I survived another round of testing, but final exams are still two weeks away so the back to back exams I just endured were simply molehills on the side of the mountain.

What was most irritating to me was the pervasiveness of cheating on all the tests. TAMS is a hotbed of academic dishonesty, with students literally engaging in full conversations during tests all in plain view. After the exams, the cheaters involved all receive scores equivalent to or higher than the scores of those who did not cheat.

When others hear of academic dishonesty, they will typically respond along the lines of, “they’ll eventually get caught,” or “they’ll be at a disadvantage in the end.” But reality is a far cry from expectation. Ultimately, it is the dishonest and deceptive are the ones who enjoy an advantage.

For example, students are expected to do community service. The hours received are then submitted in an online application form to be approved. However, the approval system is lax, with many students simply falsifying hours. Some students have falsified over 10 hours of service. These falsified hours save 10 hours for the submitters, conserving crucial time during the school year. Alternately, the honest student works hour for hour, allocating valuable time that could be otherwise spent studying.

This interesting article describing psychopathy mentions that, “In a civilization made up primarily of law-abiding citizenry, the theory goes, an evolutionary niche opens up for a minority who would exploit the trusting masses”.  While this behavior is not psychopathy, the overall principle is the same and suggests that because the dishonest are a minority in society, these few individuals are able to take advantage of the innate trust of the majority to gain an advantage.