Academic dishonesty (noun):

An ode to infinite loops of lies.

A source for illimitable times of falsehood.

A double-edged sword.

After 2 years of uncertainty during the pandemic, we are finally back to our usual face-to-face academic setup. This transition, however, did not stop students from committing acts of dishonesty and is as prevalent as it was during the time of distance learning.

Students find ways to make studying more convenient for themselves because the remote learning system was so inefficient that it made learning a burden for them. Facebook groups that drew headlines like "Online Kopyahan" which purportedly allowed students to contribute their solutions to modules and attracted learners as shown by its enormous following.

We now find ourselves back in the traditional school environment, which begs the question: “What changes does this manifest in terms of academic misconduct?” Many students claim that they only want to pass the course and get by when it comes to cheating. Many students claim that the transition from online to face-to-face education has negatively impacted their capacity to absorb knowledge, and they only intend to cheat temporarily as a result. High-achieving students who feel under pressure to achieve perfection may resort to cheating to get an advantage over the competition.

On the other extreme, the ubiquity of cheating demoralizes truthful students who invest a significant amount of effort to earn a grade lower than others who barely put any labor into earning a high score they have obtained through unethical means. No matter how anxious we are to do our coursework or get good results, we must not degrade ourselves or cheat on our education. No matter how excellent our academic performance or achievements appear to be, if we don't take rectitude in what we're doing, it's all for nothing.

Receiving accolades for accomplishment while transgressing your moral code is a double-edged merit. This raises the question of whether this is a sign of a failing educational system or merely bad study habits among the learners of this generation. Above all, honor always takes precedence over excellence. The desire for stature and recognition should not come at the expense of ethical integrity.