They never prosper or do they?

I have been an oft repeated witness to this activity which teachers treat with disdain and students (both the desperate and the not so desperate ones) like to engage in amidst threats of being kicked out and other dire consequences. The strange thing is it thrives even in the most advanced academic environments, be it in the simplest form of the sneaky buddy system or the higher level proprietary-violating plagiarism of papers. Believe me, people were able to do it even when the exam was the essay type and not multiple choice (both in law school and in the college of science).

What motivates people to do it? I have one answer. Greed. To satisfy their own interests and be one step ahead of others, students are more than willing to forget the basic notions of right and wrong, throw caution to the wind and be "losers" for an hour or so.

The fact that academic honesty is getting to be such an alien word speaks much of the kind of values that is prevailing in society now. The danger is that this can be the start of a contagious malaise that will be hard to cure and which can transform into something far graver. Eventually, people become more tolerant of both legal and moral violations and end up as apathetic and indifferent zombies. The next step? Cheating in the presidential elections and claiming that nothing is wrong with it!