An honest person will do the right thing, even if they think there is no chance of being caught. A dishonest person only acts honestly when they think they wil

An honest person will do the right thing, even if they think there is no chance of being caught. A dishonest person only acts honestly when they think they will be caught. Since there are not too many honest people, our only hope against the corruption of dishonesty is to police and punish dishonesty so more people will at least act honestly. But then, there is another thing. Being able to get a degree has become a gate for many jobs. Adding additional courses that are not needed for those jobs may sound good, but it really just prevents some people from getting jobs they could do, but for the inappropriate gate. Example: adding a mandatory advanced algebra course to a nursing program. You might argue that a math course helps with abstract reasoning, but you'd be wrong. Passing a math course demonstrates an ability to do a specific kind of abstract reasoning. There is zero benefit for a nurse to be able to do advanced algebra, but many schools now require it. The result is that many people who would be great nurses cannot be a nurse unless they cheat to pass the algebra class. Faced with that decision, do you cheat, or just give up on your dream to be a nurse? It may be hard for many HNers to comprehend this, but an inability to do advanced math is a thing. For some people, no amount of effort will lead to an understanding of the subject. It's just too abstract. These same people have plenty of other abilities, and are good at many jobs. Can you blame a student for cheating on such a course, that everyone knows they'll never need to do the job they're going for?