Cheating Culture in Schools: A Growing Menace

Abstract

In today’s academic environment the problem of scholastic cheating has emerged as a growing concern among school going children worldwide. The cut throat competition for good marks and better grades makes the child to favour academic dishonesty over academic integrity. As the pressure to get good marks and high scores increases so does the incidence of cheating. Peer pressure affects most adolescents both positively and negatively. It is a major contributing factor in scholastic cheating during adolescence where peer influence is at its peak. Self esteem has also been linked to socially desirable and risky behaviours. Low self esteem can lead to immoral acts. A gender gap emerges by adolescence on these parameters. On view of this an attempt was made to explore the gender differences in scholastic cheating, peer pressure and self esteem among adolescents. A two group design was adopted for the present study. A sample of 150 adolescents (75 male and 75 female) in the age range of 14- 17 years was administered The Self- Report Cheating Scale by Paulhus, Williams & Nathanson (2004), Peer Pressure Scale by Singh and Saini (2010) and Self Esteem Scale by Rosenberg (1965). Significant gender differences emerged between two groups on scholastic cheating and peer pressure with male adolescents score high on both the parameters but no significant difference was found on self esteem. The study implicates that school counselors, teachers, administrators and parents can come up with creative ways to combat scholastic cheating.