People who have stepped foot in the halls of WS are probably well aware of the school’s impressive academic standards. The teachers and staff do a great job pushing students to their optimum academic performance. But at some point, the academic pressures become too strong and students are forced to cross ethical boundaries they wouldn’t have crossed before.

As if teenagers aren’t put under enough pressure as it is, counselors are constantly reminding us how competitive colleges are. Students must focus on keeping their grades at a near perfect level, while playing sports, participating in clubs, and working to earn money for college. With such a high stress level, it is completely understandable how students would try and take advantage of anything they could to stay ahead of the competition.

While I don’t condone cheating, I completely understand how students could be pressured into doing that. Parents have always stressed how important it is to get an education so you can get a good job. The grim reality is, in a capitalist society, such as America, there needs to be a lower class. For every CEO, there needs to be a secretary.  While it is ideal to get a 4.6 GPA, 34 on the ACT and get a full ride to UVA before becoming an executive at a Fortune 500 company, not everyone can do this. Students at WS are put under too much pressure to perform and as a result students will resort to cheating.

Next time students take a test, they should take a few seconds to see how many students they can find cheating. Some stick to old fashion methods such as writing the answers on the table or simply leaning over to copy their neighbor, while others even resort to looking up the answers on their phone. Whichever method students choose, the bottom line is that many students resort to cheating.

What the administration should worry about is not that students cheat, but that the overwhelming majority of students truly believe that cheating is not wrong because of how competitive colleges are. Students need to understand that no matter what they are told, they CAN be successful without a college degree and that cheating to get into a college is not worth it.