The fact that a countless number of students are involved in examination cheating and tend to normalize that wrongdoing has sparked a contentious debate surrounding its underlying causes. While some people opine that this negative phenomenon is attributed to the intensive curriculum and workload, others assert that it is due to students’ lack of honesty and self-esteem. In this essay, I will attempt to explicate both perspectives and reveal my advocacy for the former.
On the one hand, numerous proponents claim that this situation is ascribed to students’ deprivation of integrity and self-respect. To be more specific, students have a multitude of choices to make an attempt to achieve good marks in an exam instead of breaking the rules, however, if a person decides to lose themselves to temptations, it might be equivalent to their deficiency of self-regulation and determination. In addition, cheating is likely to originate from a poor awareness of morality. As a person has low self-esteem, and considers outlawing an exam as acceptable, it is in their nature to utilize unallowed tricks to get a good mark without any great endeavor or regret, indicating their shameful lack of self-regard.
On the other hand, I argue that an increasing amount of homework and demanding schooling are two principal factors entailing the rise of cheating in educational environments. Initially, educational institutions, nowadays, are inclined to intensify their curriculum, laying a huge emphasis on scholastic results of students which require students to excel at being an academic generalist. This not only exacerbates the existing pressure students are carrying on, but it also tempts students into cheating on their exam since they are incapable of having a good performance on every subject they learn. Furthermore, a sheer quantity of assignments prevents students from having sufficient resting time, causing anxiety, stress and depression which subsequently incentivises students to cheat whenever they have to do an examination due to frustration.
In conclusion, I concur that although an inability to value their integrity and self-respect is a contributing indicator leading to a rise in the number of students who opt for cheating in lieu of reviewing their lessons, huge pressure from schools play a more significant role in shaping this bad habit.