Cheating

Normally I'm completely opposed to cheating. It's obviously wrong, no doubt about that. But at lunch today I was talking to my friend about an English test the next period, and we ended up on the subject of cheating. Last Friday for our first Lit Terms test, he said there was a lot of kids that hid the paper with the definitions right under their test. What an obviously stupid way to cheat, right?
Well, I was thinking about how worried I was because I didn't know two or three of the terms. I mean, it's bad enough I just lost 20 points for not bothering to do that summer reading book review, but I didn't want to lose another 6-12 points, depending on how she scores it. So i took out a mini Post-It note (~1.5"x2") and scribbled down short notes on the few I figured I'd forget. I stuck the Post-It under my test.
Now, like I said, we all know cheating is wrong. And we've all done it at some point. Maybe it was on a test and maybe it wasn't. But that's not the point. The point is, it's immoral, and selfish. All those people who work so hard to get the answers right, and here someone else comes along, cheating their way to the top. It's unfair to them, and it's unfair to their teachers who try so hard to teach it to them. Maybe they'd learn something if they'd study or pay attention.
The worst part of all? Like all the teachers say, it really is just cheating yourself. Cliche, I know. But true. You don't learn anything by cheating, and you'll just continue to fall farther behind. When you ace the class, what will you tell your parents when they praise you? "Oh, I cheated the whole time."? No. You won't. You'll hide it inside and fake a proud smile, pretending to be modest about your "accomplishments" when you didn't even earn it. You're going to feel guilty.
Or maybe you won't. Maybe you aren't as conscience about your deceit. Maybe you're one of those kids who is so selfish, you couldn't care less about how you affect others. As for me? Do I feel guilty about cheating today? No, I don't. I didn't even look at those answers I wrote down. I didn't really even need them; I got a 100%.