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> But they teach you not to cheat because cheating is bad, on its own terms. The purpose of education is not just to teach facts, but also to teach young people
by warkdarrior 3y ago
> But they teach you not to cheat because cheating is bad, on its own terms. The purpose of education is not just to teach facts, but also to teach young people how to be net-positive members of society. (This is why society subsidizes education.) Teaching not to cheat to get ahead falls within that part of the curriculum.
That is highly debatable. Cheating most often affects the cheater, if anything, because when they need a skill they pretended to have, they'll fail at real-life tasks. But nobody else is affected by cheating.
- meatmanek 3y ago> Cheating most often affects the cheater, if anything, because when they need a skill they pretended to have, they'll fail at real-life tasks. But nobody else is affected by cheating. Except the people standing on the bridge designed by the civil engineer who cheated, or getting radiation therapy from a machine programmed by a cheating software engineer, or being treated by a doctor who cheated in med school. Cheaters getting degrees from an institution that's supposed to produce high-quality graduates is bad for the value of that degree, which is bad for the institution, anyone else who went there, and anyone who relies on that degree as a signal that the graduate has the skills they're supposed to have.
- sanderjd 3y agoAlso, the lesson is broader than this. In the real world, "cheating" is fraud. The lesson I'm saying educational institutions have a valuable social role in teaching is: follow the rules. I know that's naive and passe, but it's also important and a lesson most people actually learn well, to all our benefit. People who think they are entitled to cheat and get away with it are bad for society.