The Art of Steal
It’s an art. An art that some are scarily good at. The art of the cheater. The art of steal. It doesn’t help you, it doesn’t help them, and it doesn’t help anyone’s future. But some people, they do it just to do it. They do it because they believe that if they cheat off the right person, then they will be golden. It takes a lot, to be a cheater, a thief. These people go to great lengths to achieve a solid grade. The poison has driven them mad. It has driven them to the edge. And they’ve been pushed over it.
First, they need to find the right person. They scan the eight or so people sitting in the seats around them. Are they acceptable? Are they worthy of being stolen from? I suppose it depends. If these thieves are really good, however, they may make up some random excuse in order to get the teacher to let them sit near their target. Some of these teachers may fall for it, and some may not. Let’s just say they get lucky. The teacher was gullible. They gave in to the lies of the thief. It was painted on their face. There was an underlying reason for wanting to sit there. The teacher just didn’t know what.
At last. The thief was near their target. They receive the paper. Names written, dates recorded. Question one. The thief stares at the paper and waits, watches. He peeks. He sees that the target had written down letter B for the answer. The thief proceeds accordingly. All the while, the teacher keeps an eye on the thief. She knows something is going on. She waits, watches. Then, she notices that the thief only writes after the target writes their answer. She gets up. Walks up and down the rows in order to get a closer look. The thief notices. The thief stares at their paper and waits. The teacher stops, and looks straight at the thief. The thief returns the glare. He knows that the teacher is catching on. He would need to proceed cautiously.
20 more minutes go by.
The thief has successfully been able to write down their answers according to what the target had written. Disgraceful. But wait. The teacher sports a spry smirk. What could this mean? The bell rings. The students pack up. The thief being the last to get his things. The teacher clears her throat, which catches the attention of the thief. She shows the thief a test marked with a big red zero which is circled. And below that zero, is capital lettering that is underlined which reads, “CHEATER”. The thief notices the name on the paper. It is his. He looks at the teacher shamefully, giving her a slight nod. He leaves the room.
Was it worth it? Did the thief think that he would get away with it? I’m sure he did, as all cheaters do. What does this do to the averages for the class? It certainly doesn’t help anyone. It doesn’t help the thief, who earns a zero. It doesn’t help the target, who just goes about their day not knowing that they had just been cheated off of. And it doesn’t help the teacher, who has to average in the zero into the cheater’s grade, which just overall lowers the average grade of the class. Especially if the cheater gets caught. Besides earning a zero on the test already, the thief could be getting in more trouble than just that. If the teacher believes this to be justifiable, the teacher could choose to send the cheating student to administration, if this student is a second or even third offender.
What could this do to the economy of the school? A zero on this test brings down the GPA of the thief, which lowers the class overall grade, which lowers the school’s overall average for the year. I know what you’re thinking, one student earning a zero on a test isn’t that big of a deal, and it surely won’t affect a school that much. But trust me, a zero is a huge deal, especially on a test, which will likely count the most in a course. After earning a zero on one test, it’ll be quite difficult to bring that grade back up again. And, of course, it’s like Mr. Eure has said, grades are poisonous. The fact that something that seems so small, done by someone stupid, could affect an entire school in such a large way. But I digress. The cheaters won’t stop. There’s nothing we can do. If they get away with it once, they’ll keeping doing it. And we are left powerless. I guess it’s up to them. But is it? Who knows.
Grades, grades never change. They stay the same. People keep them on such a high pedestal that they are willing to steal them from other people. Grades have poisoned their minds, but they don’t want to put in the work in order to truly earn their grade. Despicable. You know stealing from someone is a felony? Robbing someone of something that is rightfully theirs can earn you jail time. So stealing a grade that is rightfully someone else’s should act the same, but in a school setting. Steal a grade, saturday detention. The worst kind of detention. The consequences should be higher for taking someone else’s grade. Unfortunately, it depends on the teacher. Can we do something about this? Can we change it? Can we stop these thieves? We needs to save this economy from going completely off the rails. And that, starts with putting a stop to cheating.
