“Don’t Cheat Yourself, Cheat the System.” by Chelsea

“Don’t Cheat Yourself, Cheat the System.” by Chelsea - May 2014 Scholarship Essay

“Don’t cheat yourself, cheat the system.” Yes, believe it or not, a teacher has said this to me before, though it completely contradicts most commonly accepted moral value. Cheating has been deemed one of the most self-defiling crimes one could commit as a dedicated student. Not only are you betraying the trust of your instructors or breaking the honor code, but you also cheat yourself as the curriculum is never fully learned.

Being the quite impressionable young lady I once was, I took heed to my teacher’s literal guidance, but not his implied. I now realize that this moment I believed to be his mental lapse and valueless tendencies, packed a large message in one blowing punch. Into me, the recollection rushed once I received my horrid test results. Having cheated in the preceding quizzes, it finally occurred to me that I had learned none of the material; not a single thing! What good is cheating if I never obtain any of the information – taking the course ultimately becomes useless since the educational system builds off of previously learned curriculum.
In the end, cheating just hurt me, and put me one whole unit behind everyone else.

So while an outsider may have misinterpreted my teacher’s message, much like I did, and believed him to be endorsing such an indecent practice, I now understand the truth behind it all. Cheating gets you nowhere in life. In the real world, while discovering the most crafty methods to get the grade may have gotten you to where you are, takes sheer determination and full understanding to get the check.