Why I Chose Not to Cheat - A Year 9 Student’s Story

Synopsis: This poster uses the CARL method to present a reflective story from the viewpoint of a 9th grade student when he was presented an opportunity to cheat, and the factors influenced his final decision

Abstract

This poster presents a reflective account by a Year 9 student examining the influences on his ethical decision-making. Using first-person reflection, the student explores how school values, classroom discussions, faith, and personal experiences shaped his choices. The work was developed under academic supervision to support ethical reflection and responsible communication.

Context: As a year 9 student, I have come across many moral situations in my entire student life, especially in secondary school. Last year, I was faced with a situation most people face in their lives: An exam worth a large portion of my grade, a lot on the line, and an opportunity to cheat. Instead of wasting time trying to cheat, I chose to actually focus my time and energy on the paper in front of me. As it happens, I ended up getting the question correct and many of my classmates got it wrong. However, regardless of the outcome, I believe it was the right decision. This decision to not cheat wasn`t just based on the spur of the moment. There were many factors that influenced my decision to stay on the ethically, morally and academically right path, which played in my mind at that exact moment. In this poster, I plan to highlight some of the factors I have experienced so that it helps teachers understand motivations and how to help students better.

Methodology (Action): To fit the reflective narrative into a poster format, methodology used was CARL. CARL stands for Context, Action, Result, Learning, a model that is structured with the aim to inform a person about an event, the result of the event and the lessons learnt from the event (The University of Edinburg, 2024). This is appropriate because it will help to transform the reflections into structured outcomes.

Result: One of the reasons I believe I was able to make the right decision was because of my training as an active committee member and Integrity Ambassador with the Centre for Academic Integrity in the UAE. When we joined, the president of the centre for academic integrity told us that a grade is only a letter in the paragraph of life. As part of this experience, I attended many workshops, participated as organiser, MC, moderator and facilitator of different types of events, that shaped my understanding of what is right and what is wrong when it comes to assessments. At the time of the exam, I thought back on a story that was shared with all of us students participating in an annual Academic Integrity Spring Camp in 2023 as part of my orientation joining the Centre. The story was that of a bridge, where an engineer had cheated on his exams, and the bridge he built collapsed within hours of being made and caused the deaths of many innocent people. This really stayed with me because it shows that this kind of cheating can hurt us and others even after school.

I also believe my Islamic upbringing has impacted how I make decisions. Islam teaches us to stay honest and good, regardless of the situation we are in. My background in Islam really affects how I make tough choices. It teaches me to be honest and do the right thing, even when it’s not easy. For me, it’s not just about following rules, rather it’s more like using my faith to guide how I act every day.

My teacher once said that getting a low mark is better than being expelled for cheating and disrupting an exam. So finally, I also believe it was the expectations from my mother, and my teachers who motivated me to take the right decisions and avoid cheating.

Now some students may make different choices under pressure, but looking back, I also thought about how cheating would make me feel. Even if it helped me in the moment, I knew I would feel stressed, guilty, and disappointed in myself. Those feelings mattered to me, and they helped me decide to be honest. I believe in wanting to stay on the right path, always asking myself, “Is it really worth it?”

Finally, I feel it is becoming more difficult though to decide when a decision is right or wrong. With the introduction of AI into almost every aspect of students` lives, I sometimes struggle with not using ChatGPT or Copilot to easily complete my assignments. This highlights how ethical decision-making is ongoing and increasingly complex in the age of AI and how we must all try our best to remain original and, for better or worse, honest and human.

Learning: Reflecting on my experience, I have found that there are many factors that contribute to the tilting of the moral scale in a student. Below is a summary of the factors and their potential impact based on my experience:

Table 1 – Factors and their impact on whether a student may or may not cheat

Factor
Impact
Religion or faith
Strong faith can be a positive influence against cheating behaviour
Inner belief
High moral compass can be a guiding light against cheating
Parental and teacher influence
Guidance of primary adults is a reminder of which path to take when faced with a moral dilemma.
Extracurricular initiatives
Extracurricular activities that make students feel like a champion of integrity influences the belief to stay away from cheating
Artificial intelligence
AI is a relatively new thing in a student’s life and can seem attractive to use, but could lead to confusions when using it

Conclusion: Secondary students mostly know that cheating is wrong, and could lead to further problems, but still engage in behaviours that can be considered problematic (Miles et al., 2022). Trying to understand why students choose to cheat or not cheat can be helpful to educators. This poster presents a reflective journey of a year 9 student faced with an opportunity to cheat, and how different factors affected his decision. In order to present the journey, the CARL method was used as it allowed the mapping and presentation of the concepts, the outcome, and the learning. Five factors were identified such as faith, parental influence, AI etc. And how each factor played a role in helping the student to make a decision to not cheat and be honest.

References
Miles, P.J., Campbell, M., and Ruxton, G. D. (2022) Why Students Cheat and How Understanding This Can Help Reduce the Frequency of Academic Misconduct in Higher Education: A Literature Review. J Undergrad Neurosci Educ. 2022 Jun 1;20(2):A150-A160. doi: 10.59390/LXMJ2920. PMID: 38323052; PMCID: PMC10653228.

The University of Edinburg. (2024). The CARL framework of reflection. From Reflection Toolkit: https://reflection.ed.ac.uk/reflectors-toolkit/reflecting-on-experience/carl

Ethical Note:

Parental consent was obtained for the writing and presentation of this reflective account

Authors’ names:

Primary Author - Sahil Razib Khan, Al Diyafah High School

Secondary Author - Dr. Zeenath Reza Khan, University of Wollongong in Dubai