Survival of the Fittest

        I think that having strong competition amongst your classmates can be a bad thing but mostly a good thing. If you are competing against your friends and become so obsessed with trying to do better than them, you may ruin some of your friendships. Everyone needs friends to lean on for support during tough times but I think that when you are determined to be one of the top students in your class, you work a lot harder to get to where you want to be academically. It is also a good thing that students are aware of the tough competition that is out there to get into top universities. This means that they will most likely go above and beyond in their school work and do more extra-curricular activities in order to make sure that they stand out from their peers.
        Even though we know it's wrong, I think some students cheat because they begin to feel overwhelmed by the pressure to succeed in school. They may think that if cheating is what it takes to get an A , then why not do it? Also, some students may not feel confident that they have studied enough for a test and cheating may make them feel reassured that they are getting the answers right. Some students may even feel that this is a part of making sure that they are one of the top students in their class.
       However, you can receive big consequences if you get caught cheating. I know that in college, if you are caught cheating or plagiarizing someone else's work, you will automatically get kicked out. In high school or middle school, I know that you will usually get an F on the assignment that you cheated on. There are also some emotional consequences you may have to deal with if no matter if you get caught or not. You could end up feeling really guilty for lying and cheating and become really stressed out about the situation. You will feel like you didn't really deserve the grade you got if it was a good one because it wasn't earned by you working hard and studying the material that you needed to. You succeeded, but in a dishonest way.
       I think that students who get caught cheating should have different consequences given to them. If they are c heating on a test they should have to retake the test but one with different questions on them so that they won't already know what to expect. Or, they should just be given an F on the test or assignment so that their bad choice will reflect in their grade. Another punishment that can be given to a student who cheats on another piece of work is that they can be told to redo it, but they should also be that their grade will be marked a couple of points down. This way they won't be failing completely but they still won't get the full score they would have if they didn't cheat.
        I know that it is never right to cheat in school. It is dishonest and there will be major consequences if you get caught. It might also end up on your high school records and then you may not get into any college at all because no university wants to let a cheater into their school. It is better to just try the best you can to get good grades so that when you achieve your goal of getting into college, you'll know that you did it honestly and on your own.