Grade A+ Deception: student journalists on the academic pressure to cheat

I was talking with folks that, so I'm here in Bethesda, Maryland.

which at least a handful of years ago was the most educated place in America when you looked at the percentage of people with college degrees and graduate degrees.

So not the same culture, of course, as Palo Alto, but also a lot of academic pressure because of that of people who I think parents who have built successful lives and tie that to their academic success.

And so wanting their kids to have successful lives tie that track and success.

So that culture gets recreated.

And so I was talking with folks at a local, really nice local school here, public school.

And this one girl said, from my friends and me, we think about every moment of our day through the lens of what would a college admissions person think about how we spend our time? Does that ring true for you? I mean, I, you know, it's been a while since I was a high school student.

Yeah.

So I don't know whether she's singular that way or whether that's what a lot of people feel once they get to high school.

I wouldn't necessarily think of it as like, oh, I'm eating lunch and I'm doing this club today.

And I hope that my college admissions officer reads, like is able to take that and see that on my application.

But I think like, I think to reframe it, something that I have had, like a conversation I have had with one of my friends recently is like, I wish that a college admissions officer could come into Pali and come into our school and see what these kids are actually like, because like, on the note of like cheating.

Like if you see like the amount of like academic dishonesty or just generally things that you probably wouldn't want in a student.

Maybe it depends on the college or the profession.

Actually, we love those skills here.

I'm teasing.

Yeah, but I mean, I think In terms of academic integrity and dishonesty, we were talking about how I wish an admissions officer could actually come in and see us and see what we are like on a daily basis.

I think a lot of people, I don't know, some people don't make an effort to talk to others.

Some people completely disrespect teachers.

And I think maybe in that sense, but I don't think of it as a way it's like, oh, every single moment of my day is watched.

Well, the reason I was asking is that, you know, Ethan, you're making the point that it's not just what we're doing in class, but how we're spending time outside of school.

And maybe I, big air quotes, should be.

And so I wonder where I'm, you know, gosh, I really want to just spend time and run off and, you know, have a good lunch with Ethan, but gosh, maybe I really should be fill in the blank, studying harder for this, or, you know, I shouldn't be wasting time on things.

And for some students that A student who's in one of the books we co-wrote said that she, anytime she has downtime, she worries, she feels anxious because she feels like she should be doing something productive with that time.

And that may be getting particular to her, but if you have that looming sense that I should be spending my time someplace else, but perhaps if you have parents who aren't pressuring you, they've created that space for you to be able to breathe and reflect and write cool articles and all that stuff.