We obviously know we are not meant to cheat but there are a few drawbacks that are often not considered. Bear with me on this one, it’ll all come together in the end!
The purpose of school and university is ideally to help people become more successful.
More broadly, a person is always looking at how to become more successful in one or another area of life. It just depends how they define success.
Success is something that needs to encompass every aspect of life: Your health, beliefs, well-being, family, friends, school, work (and even your country, the human race and quite a few other things depending on how deep you want to go).
Things like money, popularity, social media likes etc are either vilified (thought of as bad) or considered the goals of success, neither is true. They are numerical representations of success in small portions of life and if one becomes obsessed with them, they lose the point.
Money helps a person have freedom to do and have certain things but it’s a point system (like the score in a game), and without considering the other aspects of life it becomes empty.
This may seem untrue if you don’t have a lot of it, but it’s similar to social media likes. A person can have millions of followers and still feel alone as they are lacking a true connection with people they really love and trust.
A test score is also a point system that demonstrates how well a person understood and could apply the content.
In the early game of life, school and university, it can seem like getting a high score on this point system is the only way to win and guaranteed a successful future.
Whether or not this is true (and to be honest it isn’t) it does matter how the test score is achieved.
If one cheats, there is obvious damage to the reputation of the school, as the students who graduate cannot apply, and to the teachers who want students to be educated rather than just have a score, but it’s deeper and more personal than this.
The world operates, when it does operate well, on the concept of exchange. Successful people, relationships, group and businesses are those that give more than they receive.
Sometimes it seems like it would be much better to get something for nothing.
And while this may be a popular idea with some, those people rarely experience success in the long term. In fact, they are hurting themselves and others and are in constant hidden fear of getting caught. This is because wanting and getting something with no intention of giving back is the viewpoint of a criminal, and while they might not get caught today, if they continue with the operating basis they eventually will and lose the trust of the people around them. Then it becomes very difficult to be successful.
If you want successful relationships, careers or anything else, give the same or more than you receive. If you don’t, you may have some momentary gain but in time you will be left with very little. If you are unsure of whether this is true, look those who you consider successful. As a potentially controversial but simple example, Macca’s is a “successful company,” at least in terms of profit, because it provides a lot of food and get’s paid for each burger it delivers.
Cheating is not a matter of being good, doing what your told or even avoiding punishment. It’s about guaranteeing your future by being someone that others can trust will deliver on what they promise. When you have this, you have it made.
Apply this idea in every aspect of your life and you’ll be happy, successful, and unstoppable. And those you care about will do better as well.
As a final note, you know what is wrong and right. It’s not what others tell you. If you feel that you are coming up with reasons why it is okay to do something, your conscience is telling you something. Listen to it, it wants you to be successful too.
