating includes these ideals of intent and advantage, these terms are still relative and can be interpreted in many different ways as well. It is to be assumed that every individual's idea of cheating differs in some way then everybody else's. No two opinions on the matter will most likely be identical.

Due to the nature of society and its education, cheating is determined by the student him or herself as whether or not to safeguard principles of what they believe to be an honest education. The opportunities to cheat are rampant within the constructs of this particular method of education. How can this be stopped? What methods can help deter this type of behavior? What is the intrinsic value of cheating? I believe these questions need to be answered in order to fully understand the problem that this topic presents.

It is most likely impossible to deter and detect all types of cheating within today's technological world. Games of cat and mouse will persist forever as long as the system is constructed in the same way as it is now. Accreditation forces students to sacrifice their honor often because of the demands of the education system along with other family demands. Does this make cheating right? It is possible that cheating can be accepted in some circumstances, but who's to decide when those circumstances are permissible? Once again these unanswerable questions place the burden of education back to the individual student him or herself.

Certain methods may be helpful or deter cheating. Leadership and authoritative figures need to demonstrate honest and logical behavior that reflects non- cheating at environments. Often is the case where leadership will proclaim "do as I say and not as I do," the student wishing to mimic this authority will copy and cheat. The responsibility therefore for teachers and educators is also increased in this situation today. It is easy for teachers to grade papers and not really look at them, is this cheating? No one knows for sure because educators, looking to take shortcuts should expect their students to do the exact same.

In today's society it seems that cheating is often rewarded. First place is to be won at all costs in many instances. Sometimes it is hard for students to recognize what is honest and solid behavior when material reward is often given to those who cheat the best. Within sports cheating is often accepted with a wink and a smile. Other times cheating is looked down upon such as steroid usage as seen in the Olympics and other professional sports. These situations never seem to have just results and often the fans are left feeling robbed of something.

In today's world an education of an honest and true background is very hard to achieve. The responsibility to educate oneself is becoming a skill that is in high demand. Information and knowledge is very easy to attain and is often distorted to portray an alternate image that intends to deceive. Is this cheating? When advertisements on television and over dramatized news stories penetrate the social psyche it is very hard to determine what is honest and what is disinformation. Students need to be aware of this constant bombardment for those competing for their energies that are not within their best interests.