Student cheating has become a major issue on campus with many students participating in numerous acts, serving as one of the school’s biggest academic offenses. With cheating a frequent topic of discussion as the year winds down, many teachers are looking to school administration to figure out reasonable consequences and methods of prevention.

“A lot of cheating happens inside and outside of school because a lot of students think that cheating only happens inside of schools where kids are looking at other people’s papers and stuff like that,” AP Biology teacher Chris Ham said. “But a lot of it happens outside, which is copying answers down, telling other people what was on tests, memorizing answers. Realize that it’s not just within the classroom, it’s everywhere.”

Many teachers and staff on campus believe cheating can easily degrade the importance of studying for tests and the value of obtaining good grades.

“We are looking to assess students’ knowledge, their own knowledge, of a concept or a skill,” assistant principal Kristen Sommers said. “Whenever answers are shared, we’re not able to assess whether students really know that information or not.”

While cheating has been a part of schooling for generations, the level of cheating found on campuses across the country alarms some teachers.

“I was surprised at the amount of cheating that is going on, it’s a lot more than I had expected especially from the beginning of the school year to now,” Ham said. “I’m a little disappointed in a sense, I didn’t expect this amount of cheating to be happening here so I guess I was surprised.”

School administration has a proper definition of what is classified as cheating. Whether it is a quick copy of another student’s homework assignment or obtaining test questions before the test, many teachers believe anything bypassing a student’s own efforts for obtaining a higher grade is considered cheating.

“Cheating is providing any sort of answers to anybody else or a copy of a test or a copy of a homework assignment,” Sommers said. “Anything that you provide to someone else that the teacher is taking a grade on, is cheating.”

To many students, there is a blurred line when it comes to what is cheating. With the increasing use of technology and social media, it can be easy to commit an act of cheating without even realizing it.

“I see friends doing this all the time where they share answers but they forget to realize that even if you tell them the topic or a single question on the test, that’s considered cheating,” Ham said. “It’s also a community thing where it’s like I help you, you help me, so it’s like they think it’s a teamwork sort of deal. I think some of the students don’t realize what counts as cheating but the community also drives it, even if you don’t mean to cheat, if you’re in the group of people that always helps around you kind of get sucked into that.”

Many students admit to copying homework assignments since it seems like a minor offense compared to cheating on tests and quizzes; some consider it cheating while others just use it as a way to maintain their grades.

“It’s for the convenience. Sometimes you’re in a rush, you know it’s wrong, but you still need to get it finished,” senior Shiva Avula said. “If you’re still a good student, if you’re still studying, then it isn’t a big deal. Copying homework is just for the grade, you just need to get it done.”

Ham believes the best way to limit acts of cheating on campus would be to start raising awareness of what is going on and to inform students of how it affects academic integrity.

“The biggest thing is just to educate them; they don’t realize what counts as cheating and what doesn’t, the difference between helping and cheating,” Ham said. “Just cutting the line of here’s what’s considered cheating and here’s what’s not.”

Knowing the consequences of cheating can also influence students to stop cheating. According to Ham, consequences should be stricter and more punishable so as to properly steer students away from cheating.

“There’s also the aspect of what happens when you cheat, some people don’t know the consequences of cheating, it’s good to know what happens when you do get caught cheating,” Ham said. “As of now, the consequences are not strong enough, I don’t really think they meet the crime. What they’re getting now is a detention which I don’t think dimensionally fits the crime they’ve committed.”

For punishments to properly serve their purpose and actually stop cheating, they might have to directly influence students’ grades instead of their behavior record.

“I feel like we need to hurt them where it really does hurt, which is their grade,” Ham said. “I think their grade should be heavily punished versus some behavior issue.”

While cheating can be prevalent throughout the school in all grade levels, Sommers believes that cheating is not representative of the principles of the student body or the school.

“Integrity is one of our core values here at Liberty,” Sommers said. “All of the cheating that is going on does not represent that core value that we hold so firmly here on campus.”