Is cheating immoral?

[xorbie]

This is tricky. In all of my classes thus far (HS), grades were generally not a zero-sum game. There would be several classes where the average grade was as high as a B+, and there was no "average grade" on a test. Only if everyone did freakishly well or freakishly poorly would a teacher apply a curve or scale.

So assuming a non zero-sum game, is cheatting immoral? I don't think so, but I do think it should be made against the rules. And even in a zero-sum game, I might argue that it is not immoral. There are several different ways to cheat, so I think that the poll is also a little vague, so it would be interesting to see what specificically about cheating they find immoral or not immoral.

(edit: DAMNIT! could a mod change option #3 to "no, ......." and option #2 the "or" to "are")

[Calzaer]

Cheating in school?

Pfft.

Seems to me like anything short of plagerism or stealing copies of the test is morally neutral. High school is primarily about keeping you off the street for four more years, and if you learn anything, that's a happy side effect.

Of course, practically speaking, you should only cheat on things which won't come back to bite you later. Cheating in trig when you're going to be a history major? Cheat away. Cheating in trig when you want to be an engineer? Bad idea.

[Gothic_J]

cheating on tests and quizzes may be unethical, but it is a habit of mine.

[yelyos]

I believe it's immoral, but only slightly so, because it inflates the cheater's career prospects very slightly and unjustly at the cost of the rest of humanity. It doesn't have a very strong effect, though, so that's why I consider it only slightly immoral.

A lot of it, though, adds up.

[jafosei]

So assuming a non zero-sum game, is cheatting immoral? I don't think so, but I do think it should be made against the rules.

Not to be flip, but I think cheating is normally defined as breaking the rules to gain an unfair advantage. Thus, it's already against the rules. If it isn't against the rules, it isn't cheating.

That said, I would consider cheating in school to be a violation of my personal morality. When I participate in something like a school, I generally accept that I have agreed to follow their rules. Thus I equate cheating with lying. In the absence of some compelling reason, that's immoral (and I would find it hard to argue that grades offered a compelling reason).

Of course, you might not feel you 'agreed' to anything, but were required to go to school. That would shoot my argument right down.

[xorbie]

Well yeah, what I meant is that I support the current status of cheating as against the rules. Interesting though that you view it as a form of lying. I suppose I could argue that your assumption that by participating in a system, I am following the rules, but I think most schools force you to sign something saying "I agree to the rules."

Perhaps this does make it immoral though. Very interesting.