Lucida Wrote:To clarify, I voted No.
It's not cheating because it's not advantageous. If you're lazy and refuse to practice, that's your own business.
Even just today I nearly asked a friend to copy his homework (ended up not doing so because I got distracted) and he would've let me, too. But the only one at fault for not doing the homework is me.
Cheating is not determined by results. It's determined by principal. How you spend your own time is an issue to other people's business. Your parents are investing in you for you to fulfill your potential. They are not going to look after you forever. Eventually the relationship should be reciprocated when they are old and unable to take care of themselves. If you can't look out for yourself, then you will never be able to look out for other people. People who always depend on other people are useless and have no asset to a company or a business. Again I'm not talking about the short-term where you keep on living with momsy and popsy. I'm talking about the bigger picture that high school should help in developing the right mentality for kids.
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In General Chemistry in College I obtained twenty practice exams for the final exam. To be blunt, I really wanted to get into Medical School my freshman year of college and wanted all the practice I could possibly get. On top of studying the course material I also memorized all the questions and answers to the tests in case they got recycled. One practice exam out of the twenty was almost carbon-copy. I scored very high on my Chemistry exam and learned that a pre-med minority group skewed the average with high scores because they were provided with these "carbon-copy" exams. Specifically given to them by the professors of their classes. I became disillusioned with the way things work as that final determined around 40-60% of my grade. I later learned that fraternities keep their own test bank in addition to other academic groups. Everyone works hard, which is why unfair advantages make big differences when it comes to the game of academics. I personally felt guilty and quit accumulating tests, no longer really cared about my GPA, and actually died a bit on the inside. In retrospect I would have done a lot better in college if I didn't try to beat the system.
Beat the system? I'm sorry. I meant cheat the system.