Photos by Ryan Silver

Some teachers have instructed students to wear their mask to cover their eyes to prevent them from cheating off of others’ work.

Academic integrity has been a challenge for teachers and schools since the dawn of education. Students become more concerned about their grade than learning the material and use any means necessary to get that A+. However, recent studies have shown that students are being more honest than ever since the pandemic shut down the world. 

With schools being moved to a virtual setting, teachers are not able to directly monitor their students during tests and quizzes. Gull Able, a teacher at Panther Creek High School in Wake County developed a system that not only ensures honesty amongst her pupils, but also makes it fun to learn with integrity.

“So basically what I do is; I make them check a box that says they have neither given nor received aid on every assignment or assessment they take, and then they receive virtual stickers for achieving good grades,” said Able.

One potential cause of the decline in cheating is availability of resources. With students taking tests online via the internet, they do not have the same proximity to their classmates that traditionally allows them to exchange answers. There are literally zero ways that students can physically contact or speak with their friends during online school. Because of this, many teachers and students are hoping that the pandemic lasts forever so that kids will never have to go back to in person learning. 

“Virtual school has really taught me how to be responsible with my assignments and tests, and I have now broken my personal record for test honesty by not cheating on anything for the past 11 years,” said Ima Cheetah, high school senior.

Ironically, as cheating levels have plummeted, average grade levels have risen. Teachers are finding that the percentage of students failing classes has dropped to nearly zero. Because kids can no longer depend on each other for answers, they have put a lot more time and effort into their own studies, yielding great results. 

“When this whole experience is over and school returns to normal, I think the transition is going to be super easy because we have been so used to putting in more work than needed this past year,” said Justin Kidding, high school sophomore.