Cheating: a phenomenon that nearly all students have witnessed. This unfortunate, ubiquitous act is, indeed, academic suicide. True, many (majority) students do not end up becoming caught by teachers or supervisors; however, cheating is morally wrong. Why? In essence, the cheater is taking credit for work that someone else has rightfully done.

About two weeks ago, one of United State’s most serious cheating case on trial became closed. The verdict prosecuted eleven elementary school teachers from Atlanta, along with administrators for partaking in the illegal, vile act of improving student test scores at their school. The punishment for these prosecuted school staff ranged up to 35 years in prison.

Although ten of the staff members left the courtroom in handcuffs, a woman who has just weeks until her baby is going to come was given time to stay on bond.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Jerry W. Baxter announced that “[The prosecuted school staff] are now convicted felons as far as I’m concerned. I don’t like to send anyone to jail… but they have made their bed and they’re going to lie in it.”

Perhaps this analogy reflects the true gravity that cheating, any type of cheating, should affect people with. Although the Atlanta cheating trial seems to be an “extreme” in cheating, “everyday” cheating that students witness in classrooms, passing periods, or any other instances should be treated with the same amount of seriousness and similar prosecution. If students become caught with cheating at school, there are countless amounts of consequences that far outweigh the “benefits” of not doing one’s own work.

Often times, students are found copying others’ homework answers between class periods, or they ask other students for the test questions. Senior Monae Lyseight believes that “it is very difficult to say something and confront people about the cheating when it is so prevalent in school.” However, is denying someone’s request to cheat really something to be hesitant about, when the punishments can range from detentions to suspension. These consequences may completely inhibit one’s chances of admittance into any colleges they may want to go to.