WHY NOT CHEAT?

 It often pays to cheat, so why not do it? There are two sorts of reasons. The first involves looking out for number one. The second involves doing the right thing. Let’s examine both.

Looking Out for Number One
One reason not to cheat is that the potential costs too often outweigh the likely benefits. This is not a moral argument. The point here isn’t that cheating is wrong, though it generally is for reasons we will soon examine. It’s that cheating isn’t wise. It too often lacks serious forethought and an accurate estimation of getting caught.

Sometimes students cheat, because they don’t fully realize the seriousness of getting caught. Yet few things enrage genuine educators more than cheating. If they take their profession seriously, they will take weighty measures against students guilty of it. These can include:

• Double weighted zeros on the test or assignment
• An informative phone call to parents
• Course failure
• A letter of reprimand in the student’s permanent record
• Compulsory community service
• Expulsion from a program
• Expulsion from school

Another prudential reason for not cheating is that it stifles the development of the cheater’s own potential. Cheaters often cheat themselves out of their own possibilities. Oscar Lavant once observed: " It's not what you are, it's what you don't become." That's dead right. But cheating also involves what you are. Or, put another way, it defines what you really are. As Emerson noted; "As a man chooses, so is he." 

Another prudential reason not to cheat is that in subjects learned sequentially, cheating only postpones inevitable failure. Let’s say someone cheats his way through an introductory math or foreign language course. His or her lack of actual ability typically catches up with them in the very next course. The same applies to many other subjects. The odds that cheaters can keep cheating their way through school get slimmer and slimmer as the cheater "advances." 

We see, then, that there are solid practical reasons not to cheat.

Ethical Reasons
The Ten Commandments offer one ethical argument against cheating. The applicable commandment is: “Thou shalt not steal.” Since a cheater gets a grade they didn't earn, cheating is stealing. Additionally, deciding whether or not to cheat measures a person's character. And that's especially true when there is a no chance of getting caught. That's the point of the U.S. military academies having honor codes. So would-be cheaters would be wise to remember that their character is the very essence of their being.

Cheating also produces unjust consequences. Justice requires that each person gets what he or she deserves. Deciding what people deserve isn’t easy. But that's not the case with cheaters. The cheater didn’t actually do the work,  but their honest classmates did. Therefore, the cheater does not deserve the same grade. Cheaters cheat every honest member of the class — including their friends. And it's particularly disgusting to cheat one's friends.

Here is still another consideration. Ethical persons only choose an action if it would be okay for everyone in similar circumstances to do the same. Apply that to cheating. Imagine everyone cheating everyone. That would be disastrous. So, using the above standard, cheating is not okay. Imagine a physician who cheated their way through medical school now faced with saving someone from a potentially deadly disease they knew nothing about. How about architects who cheated their way through the instruction about how to build structures that won't collapse? Each of us repeatedly benefit from others who did not and do not cheat. We might even depend upon that with our very lives. .

Cheating also involves using others to get what we want without regard for their rights. The rights of the teacher and the other test takers, for instance. People aren't merely things and should not be treated as if they are. Cheating requires doing just that. Therefore, it is wrong.

Finally, we need to consider the total good and the total harm that will result from our action. With cheating the total harm typically outweighs the total good. Put another way, honest effort provides greater benefits to a greater number. Psychological research reveals that when people have a chance to reflect on a moral issue, they are much more likely to behave in accord with their consciences. Give yourself that opportunity.

Remember, though, cheating is ONLY usually wrong. "Usually" because it matters why you are cheating. For instance, breaking evil rules.If you are an inmate in a concentration camp, for example, and cheating the the guards would save the life of another, it is morally obligatory. 

Summary
We’ve seen there are two kinds of reasons not to cheat. The first involves looking out for number one. In other words, being prudent.The second involves  right and wrong. The combined force of both reasons suggests cheating is a bad idea. The trouble is, cheating can and does pay off. In fact, it can pay off handsomely, IF you don't get caught; or if you value your own honor and integrity. 

(This is an edited version of something originally written in 2009.)