Cheating has been an issue throughout schools since the beginning of education, but with modern technology today, it has become an epidemic.

Cell phones are both the best and worst devices available to this generation. Often times they can do more harm than good.

“It’s irresponsible, and you can’t really show how much you have learned in the class if you cheat. A lot of teachers give you warnings, and I think that’s fair. Phones should be away where the screen is not visible,” Alyssa Ritchie, junior, said.

This past spring, several students at MCHS were caught cheating on a geometry test. Teachers were quick to catch this because they had made different versions of the same test and noticed when the correct answers to one of those versions ended up in the same order on another test.

This experience taught most students the lesson of integrity and to consider the consequences before they put their grades in danger. However, teachers are taking even more repercussions regarding the multiple incidents. One precaution that has gotten lots of attention is the newest “phone in the pouch” routine.  

“I don’t think we should take it personally when teachers get stricter on their cheating policies,” Claudia Salazar, senior, said. “it’s just a safe bet for them.”

Many math teachers have introduced a new way of keeping an eye on students during math classes. This requires students to place their phones in the designated pouches throughout the duration of the math class.

“All of the cheating scandals we had last year instigated our newest phone pouch program,” Ms. Jill Nehring, mathematics department chair, said.

According to Nehring, the math department experiences around 10 known cheating situations each academic year.

“It really does depend on the topic and time of the year. Cheating academically seems to be more common at the end of each year, when students are frantically trying to push their grades up before finals,” Nehring said.

Academic dishonesty takes place in every shape and form. Evolution has taken it from the old-fashioned cheat sheet to downloading documents on Apple watches and programming notes into calculators. Now that teachers have become so aware of electronic device issues, is it possible that students could go back to their old ways?

“Students will always find a way to cheat. If the energy used to cheat was made into an effort of studying, I think grades would be a lot better,” Nehring said.