Texto de Exame 1ª Época Ingles 12ª 2014 - MINED

Cheating, is it a new drug?


Today students are not only getting music from internet – they´re downloading good grades. An
enquirer investigation discovered an explosion in cheating and plagiarism. The question is “why do
students cheat?
” At first, I thought I´d approach the problem from the point of view of an Astudent,
who never uses this trick to succeed and who usually looks down at cheaters, while giving
them his/her exercise book to crib out. But I realized that I am not that kind of person and I am
never going to be one. There are a lot of contradictory opinions on cheating. To get a complete
picture, we should check them all. So I decided to carry on an opinion poll. As a result, I´ve divided
my poll into three categories:
Category number one – These people, mostly teenagers, consider plagiarism to be a very
important part of their everyday life. They download almost everything from the I-net and can´t
imagine their lives without it. When I asked them why they do it, they said, “It´s like a drug. Once
you get addicted, you never give up”. If the internet disappears one day, it might be a final crash for
them and they will probably waste away in school routine.
Category number two – Par - time swindlers. Those who use the I-net resources, only in case of
“emergency”, for example, if they don´t have enough time or necessary materials to get ready for a
class, a quiz or whatever. Most of those people are college or university students. They only
deceive themselves, trying to give this ridiculous justification for cheating.
Category number three – Those “mummy-Daddy´s Angels” who never cheat. Normally they
never lie, never miss classes, and are always ready with each and every assignment.
Cheating is a big mistake of the teens who are usually not aware of the real consequences of such
tricks. They don´t understand that when they apply for a job, the employer will only be interested in
their qualifications. Dear student, if you cheat, you are depriving yourself of what you really are, of
your “real self”.


Adapted from AEAA Newsletter 2010:24