As college students, we have been in school for at least 15 years. At some point during this journey to success, we encountered the famous first day of school speech:

‘Students,’ the teacher would say in a voice attempting to be stern and straight forward, ‘if you are caught cheating that means an automatic F on the assignment, quiz, or test so don’t try it. Right now an A might seem like the most important thing, but in the end you are really only cheating yourself.’

They would then smile to themselves with a sense of accomplishment, but in reality, as those words go in one ear and out the other, only one part resonates no matter how genuine or earnestly they were expressed: Don’t get caught!

I have seen everything from girls writing answers on their thighs to my entire class (minus me) yelling across the room for correct answers while a teacher steps out take a call in the office down the hall.’

To some this would seem like a public school system in desperate need of assistance, but to me this is what formal education has been reduced to.

The surprising part comes from the type of students I saw cheating. I went to an above average high school in Chicago, where our average ACT scores were several points above the state and national averages.

So it was not like my peers could not do the work; they either chose not to or did not have the time. A new episode of a favorite television show or a last minute request to cover for a co-worker at someone’s part time job will almost always win over studying.

But that was high school, and while cheating should not be ok then, it definitely should be abandoned as a success mechanism on a college campus. Unfortunately, once again my Aggie peers fail to the get the memo.

Almost every student has heard the phrase, ‘if you’re not cheating, you’re not trying’ jokingly coined by business and engineering students around campus.’ While this phrase may seem funny at first, really, it is a sad depiction of how some students build their collegiate careers.

Buying papers, getting friends to take exams on Blackboard, or even allowing the tutors at the campus tutorial centers to practically complete the entire assignment is not a way for college students to behave.

I did not understand back then why students cheated, and that continues to be a concept I cannot grasp. Why do you want the teachers or classes that amount to easy A’s? Why do you re-choose the same topics for projects you’ve already researched? Why do you recycle papers? Why isn’t each new assignment a venture to discover the unknown and an attempt to add significance to its discourse?

Some argue that in a way, cheating, whether mildly or aggressively, is working smart not hard. However, in all honestly, it is crippling. You are preventing yourself from developing into a cultured individual capable and willing to contribute something meaningful to the world.

How do you expect to succeed or even attempt to level the playing field of today’s global society? You won’t step outside of your bubble when it comes to learning.

It is your life and you are allowed to live it any way you see fit, however by taking advantage of a free education by cheating is shameful. Paying for your education without engaging the principles of honestly and fairness makes your knowedge simply worthless. ‘

• LaRia Land