whys cheating immoral

apoyusiken · January 19

in the academic sense, i dont really get why its immoral if the results are cardinal, if someone cheats that doesnt really effect me? Now they falsely signal education and that might get them an advantage over me and they might hurt the output of society so then yeah its immoral but i dont think most people consider that so in the end is it immoral bc people feel like it?

Skiiwee29 · January 19

The idea behind the academic portion of learning and why cheating is bad is very simple. You demonstrate that you understand what is being taught and can comprehend it on a level to answer basic questions and formulate objective answers to the problem/s at hand.

Mumintroll · January 19

Some years ago a scandal with healthcare and doctor educations got discovered here in Sweden.

Young students who does not want to study in our universities and education centres because of our more rigid anti cheat control could instead take their degree in a nearby baltic country. There the anti cheat measures are less rigid and cheating was much more easier. The education centers there used the same tests every year which the correct answers sheet already had been circulating for years.

And the practical lessons were a joke.

The requirement for lesson attendance were a joke aswell.

And since they're in EU their education degree got valid to take such work in every EU country.

Healthcare personel barerly knowing the stuff needed.

So yes.

Cheating is bad.

wanderingfool2 · January 19

45 minutes ago, apoyusiken said:

in the academic sense, i dont really get why its immoral if the results are cardinal, if someone cheats that doesnt really effect me?

Perhaps on an individual scale it might not have an affect on individuals, but on a macro scale it could (all depends on the specifics on what we are talking about).

An example, an entire group of students comprising of over 20% of the class was caught cheating. The teachers used the tests as benchmarks for what was being needed to be taught more etc. By having such a large chunk of people cheating, it could have easily skewed what was being taught in class as the teachers would think that people understood specific topics etc.

Another example of how an individual cheating could have an effect on things. I had gotten the top mark on one of my mid-terms, we had to review all the questions on the exam in a class. We got to a question and the teacher was let down that so many people got the question wrong...he asked the class for reasonings about the question, and it then came to myself where he asked me how I came about my answer. When I said, I didn't know I got the answer wrong, he realized that we had missed out on an "important" subject. We proceeded to get caught up on that section. Had I lets say cheated and knew the answer then the prof wouldn't have realized we missed covering something...had more people cheated as well it would have likely been a similar result of not realizing it wasn't properly covered.

So while on an individual level it might not have that much of an effect, on the macroscale of things you could very well start getting a trend that does have an affect on people (if enough people cheat).

The other thing as well, in classes where the marks are scaled (there are a few classes where the teacher aimed for people to get 50% and would scale because it showed who really knew their stuff better)...cheating in cases like that definitely has an impact on others.

If you are talking about cheating on lets say homework, there might be some bias of the teacher of marking the next test after seeing a test where someone got all the answers right.

GarlicDeliverySystem · January 19

3 hours ago, apoyusiken said:

in the academic sense, i dont really get why its immoral if the results are cardinal, if someone cheats that doesnt really effect me?

Often cheating involves taking someone else's work and claiming it is yours, i.e. for larger written assignments. In tests your results can also affect others, when you have things like grading on a curve (i.e. best 10% get an A, next 10% a B etc.).

In countries with more socialized education (i.e. where things like university are almost free, but the limited resources are supposed to be allocated based on merit) you also potentially take a spot that someone else could make much better use of long term. You also devalue any academic degree, since employers/institutions can't rely on a degree being meaningful if you allow cheating.

Plus there's this whole idea about academic education being not just about subject education and qualification, but becoming a better human being overall: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humboldtian_model_of_higher_education

Avocado Diaboli · January 19

4 hours ago, apoyusiken said:

in the academic sense, i dont really get why its immoral if the results are cardinal, if someone cheats that doesnt really effect me? Now they falsely signal education and that might get them an advantage over me and they might hurt the output of society so then yeah its immoral but i dont think most people consider that so in the end is it immoral bc people feel like it?

Do you even read what you post?

"Why is X bad? I don't really get it. I mean sure, if Y* then yeah, X is bad. But I don't think that's true. And no, I'm not gonna provide any reasoning for that."

*Y is always the reason why X is bad when you frame your questions like this.

You gave yourself the answer.

TetraSky · January 19

Because sometimes it CAN affect you.

Like where I live, we have this thing called the R-Score. Which is a whole other mindfuck to even understand, but basically your scores in class are not the only thing that determine whether or not you can go to a specific university in a specific program.

It's comparing your score to others in your classes and in your grade, from highschool to college, to determine a weird ass score that says whether or not you can qualify for a specific program in university. It's utter bullshit. But if there's a lot of people who cheated, it makes your score lower on average. So even if you always scored above 90% on everything, you might not have such a good score in the end due to the cheaters.

Doobeedoo · January 20

In video games it is

Ha-Satan · January 20

Cheating is immoral because I would like it to be the case that the person who designs the bridge actually knows how to design a bridge

starsmine · January 20

9 minutes ago, Ha-Satan said:

Cheating is immoral because I would like it to be the case that the person who designs the bridge actually knows how to design a bridge

At least in the US. those people who sign off on those are generally required to be PE.
The FE and PE tests are no joke, and you can only use a very limited selection of calculators, pen and paper.

Millios · January 20

On 1/19/2026 at 6:45 PM, apoyusiken said:

in the academic sense, i dont really get why its immoral if the results are cardinal, if someone cheats that doesnt really effect me? Now they falsely signal education and that might get them an advantage over me and they might hurt the output of society so then yeah its immoral but i dont think most people consider that so in the end is it immoral bc people feel like it?

Are you seriously asking why the act of somebody who is not qualified getting to a serious position be it an architect, a doctor etc. while still refusing to get the proper skill set and education (aka the qualifications) is bad?
Cheaters don't have the qualifications. If you do not have the qualifications yet, try to bypass that you are doing something terrible because you can cause serious harm in many ways.

If you do not understand that cheating is bad because those who cheat inevitably cause serious harm then you simply do not want to understand

Lurking · January 20

Cheaters are diluting the results for everyone else. The point of a test is to determine who meets minimum criteria. If cheating happens, the whole test is obsolete. The test being obsolete, makes the whole school program obsolete. At that point you could just mail every person who is born the lawyer, doctor or engineer license. That is nice for everyone who would never have gotten that license - but it makes that degree or license useless. You basically punish hard working talented people, and reward lazy and untalented cheaters.

It is like allowing everyone to print money (and you see what happens with the legally allowed entities printing money, now imagine everyone printing money).

Or in a game, if one player gets superpowers, it ruins the game for everyone else. Or use doping in Sports.

OP's question shows a serious lack of morale and awareness.

If I'm an honest A student and OP ist a C student, me having an "A" is an earned value that shows others my potential. But if now OP cheats, and also gets an "A", OP gets an unearned value, but also diluted my "A". So, OP didn't steal from the school, but stole from the honest students. And let's be real, if OP asks that question, they most likely aren't "A" students. ...

GarlicDeliverySystem · January 20

4 hours ago, Ha-Satan said:

Cheating is immoral because I would like it to be the case that the person who designs the bridge actually knows how to design a bridge

Don't worry, ChatGPT would never cheat ^/s

apoyusiken · January 20

3 hours ago, Lurking said:

OP's question shows a serious lack of morale and awareness

ok bro clearly im not clueless. Some people stated this is a pointless question but albeit some repetition, there were cool replies so i dont regret making this post at all. Obviously we dont want people like doctors cheating, but i still dont think cheating is conclusively immoral. If i was an elemntary school teacher i wouldnt really care if some students cheated. You could say it could affect them in the future etc but as i said the point is it depends. I dont think most people will argue against that?

IkeaGnome · January 20

37 minutes ago, apoyusiken said:

If i was an elemntary school teacher i wouldnt really care if some students cheated. You could say it could affect them in the future etc but as i said the point is it depends.

This is when you learn what is okay and what is wrong. If you teach kids young that cheating is okay then they won't realize the ramifications of it when they cheat through other courses in college. Letting kids cheat in elementary school with no consequences sets them up to cheat later in life.

CasualExtremist · January 20

45 minutes ago, apoyusiken said:

i still dont think cheating is conclusively immoral

Then you are looking with your eyes closed. There is no such thing as a person who only cheats once. Nor do I believe there is a person who cheats with the well-being of others in mind. It will impact everyone and everything in the cheater's path as they cheat their environment and themselves. It is an indication of insufficient self control that will propagate far beyond the test they cheated to pass their class.

You make quite a flawed claim to discuss in this way because you've framed it as "Well if I cannot definitively say all cheating hurts me, then it can't be generally classified as immoral" But your "it depends" mindset is just as strong of a case for it being immoral. Look at the other end of the stick and tell me, is not cheating moral? There is no "it depends" for that question. To agree to play the social game and follow an agreed upon set of rules is the result of moral decision making. It requires more effort to pay attention to the "rules" and abide by them than it does to just ignore them. The absolute furthest you can take your claim is to try and give the cheaters an ignorance pass. The problem is that ignorance does not prevent harm.

I sincerely despise your framing as a "it doesn't hurt me" mentality is leaning into narcissism with an unhealthy side of ignorance. It is not just about you, it is about your family, friends, and community. No one benefits from cheating. That knowledge is easily knowable, therefore, it is immoral to cheat because of the guaranteed loss or hurt it will cause. (yes, even if you can't quantify it yourself)

CasualExtremist · January 20

You really like bringing up the anecdotal argument of cheating a grade school test. Can you give me any example of cheating in that capacity that is definitively moral? I can give you plenty of examples that are definitively immoral. So for the sake of generalization, unless you have some specific case that we could dissect and make sure you did not just miss the "harm" caused, I believe it is impossible to generally assume cheating is anything other than immoral.

Lurking · January 20

1 hour ago, apoyusiken said:

ok bro clearly im not clueless. Some people stated this is a pointless question but albeit some repetition, there were cool replies so i dont regret making this post at all. Obviously we dont want people like doctors cheating, but i still dont think cheating is conclusively immoral. If i was an elemntary school teacher i wouldnt really care if some students cheated. You could say it could affect them in the future etc but as i said the point is it depends. I dont think most people will argue against that?

Those cheating students get a better grade. That way they get moved into a better program and take a spot an actually talented student would have deserved. So that talented student that didn't cheat, suffers

Or those cheaters now get admitted to college. In college they fail, and at work they suck Now that highschool that allowed cheating will have a bad reputation, which will hurt all students.

You seem to assume grades are meaningless. If they were, people wouldn't be motivated to cheat. In your World. the school should just give everyone an A. Because that is what it would end up with everyone cheating.

In addition you teach children that being dishonest at someone else's expense is OK.

There always are victims of cheating.

There is no free lunch or victimless crime here.

Do you really don't understand any of that? If you had a B, and everyone a C, you would look good to a prospective employer. But if all those C students now cheat themselves into an A, your B would make you the worst student.

Or are you just trolling?

Theminecraftaddict555 · January 20

2 hours ago, apoyusiken said:

ok bro clearly im not clueless.

Yeah I'm going to kindly press x to doubt for that one

Quote

in the academic sense, i dont really get why its immoral if the results are cardinal, if someone cheats that doesnt really effect me?

You are clueless on the idea of how just because it doesn't affect you doesn't make that action moral of a sudden.

Quote

Now they falsely signal education and that might get them an advantage over me and they might hurt the output of society so then yeah its immoral

Quote

If i was an elemntary school teacher i wouldnt really care if some students cheated. You could say it could affect them in the future etc but as i said the point is it depends.

You are clueless to see that you literally argued why its immoral without knowing you did so.

Quote

but i dont think most people consider that so in the end is it immoral bc people feel like it?

You are clueless to see that just because MOST people don't consider it (which I doubt but alright), doesn't mean it is NOT immoral.

Quote

If i was an elemntary school teacher i wouldnt really care if some students cheated.

And also you are clueless on what harm this could or will put out. aka setting them up for failure or increasing the risk of doing so. Also others have already pointed out further reasons on why this is an issue.

I'm beginning to be closer to believing that this is a troll post and not anything genuine.

Avocado Diaboli · January 20

You know, this is a weird way to publicly admit that you're a cheater. And trying to get us to absolve you by telling you "yeah, it's not immoral to cheat sometimes" is a weird way to cope with that. I suggest you interrogate why you felt you needed to cheat in the first place and why it's so important to you to know that we don't think you're immoral for doing so.

ItTakes2ToMango · January 20

3 hours ago, apoyusiken said:

ok bro clearly im not clueless.

3 hours ago, apoyusiken said:

but i still dont think cheating is conclusively immoral.

No, you are clueless. You are literally answering the question, admitting exactly what makes cheating conclusively immoral, and then repeatedly denying that it makes it immoral. That is, by definition, clueless.

Look at this:

3 hours ago, apoyusiken said:

Obviously we dont want people like doctors cheating

On 1/19/2026 at 11:45 AM, apoyusiken said:

Now they falsely signal education and that might get them an advantage over me and they might hurt the output of society

You cannot say these things and then also say that you think cheating is not conclusively immoral without being officially clueless.

YellowJersey · January 20

I'm beginning to think that OP doesn't have a conscience and maybe a psychopath or a sociopath or something.

SansVarnic · January 20

"whys cheating immoral"

I'll hit you with this, why is lying bad? what is the difference between a "white lie and a regular lie? what is the definition of immoral?

If you can answer these, then you have the answer to your title.

Caroline · January 21

It's only immoral because Society^TM (joker pic) is rigged in a way everyone guilt trips you if you cheat in high school algebra because your teacher sucks, and you're supposed to feel über bad because they blow it out of proportion with stuff like "think of all the children that would die if you designed a building and it collapsed because you cheated in school" yeah no, I'm not gonna build an orphanage.

Cheating a couple times to overcome system faults like a professor not attending for half a year and suddenly appearing to take an unscheduled test is valid, same if you have 8 different exams in a week, shit's made like that on purpose so you drop out unless you're capable of studying full-time.

Not all higher ed systems are going to be the same but ours is ridiculous, it's like that with 8 to 12 exams in a week because everyone and their grandma is ONLY thinking of taking vacation and they dgaf about the students, if you can do it good for you otherwise see you next year sucker, that's why *our* system is full of cheaters, it basically forces you to cheat in order to advance, it's like becoming hardstuck in a game with no other legitimate way to get past a level.

Now, I didn't cheat, but I know a couple guys who did and it's not the end of the world, in fact it's the norm, if you DON'T cheat you're the weird one or the nerd.

Professors 100% know there's cheaters and they just mostly ignore it, they're on minimum payroll after all, they do care if it's blatant obvious whoever's cheating knows nothing at all about the course, it's why there's both written and viva voce (conversational) exams, if you ace the paper but suck at vv it'll be obvious you cheated and don't know anything. It's better to get a 80/100 in both than a 100 and a 0.

And that's why we have malaria and the US has pizza that arrives in under 30 minutes.

Lurking · January 21

52 minutes ago, Caroline said:

It's only immoral because Society^TM (joker pic) is rigged in a way everyone guilt trips you if you cheat in high school algebra because your teacher sucks, and you're supposed to feel über bad because they blow it out of proportion with stuff like "think of all the children that would die if you designed a building and it collapsed because you cheated in school" yeah no, I'm not gonna build an orphanage.

Cheating a couple times to overcome system faults like a professor not attending for half a year and suddenly appearing to take an unscheduled test is valid, same if you have 8 different exams in a week, shit's made like that on purpose so you drop out unless you're capable of studying full-time.

Not all higher ed systems are going to be the same but ours is ridiculous, it's like that with 8 to 12 exams in a week because everyone and their grandma is ONLY thinking of taking vacation and they dgaf about the students, if you can do it good for you otherwise see you next year sucker, that's why *our* system is full of cheaters, it basically forces you to cheat in order to advance, it's like becoming hardstuck in a game with no other legitimate way to get past a level.

Now, I didn't cheat, but I know a couple guys who did and it's not the end of the world, in fact it's the norm, if you DON'T cheat you're the weird one or the nerd.

Professors 100% know there's cheaters and they just mostly ignore it, they're on minimum payroll after all, they do care if it's blatant obvious whoever's cheating knows nothing at all about the course, it's why there's both written and viva voce (conversational) exams, if you ace the paper but suck at vv it'll be obvious you cheated and don't know anything. It's better to get a 80/100 in both than a 100 and a 0.

And that's why we have malaria and the US has pizza that arrives in under 30 minutes.

That sounds like a f...ed up education system! Do students even learn anything, and what is that degree worth if this is prevailing?

I've had classes or teachers that weren't the best, but nothing like what you have.

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