President Eisgruber ’83 wonders in his President’s Page comments on “cheating, conduct, and character” (Nov. 13) about what has changed to make it seem that cheating is more prevalent in schools. The ideas that he and Professor Michael Hecht raised in their conversation searched out the motivations of those who are inspired or pushed to cheat as resulting from what they stand to gain or lose.
One factor they also might consider is the social or even material sanctions imposed on cheaters. My own impression is that there is indeed a growing gap between people one might call winners and losers (also known as haves and have-nots). Yet there is also a much-diminished price to pay (at least socially) for cheating one’s way into the winner’s circle. I would venture to suggest that there is even a certain admiration, not only for those with the talent, imagination, and energy to succeed, but also for those who know how to “work the system” even in the gray areas of what is legal or moral, not to mention downright illegal or immoral, including cheating, in order to win.
Being a member of the same “older generation” as Eisgruber and Hecht, I do wonder if we are nostalgic for something that did not exist, but I don’t think so.