In an era when cheating on one's income taxes, one's billable hours, or even one's spouse is accepted as a norm in our culture, it has become increasingly difficult to address this issue effectively with students. Studies tell us that cheating in school has moved from being commonplace, to being epidemic, to being nearly universal. Almost every student admits to cheating at one time or another. The age in which we live adds to the incidence of cheating. The advent of the Internet has intensified this issue as it has become easier to find term papers and essays on nearly any topic with a few clicks of a mouse.
Students can disguise plagiarized work with a new font in a matter of seconds.
The increased pressure for good grades and acceptance into prestigious colleges exacerbates the urge to cheat. Teachers have discovered that there is almost no stigma attached to being found out as a cheater. Students shrug off the guilt of cheating as easily as they might brush dandruff from their Gap-clothed shoulders. In their peer group, students have come to consider cheating as being as routine as, say, gum-chewing. The nation affirmed this attitude last year as polls showed the public relatively unconcerned about President Clinton's admission that he had cheated on his wife.