A few days ago, when I was reflecting on my college experience to date, and I realized that there has been a basic similarity in almost every one of my previous classes. Cheating.

This isn’t new. Cheating has been happening since the inception of testing. And, no matter how hard an institution tries to eliminate it, students will find ways to get around the rules and attain good grades without doing the required work.  It’s as if, for certain students, understanding what is taught in class is not important, and the only part that is of any importance is the end result, or the final grade.

But, you’re not going to college just to get good grades. You’re going to college to learn and grow, and good grades should be a byproduct of that.

“When a student is afforded the opportunity to continue their education—an education that places them in a position to pursue a dream career or other ambitions not possible without a college degree—they have an obligation to do so honestly,” Professor of composition and rhetoric Andrew Stout said. “Academic dishonesty of any sort is unacceptable and inexcusable, and truly tarnishes the student’s integrity.”

Unfortunately, the presence of cheating doesn’t only tarnish the student.

“Colleges and universities build their reputation upon trust and truth, violations of such standard undermine public faith in academia and the credibility of institutions,” Professor Emeritus in Residence of the Lubin School of Business Joseph Pastore said.

I have been in classes where I would finish my test feeling good about how it went, get up to hand in my work, and literally see phones and notebooks on almost all of the desks.

It’s just unbelievably upsetting knowing that I put in the work to earn my grade, while others cheat their way through and manage the same, or better grades than I do.

It’s not fair to me and all of the other students, who abide by the “Academic Integrity” clause, that a certain few can just go to class, learn nothing and still walk out of the class with an excellent mark. The presence of cheating makes comparison of students within classes very difficult.

“I suppose we are all hurt whenever there is a shortfall in the integrity of a learning environment and surely to the extent a given student is in competition with other students for academic standing; such students are hurt by those who cheat and succeed in elevating their grade point average,”  Pastore said.

So, how often does cheating really happen?

“I see cheating probably at least once every test,” sophomore environmental studies major Jessica Alba said. “It does take away some of the quality of the honest work I do. If I get an A by working hard, and everyone else gets A’s by cheating, my accomplishment doesn’t look as good anymore by comparison.”

When I was younger, my dad would constantly remind me and my siblings that if we put effort into our school work, that’s all that mattered. But that’s just not true. You can’t outwork, or outsmart students that don’t abide by the same rules as everyone else, because when it comes to the test, they will have the upper hand.

But, the question still remains. Why do cheaters cheat?

“Aside from instances of misunderstanding, I suppose most students engage cheating in response to an inability to understand the material, a failure to study sufficiently, and/or because they have an overwhelming and stressful ambition to succeed as measured by their grade point average and not necessarily by what they have learned and understand,” Pastore said.

Maybe, students should start valuing the material they learn rather than just the grade that they receive.

So this is a message to all you cheaters out there. After college, when you are trying to find a career, you will need more than just your grades. You will need an understanding of the concepts that were taught to you in your classes and you can’t find that on your transcript.