Cheating

Cheating is a moral dilemma that faces college students regularly, but is perhaps particularly interesting in the case of Olin students. We are an honor code school, which should mean that students are more honorable than at lesser institutions, but the honor code also provides us with many opportunities to cheat. Professors trust us and feel no qualms about letting us take our test wherever we please, monitoring our own use of external resources, and limiting our own time. Are we really to be trusted? Are we cheating? And can cheating ever be justified?

Outside the academic context, cheating the system becomes a much larger societal force. The Enron scandle dominated the news outlets for months with stories of cheating investors and employees out of millions of dollars. WorldCom and Tyco both have similar stories of corporate cheating, showing that Enron is not an isolated case; corporate cheating could be more widespread than previously thought. Cheating in the business world certainly can't be contained to these large cheating scandals, it must exist at less severe levels. Just among office workers, it seems that small instances of fraud, such as stealing office supplies, are commonly accepted.

Even outside a business and academic context, cheating is purvasive among everyday, average people and activities. People cheat yearly on their taxes to keep their hard earned money from the government. People cheat to gain promotions or raises at work. People will return items to stores after use, or even switch price tags on items in order to say a few dollars. There seems to be no limit to the cheating behavior present in everyday life.

I admit that cheating is a tempting proposition; it seems like there are so many chances to cheat that are "victimless" crimes, what motivates us to be honest in these situations? What keeps me from opening my Chemistry textbook during my next exam in order to look up an answer that I forgot? What keeps my parents from cheating on their taxes in order to get a refund from the government rather than giving up more of their money to support governmental programs that are already in debt? What harm does returning a slightly used tea pot do?

Cheating seems like it should be such a straightforeward moral dilemma, most people probably say it is uniformly wrong. If that is the case, why do so many people committ acts that could be considered cheating? When is cheating justified? What factors should play into a decision to cheat? Do we need to cheat to survive in modern society?