Why do students cheat? For students, cheating means taking the ideas and work of others and claiming them as their own. There are many reasons why students cheat: they are busy, the are unprepared, or they are not confident in their abilities. However, one of the most common reasons is that a student wants to complete a course quickly. While the payoff for cheaters may be instantaneous, cheating does have several consequences to the student who cheats. Most students have more going on in their lives than school. And while education can be very rewarding, students tend to pursue a degree as a means to an end. For example, a nursing student might pursue a degree in order to earn a promotion and therefore make more money. The ability to complete courses quickly is also a factor in earning that pay raise. When looking at a student's life in this manner, it's easy to understand the reasons why students are tempted to cheat. What student cheaters don't often realize, however, are that the effects of cheating can be significant to people other than themselves. Students who cheat often experience consequences for their actions. One significant consequence is facing a job that requires the student to demonstrate the knowledge he/she acquired in school. If the student cheated, then that student will be unable to perform the duties required by his or her employer. In the case of the nursing student, the consequences of ignorance can even be fatal. For example, if a nursing student cheated by handing in a plagiarized essay about how certain medications can effect certain types of patients, that student may not have learned who shouldn't receive what medications and why. A mistake in doses could lead to a patient's death, which is a consequence most cheating students do not consider while they are cheating. Another example might be a student who is pursuing an Education degree. If that cheats throughout college, he or she will not be able to teach the information
