PURPOSIVE COMMUNICATION

TED TALK SCRIPT

GROUP 2

WHY DO PEOPLE CHEAT IN CLASS?

Rona: Have you ever experienced cheating? Specifically, in class, might be on exams, quizzes,

assignments or even on your projects?

Queench: Well, I’m guilty. Let’s be honest, who among you hasn't cheated in class? Is there

anyone here who hasn't tried it yet?

Rona: I know there are students who finished their studies without a thought of cheating or

didn’t even once try cheating up until they graduated. If you’re someone who hasn't experienced

it then, wow we're so proud of you and at the same time, we admire you for being so truthful

and honest. Now, the real question is, how did they do it? How did you do it?

Quench: To answer that question we need to first know the reasons why students cheat.

What’s their reason for cheating? What are the factors that affect their decision to cheat? Is it

peer pressure? Parental pressure? Or they just wanna do it?

Rona: We interviewed some of my peers and this is what I got. A student from the same

department said that on exam day, students are usually nervous and put under so much

pressure and anxiety. Students have this default mindset that we need to pass our studies in

order for us to be called worthy students. Doing any means to 'pass' our exams and activities

which includes cheating.

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Queench: We also interviewed some teachers and asked them, “Have you ever tried to cheat

back when you are still studying?” and “Why do you think you cheated that time?".

Actually, most of the people we interviewed have the same answer. They told us that

yes, they were also guilty of cheating. However, some of the people we interview have never

tried to cheat. What do you think? Is this true? Do you guys believe it? When we say cheating,

does it only refer to examinations?

Rona: I don't think cheating is only focused on exams. Think of students last year during the

pandemic. How can you say that the answers that they submitted are their own words and

ideas? I'm not here to discuss the different ways to cheat, okay? Because bruh, I can't relate.

Anyway, my point is, cheating can also be virtual.

Queench: I agree, it also depends on several factors why we cheat or why we did it even

though we know that it is not right.

Rona: Let me share my own story of cheating. Disclaimer, I’m sharing this to you not because

I’m proud of it, but because I wanna prove a point so here it goes. It was back when I was still in

grade school. That time, the most stressful time for me was to go to school because all I wanted

to do was to play with my friends and eat candies. But I have my dreams, I want to become

rich–a billionaire. I wanna be a billionaire so freaking bad (sing), just like Bruno Mars. Anyway,

so what I did back then was, I went to school. But whenever the examinations are coming, what

I’ll do is, I just play so when it's the day of the examination I can't help but to take a peek at my

other classmates’ exam papers and why is that? I didn’t review. There was nothing to answer so

my last resort that time was to cheat. If you're asking if I got caught, well almost but I didn’t. And

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that is one of the reasons and the most common one. Students cheat because they have poor

study skills that prevent them from keeping up with the material.

Students are academically very capable however, many of them lack the meta-cognitive

skills and study skills that are essential when it comes to their education. These include time-

management skills, knowing when they need outside help with the material, and estimating how

much effort is required to master a skill or a concept or to do a certain task. Students who lack

these skills tend to procrastinate, overestimate their knowledge, or think they can start even a

complex assignment the night before it is due. They will be like "Ay, madali lang yan kering keri

ko yan tapusin mamaya", "Bukas pa naman yung due date kaya mamaya ko na lang yan

gagawin" or "Nako, nasimulan ko naman na mamaya ko na lang tatapusin". See, we

overestimate ourselves that we end up doing nothing at all. Students are indeed so full of

themselves that they tend to underestimate how time flies by so fast or how hard it is to do a

certain task. In contrast, some or many of them have competing demands on their time, such as

those coming from other courses, co-curricular activities, and jobs, and they are not skilled at

managing all the demands on their time. Some students in these situations might feel desperate

enough to consider cheating.

*Queench’s Exit*

Queench: Speaking of time management I forgot that I have to do something important! Oh no,

I gotta go, bye!

Rona: Okay be quick, cause you're next to talk! Sheesh! Well going back, like what I’ve said,

having the knowledge and being able to manage your time to do the things you need to do, is a

great factor that can help in preventing yourself from cheating in class.

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 Another factor or reason for students to cheat is when they think that there’s an injustice

going on and what I meant by this is that students might blame their cheating behavior on unfair

tests and/or professors. According to some motivational theories, students are more likely to

cheat when they perceive the exams and tests as very unfair. For instance, when a material is

requiring knowledge that was not previously covered or discussed by the professor or it can be

skills they haven’t practiced. If they believe it’s impossible to prepare for the test, they reason

that there is no point in studying for it and so they might resort to cheating. Whether the

unfairness is real or only perceived is not important in terms of its effect on student behavior.

One situation where this theory might apply is when exams require students to transfer

knowledge or skills to a novel context or an essay. Students often focus on superficial features

of the initial learning situation like cases and problems that they encounter without

understanding or recognizing the general principle involved. So, when a new situation arises,

they either lack the general concept you expected they had learned or lack the skill of identifying

key ideas. If a student’s knowledge organization reflects a superficial understanding of the

material, problems presented in a different context might look unfamiliar and therefore unfair.

I remember reviewing non-stop back in junior high school for an examination for like a

whole week. I reviewed everything that my teachers taught us or discussed. The lessons,

practical examples and even the smallest details–I learned and understood them all just so I

could pass the written exam. Fast forward, it was the day of the examination and soon when the

papers were handed over to me, guess what? I was dumbfounded because most of the things

on the test paper weren't the ones I reviewed. I got stressed out and didn’t know what to do, I

was nervous and scared to fail. I looked left and right and saw one of my closest friends also

looking at me with a look of distressed. So, I mouthed him “Anong sagot mo sa number 2?” he

said his answer and then asked me back, “May number 18 ka na?” so then i gestured him the

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answer “Letter D! *Letter D sign language*”. Then, after the examinations my classmates were

like “Ano ba yan! Wala naman yun sa coverage ng exam ha!”, “Di naman tinuro satin yun ni

sir!”, “Ang daya di naman yun na discussed nung nakaraang meeting”, “Buti na lang naka kopya

ako dahil kung hindi wala talaga akong masasagot kase di naman tinuro yun ni ma’am”. In this

case, the professors are somehow or partly at fault for not providing complete materials for the

students. However, there are cases where all the necessary materials were provided but

students just didn’t pay much attention to it, so it became unfamiliar. In this case, the students

are to blame for their negligence. They tend to engage in self-talk in order to justify their actions

to themselves, even though those actions may not be appropriate. For example, they justify

cheating by telling themselves that they were cheating for only once, only in one academic

activity or because they were sick and couldn't catch up. Other self-talk justifications include

students telling themselves that “Di naman masyadong important yan kaya okay lang mandaya”

or “Nako minor lang yan”, “Di naman kase tinuro yun”, “Oh bakit, nagkokopyahan din naman

yung iba ah”. They tell themselves these lines just so they wouldn’t feel guilty for cheating.

Now, the 3rd reason for cheating is peer pressure. Students can pressure other students

to commit acts of academic dishonesty in many ways. First, helping friends on assignments or

exams when the professor has prohibited collaboration. Some students might feel an obligation

to help certain other students succeed on exams — for example, a fraternity brother, sorority

sister, team- or club-mate, or a more senior student in some cultures. Students are not just

intellectual beings. We have to consider them holistically and realize that their behavior is

shaped by a wide spectrum of social, cultural, and moral values and experiences. A vast body

of research demonstrates that students are more likely to cheat when they view cheating not as

an intrinsically negative act, but rather as a neutral one which may be caused by their lack of

prior knowledge and skills to distinguish between appropriate and inappropriate collaboration.

They might have difficulty understanding the boundaries between acceptable and unacceptable

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forms of collaboration due to cultural differences. The second one is called the “Everyone does

it” phenomenon. Sometimes, a student can feel like everyone around them is dishonest or

cheating. Students often see their peers cheating and easily get away with it without getting

caught. Thus, this phenomenon became one of the factors for students to be academically

dishonest. They will think that cheating is a norm that can be executed without any punishment

if not busted.

Cheating can also be caused by poor enforcement of academic integrity standards.

When students take assessments without anyone monitoring them, they may be tempted to

cheat because they feel like no one will know. These type cases are most common during the

COVID-19 pandemic, students have been tempted to peek at online answer sites, google a test

question, or even converse with friends during a test. Additionally, if the penalties for violating

academic integrity standards are minimal, some students may consider cheating to be worth the

risk of being caught. They might perceive a lack of consequences for cheating and plagiarizing

not knowing that many professors deal with cheating privately. This protects a student’s privacy,

but other students might perceive that cheating incidents go unpunished. This creates an

atmosphere where cheating is no big deal, and indeed the research reports that cheating is

more culturally acceptable today and that students consider it a “victimless crime.” Many

instructors do not report cheating incidents to the Dean of Student Affairs, so it never goes into

the student’s file. This creates an environment where the consequences for cheating are low-

cost and relegated only to the context of the particular course. Students might infer that they are

“allowed” one cheating occurrence per course. And yes, our professors might seem that they

allow or don't care about cheating, but “babawi na lang yan sa final grades”.

Next, to the long list of reasons for cheating is due to performance anxiety. Anxiety about

academic performance can cause some students to cheat in academic activities and

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examinations. Students may cheat to avoid failing a course or receiving a bad grade. This also

includes when students might be in competition with other students for their grades. In the race

to get the highest grades and class rank, some students resort to cheating or plagiarism to

catapult them above their classmates. Parental pressure may also fall from this category.

Students cheat because they are pressured by their parents to achieve high scores but they

lack confidence in doing the material so they resort to cheating. According to some research a

high-stakes assessment (one counting for a large percent of the final grade) creates significant

pressure on students because there is so much riding on it and any little mistakes can greatly

affect their grade especially if the test involves abilities the student perceives as innate such as

math or essay writing. They predict that when students perceive a low probability of success for

a given task, they won’t invest effort in it. But if the task is high-stakes and they must succeed at

it anyway, they might try cheating instead of studying.

Speaking of, I remember having a deal with my parents that if I get a grade of straight

90s on my card, they’ll get me a bike. Wanting so much to have a MTB to finally join my friends

on night rides, I studied. However, I was pressured and too nervous and scared to fail so I

resorted to cheating. And did I get the bike? No of course not! I failed at math that time. My point

is, being scared to face failure can also be a great factor on why academic dishonesty happens.

There’s also reasons like; students might perceive a lack of consequences for cheating

and plagiarizing, when they think that there’s a possibility to cheat without getting caught and if

students are highly motivated by grades and might not see a relationship between learning and

grades or when they think they are anonymous enough in class that when they cheated, no one

will know. Which I won’t be ellaborating anymore because no matter what, cheating is cheating,

remember that regardless of the causes of academic dishonesty, it cannot be justified under any

circumstance. Furthermore, the consequences of being caught can be devastating for students.

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Instructors have the professional responsibility to increase students' awareness of academic

dishonesty issues and help them avoid committing academic dishonesty. However, let us–the

speakers start that responsibility of increasing awareness by sharing with you how to prevent

cheating.

Queench: Cheating seems to be such a prevalent problem in our schools today. And it doesn’t

matter what type of school it is – public, private, Christian – it’s something that’s happening. And

it’s probably happening in your classroom. Don’t think anyone’s cheating in your classroom?

Well, as long as your students are old enough to cheat, it’s probably happening, no matter how

great students are. I went to a small Christian school and had great classmates, but even some

of my classmates that were great kids cheated all the time. It’s just a reality that we cannot undo

or reset.

Now, what I’m about to discuss to you is some tips on how to stop yourself from cheating

in class. First is to understand that yes, you might pass but it won’t be because you worked

hard. Most individuals feel bad after cheating, and not be proud of themselves. Remember that

if you are caught cheating, you will be harshly reprimanded and humiliated. Second, is to

remember that you have nothing to gain from cheating aside from good grades. If you cheat one

time there’s a high possibility that you will cheat again on the next one. Therefore, you will rely a

lot on cheating and will barely study. You will gain nothing but guilt and humiliation from

cheating. Third, is to study and learn from your mistakes. If you study, there is no reason for you

to cheat because you are prepared and you’ll be confident enough to take the exam without

pressure. A little tip for studying, revise your notes constantly because it will help you to

memorize faster and better. If you continually look over your notes, you will always be prepared

for any exam, even if it’s a pop quiz. Fourth, accept and learn from your mistakes. Learn to

accept failures because we learn more from our failures than from our successes. Not only do

we find out what goes wrong so that we can review and correct our mistakes but we also learn

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about ourselves in the process and gain a bit of knowledge of what to do next. Fifth is to always

remind yourself that it’s okay to fail. Failure is part of success and like everybody says, our

grades don't define who we truly are. Besides, it’s only an academic test. Tests are tests but

finals are never final because they never prepare us for the real test, which is survival. Sixth,

you may score poorly even with cheating. Sometimes the answers you’ve got from looking at

your classmate’s test paper might be wrong because he or she is also not prepared

himself/herself. Thus, cheating doesn’t guarantee anything, there’s still a chance that you’ll fail

even with cheating. Lastly is to know the consequences or to know what will happen next if you

cheat. Will you get caught? And if you get caught, what punishment will you get? Suspension?

Expulsion? Kicked out? Or failed grades? It is very important to know the consequences of your

actions. We must understand that people must take responsibility for their actions, and that

every action has a consequence, both intended and unintended.

We can still avoid it because nothing is never too late. Ah! I remember, lately bicol

universities are trending for having a way to avoid cheating, have you seen it, Rona?

Rona: Yes, I actually saw it on the internet and news, it's creative and fun.

Queench: See, these students are learning how to focus and discipline themselves by trying

this kind of prevention of cheating.

What can we do about it? For one thing, students need to be placed in the appropriate

levels of classes. Also, we need to look at what is being asked of students who are college-

bound. They need to have realistic goals for college, and they should not feel like they have to

take all AP classes while playing sports and meeting in clubs, school plays, etc.

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 We also need to have early interventions for struggling students. Frequent formative

assessments before testing would help students see areas of weakness and develop strategies

for improving them.

For students who just aren't willing to put in effort, the best way to deal with cheating is

to have systems in place that prevent them from being successful. Locked screens during

testing, frequent monitoring, and scrambled test questions/answer choices combined with short

answer/essay questions are all things that can reduce cheating. Again, discipline and trust

yourselves. Remember this quote from Sophocles, "I would prefer even to fail with honor

than to win by cheating"

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 SOURCES

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Center - Carnegie Mellon University. Retrieved November 3, 2022, from

https://www.cmu.edu/teaching/solveproblem/strat-cheating/index.html

Causes of Academic Dishonesty | Academic Integrity Tutorial for Faculty. (n.d.).

Northern Illinois University. Retrieved November 3, 2022, from

https://www.niu.edu/academic-integrity/faculty/causes/index.shtml

Common Reasons Students Cheat. (2021, July 20). Office of Academic Integrity -

University at Buffalo. https://www.buffalo.edu/academic-integrity/about/reasons-

students-cheat.html

Desai, A. (2019, October 2). Peer Pressure: Everyone's Doing It. TED Talks.

https://www.ted.com/talks/aarchi_desai_peer_pressure_everyone_s_doing_it

Edge, K. (2021, July 14). Student Story: A Cheating Problem. Challenge Success.

https://challengesuccess.org/resources/student-story-a-cheating-problem/

Edge, K. (2022, March 29). Insights into How & Why Students Cheat at High Performing

Schools. Challenge Success. https://challengesuccess.org/resources/insights-

into-how-why-students-cheat-at-high-performing-schools/

Kardamis, L. (2021, July 19). 8 Ways to Prevent Cheating. Teach 4 the Heart.

https://teach4theheart.com/8-ways-to-prevent-cheating/

wikiHow. (2022, March 26). How to Stop Yourself from Cheating on a Test: 8 Steps.

https://www.wikihow.com/Stop-Yourself-from-Cheating-on-a-Test

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