8. How We Teach Students to Cheat

http://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/04/how-we-teach-students-to-cheat/

In Michelle Blake's article, "How We Teach Students to Cheat", she reveals the reason for students to cheat. She starts the article with an example of a personal experience when she caught her classmate cheating and asked her why she was doing it. Her classmate revealed that she was cheating because her parents were pressuring her to enter a difficult college, but she did not have the confidence to pass. Blake, then, continues to prove her opinion by showing an article where harvard students were cheating on a test. She says that the reason for their action is that for the students, "looking successful is more important than being honest." Blake reveals that adults are always wishing students may succeed and have a good life by going through whatever means. This leads to children believing that lying and cheating are essencial and acceptable to achieve their goal.

Blake's purpose for writing this article is to show how students are indirectly influenced by the adults around them who expect too much. She wishes to tell parents and teachers about this case, so that they may teach the students that being honest is more important than being successful. Blake says that adults are pressuring children to achieve the best and making them to anything to pass. This usually makes the students cheat, which will be very bad for their future.