A recent poll conducted on more than 2,000 students and parents reveals that many teenagers are not clear on how to define cheating, reports Canada.com.
The poll also found that technology has had a clear role in blurring these lines for teenagers. Mobile phone cameras, Internet-enabled hand-held devices and other technology means it becomes easier every year to ‘cheat’ the system.
This is why 23% of those polled said they believed that storing notes on a phone to access during a test is not cheating, while 19% said downloading papers from the net to hand in as your own is not cheating.
Liz Perle, the co-founder and editor-in-chief of Common Sense Media, says she has every sympathy for this confusion.
"Our poor kids live in a world where the lines have been blurred. Downloading a song for free. Is that theft? But it’s free. We have to look at our whole culture of electronic empowerment."
Perle reckons that it is essential the schools lay down clear guidelines on the use of electronics, but also parents should lay down some rules as well. Parents should also discuss these issues with their children and clearly define what it means to cheat.
"Parents have to spell out: Sending another kid an answer or getting an answer from another kid? Cheating. Lifting material wholesale and plopping it down in your paper? Cheating. Be very clear about what is acceptable and what is not," advises Perle.
It is also important that parents clearly understand the root cause for the confusion in their children, such as peer pressure, struggling with the subject material or an imbalance in priorities.
Finally, parents should also go through the process of establishing clear consequences to actions. It technology is being used to cheat at school, then it is perhaps best to use technology to establish the punishment.
"Cellular solitary is very effective," says Perle. "No cell phone, no Internet, no Facebook. And establish that it’s a zero tolerance policy because that’s how important it is. Do not waffle."