Everyone’s cheated at least once in his or her life. It’s bound to happen. Is it morally wrong? Yes, but so is silently farting in a crowded room. It’s just not cool. Nevertheless, it doesn’t seem to stop some students from striving for that passing grade.

There’s always the old “looking off your shoulder” method. Classic and timeless. However, some students take cheating to the extreme, which can lead to some pretty interesting stories. One could say that the skill and effort of these students would be considered admirable if they had used their intellect for the good of the cause rather than saving themselves.

Among many of the teachers who have caught these failed attempts, Mrs. Short, Spanish teacher, confesses her favorite cheating story was when a student bribed her. That’s right, bribed her. “Last year, I had a student email me, offering $200 to pass them on their final exam.” Shocked, Short adds, “I didn’t know how else to respond besides, saying, ‘I think your friend hacked your email. I would really make sure you catch that hacker.’” Maybe if a couple more zeros were added behind the initial $200, there’d have been a different ending for this poor student!

Some students have confessed about their own encounters with cheating, one admitting this: “When I cheated one time, I had a playlist, and every song that came up, the first letter of the song was the answer.” Besides this, another confesses, “I was really desperate during this test, and so I had come up with something fast. So, I copied the answers from my neighbor and when we got the tests back, we both failed. It was really sucky because I had tried so hard to avoid failing, but I did anyway!” Fellow student, Dazia Wilkins,10, strongly feels that “cheating just makes it way harder in the end. What’s the point, because when it comes down to it, you don’t know the information. So, it’s on you.”

   It’s hard to say, but cheating won’t ever really stop; it could be during a test, a game, or even with a significant other. The fact of the matter is there will always be people who silently fart and there will always be cheaters. The best thing people can hope for is to catch them in the act and clear the air.