Analyzing 'Why I Think Students Should Cheat' Essay On The Morality Of Cheating In Compulsory Education.

In his article Soling explores the morality of cheating in compulsory education. He refers to compulsory education as an oppressive environment, “where failure is not an opportunity for learning, but rather a badge of shame”, and where students view knowledge as a “disposable commodity,only relevant when it is tested”. He concludes that in such an environment “cheating is not only justified, it is necessary”.

Identify and explain the main techniques Soling uses to make his message to his audience more persuasive. In particular you will analyze and evaluate how the author sustains a provocative tone throughout the article, how he appeals to his readers ‘emotions and how he reinforces his arguments.

• Is Soling’s challenging claim relevant/valid for today? Does it make sense to his audience?
• How does Solingattempt to establish a “relationship” or common ground with his audience to make his argument “matter” to readers?What technique(s) does he use to appeal to his audience’s feelings? How do the feelings he arouses in his readers make them accept his arguments more easily?
• How does Soling enhance his arguments? Does he explain them through well-known facts and relevant examples? Does he connect them clearly? Does he acknowledge and refute opposing arguments?
• To what extent does Soling achieve his purpose?

The Argument for Cheating in Compulsory Education

The following paper aims to evaluate the article by Cevin Soling entitled “Why I Think Students Should Cheat”. The article was published on an internet source and aims to discuss the fact that the usage of the unfair means by the students is majorly dependent on the external situations that they have been facing. The essay deals with the justification behind the implementation of unfair means in order to gain better grades. The following essay deals with the evaluation of the ways in which the given article aims to discuss the morality of the usage of the unfair means by the students. The students are generally known to adopt the unfair means in order to obtain better grades in the examinations that they undertake. The better and enhanced conditions of the grades help them to secure better jobs in the future thereby helping them achieve the goals that they had set for themselves.

Soling in the concerned article attempts to justify the cheating activities that are undertaken by several people under varied circumstances. The author suggests that though adopting unfair means are considered to be completely unjustified, yet there arise certain situations wherein the concerned person has to adopt unfair means in order to save his own self (Soling). The author discusses a situation wherein the concerned person has to lie in order to save himself from physical harm. However, the person hesitates to adopt unfair means for saving himself due to the instillation of certain values within the psyche of the person. The situation that has been discussed by the author describes a dire situation wherein it was necessary for the person to lie. However, in this situation the person is found to have not been abiding by unfair means. This puts him in the face of high risk in case he could not answer his kidnapper correctly.

“You have been kidnapped and dragged off to a remote location where your abductors have tied you to a chair. One of your captors is seated in front of you. He holds up ten flash cards and informs you that he is going to ask you a series of questions and the answers are printed on the backs of the cards. He assures you that once he has finished asking these questions, you will be released. There is a catch, though. For every question you get wrong, he will signal his accomplice to cut off one of your fingers.” (Soling par. 1).

The concerned article further discusses the fact that the education department does not consider similar views in case of conducting examinations on the students.

The author claims that the students are generally taught to avoid the unfair means that are generally adopted by these people. The implementation of the unfair means by the students in their academic areas results in the loss of the grade. The grades on the other hand serve to be the only tool for motivation of the students in the multitude of educational organizations that have been presently active all over the world (Soling). The use of the unfair methods such as cheating and plagiarizing content by the students thus lead to the loss of the grades of the pupil. The school authorities generally tend to punish or motivate the students on the basis of the grades that they have received in lieu of the various examinations that they have taken during their course duration (Soling par. 2). This results in the conditions wherein the concerned students remain devoid of the proper knowledge and aim primarily at gaining grades. The gradation system is widely used in order to decide the future of the concerned student. The judgement of the students, especially their abilities on the basis of the grades that they receive thus this destroys their belief as well as their urge to study (Soling par. 3). The author argues that the receipt of comparatively lower grades than their peers develops a sense of depression among the students.

The Flaws of the Education System

The teachers and the other educators of the child might aim to instill the fact that the knowledge gathering activity is more important than securing the grades. However, on looking from the practical point of view, the securing of the grades seems to be more important than gathering the deep knowledge on the matter (Soling 5). The author persuades that the majority of the students tend to implement the studies in their professional lives that require them to secure better grades. The author further states that the retention capacity of the knowledge varies from one child to the other and thus the reproduction of the knowledge at their assessment also varies (Soling). This results in the condition wherein the students tend to learn and retain the knowledge only till the time they need to take the examinations for the subject. It is often observed that the students retain the knowledge only till the examinations and tend to forget the information thereafter. The author suggests that this is extremely harmful for the future life of the students themselves.

The author in this article entitled “Why I Think Students Should Cheat” aims at the discussion on the implementation of the unfair means that are adopted to score higher grades in the given subject (Soling). The author uses a persuasive tone that aims to deal with the issues that are presented within the given article. The article uses a warm tone in the discussing the issues that are related to the usage of the unfair means for the scoring within the examinations. The author further states that the students generally report no connection between their course of study and the work that they have been assigned at the given workplace. The article discusses the fact that the examinations are generally farcical and does not serve the purpose behind the system (Soling). This is due to the fact that the students generally forget the things that they had learned prior to the examination of the concerned subject.

The author is observed to have been using the authoritative style of discussion in order to present the theories that are incorporated within the article. The author is observed to have been placing all the points and the counter points with proper authority. This helps in building the trust of the readers of the article in the thoughts that are presented within the given article. This helps in ensuring the fact that the readers of the article pay special heed to the material that has been put forth within the given article. One such instance within the article is

“It's important to bear in mind that students prepare for tests with the intention that they will retain the material just long enough to take the test and then forget most of what they learned soon afterwards. This completely undermines the purpose and value of testing.” (Soling par.4).

The author discusses the refuting points within the composition as well. The author states that the children often take refuge of the unfair means in order to enhance the gradation. The enhancement of the gradation helps in the issues that are related to the future job involvements of the concerned student. Thus, the students are generally observed to take refuge of the unfair means in order to secure better grades against the concerned subject. However, the implementation of the unfair means during taking the examination however leads to the conditions wherein the student remains majorly unaware of the actual facts that have been presented within the concerned course of study. The author in this case is known to have been discussing the ways in which the students have been joining the rat race to get better grades which in turn would help them in securing their future. The author opines that the students tend to give more importance to the grades that they receive over the amount of education and knowledge that they gather from the concerned subject of study (Soling). The author is observed to be successful in convincing the readers regarding the various reasons behind the adoption of the unfair means in order to enhance the received grades.

Thus, from the above discussion, it might be inferred that the students should be advised to concentrate more on the gathering of the knowledge in the concerned subject rather than the gradation that they have been receiving in the concerned subject. The students generally report no connection between their course of study and the work that they have been assigned at the given workplace. The examinations are generally farcical and does not serve the purpose behind the system. The observations state that the retention capacity of the knowledge varies from one child to the other and thus the reproduction of the knowledge at their assessment also varies. This results in the condition wherein the students tend to learn and retain the knowledge only till the time they need to take the examinations for the subject.

Soling, Cevin. "Why I Think Students Should Cheat". WIRED, 2018, https://www.wired.com/2015/01/think-students-allowed-cheat/. Accessed 26 Oct 2018.