Recently, Dr. Phil had show in which he talked to a teacher about the new high-tech ways of cheating.

Jan Bunten, the teacher, she said first became aware of the new ways of cheating when a student came up to her after a test and openly admitted that some classmates had used their cell phones in assisting them with the test. The students were taking pictures of the test and sending them to their friends so that they might be able to help them figure out the problem. One student approached the teacher and expected her to laugh. Instead, she took disciplinary action with the students involved.

Dr. Phil insisted that parents contribute a great deal to the fact that students cheat. Dr. Phil also agreed with a student who said that students cheat because they want to get into the better colleges. What about students already in college? Dr. Phil also agreed with the student who said cheating is about laziness. What about those students who aren’t really lazy? They just feel they need to get the better grade, so they cheat.

After about 45 minutes of digesting the cheating problem, Dr. Phil suggested a website for parents to check their children. The website is www.turnitin.com. The site is supposed to help prevent plagiarism when it comes to major papers. The student submits the paper, and the website corrects the document so that plagiarisms is ruled out.

Usually, I agree with Dr. Phil on quite a few things he has to say. I am not a parent, but I am a student, and I know that cheating is every where. I believe that as long as there are students there will be cheating. In life, humans, as a society, are constantly looking for an easy way out. I do not think that coming down harder or enforcing more punishment when it comes to cheating will stop anyone. I believe that there is a cheating epidemic out there, but it’s one of those incurable diseases.

Cheating is horrible, but I don’ t think that websites, parents, and teachers can stop it. I think the cure-all attitude that Dr. Phil has may make some parents more aware of the cheating their students take part in. But society is just so busy with other things that there is not enough time in the day to take care of the more minuscule details.

If society were to allow people to take a break the students of the world would not be looking for the easier, faster way of getting things done. Time is money, and, well, getting things done faster means more time for all those other assignments that were due two weeks ago.