Showing posts with label nursing school. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nursing school. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Is It Ever Okay To Cheat?

Is there ever a time that it's sort of, a little tiny bit, make an exception, turn a blind eye and cheat?? I have been struggling with this question myself. Last weekend, I worked on my homework on Saturday and Sunday being careful to do a really good job, striving for that 100. I felt good. I had read and re-read the chapter, I had studied and knew my stuff. I got to class on Monday morning (different class than I usually am in because of the kids being sick with the flu and my gracious parents being able to miss work to watch them for me) :) and everyone is talking about HW chapter 38. Well hell, I had done chapter 35! shit! What to do now. UGH!! My face got flushed. I was feeling so hot, and for some reason tears welled up in my eyes. I couldn't believe that I had worked so hard on the WRONG homework! I was upset and disappointed and so frustrated with myself, and to top it all off, I was going to get a ZERO! Great. That will average in so nicely to my GPA. I just felt like giving up and going home. The girl next to me Erika, so sweet as she was, said, "do it now. you have a few minutes. try, it wasn't that hard" but I hadn't read the chapter at all, I had no idea what any of it was, and at that time, I couldn't think. My head hurt, my throat was burning my eyes were holding back tears, and I just was so upset. She slid her book closer to mine and said "here... "
I looked around the room. I looked at her. I wasn't sure what to do. I felt this horrible tug-of-war in my head, should I? shouldn't I? What was the right thing to do? It wasn't like I had just not done the homework, it wasn't like I hadn't worked my butt off, but it was my responsibility to make sure I did the RIGHT homework, and I hadn't... what to do, what to do??
I said "thank you so much. I owe you!!" and I copied. I got a 90 and not a zero.
I'm still so unsure how I feel about this. Cheating is cheating. Cheating is wrong. way wrong. BUT, for some reason I can totally justify it in my head. I have three sick children at home. I did do my own work, just the wrong work. I hadn't been slacking, I just made a simple mistake, I wouldn't cheat just because I was being lazy or on a test or quiz or anything like that. It was a homework, it was semi-wrong to do, but I haven't done it before and hopefully will NOT do it again.
So then the battle that begins inside me now is why don't I feel so horribly wrong for cheating on my homework?? Why can I sort of justify it to myself? & How do I ever really thank Erika for saving me all that self-anger and frustration??
I did come home and read chapter 38 ~ did the questions myself and studied it all... I Aced the test on it too. I did put in my time, I just didn't do it at the right time. ~ I did learn a lesson, that I have to double check my calendar to make sure I'm doing the right homework. And, honestly I really triple check it and sometimes more, and made a list in order of the homework chapters I have to do and triple checked that too!
So do you think there is ever a time when cheating is okay?

~ Hi. Glad you stopped by. Come on in, kick off your shoes, put your feet up relax, grab a drink and stay a while. ~