Mises Wire

Can you cheat the state?

Can you cheat the state?

Hmmm. Some issues do not have a simple, straightforward answer. Consider this controversy being debated in Central Ohio.

As reported in The Columbus Dispatch, "The graduation ceremony for Centerburg High School students has been canceled after school officials say many seniors cheated by obtaining copies of tests hacked from the school's computer system."

The district estimated "that 50 of the 97 seniors scheduled to graduate either cheated by using copies of the pilfered tests or knew of the cheating and did not report it." Instead of an official graduation ceremony, "[t]he diplomas for all the seniors, except the one student behind the cheating scandal, will be released to parents so they can be presented to seniors at an unofficial ceremony [to be held] in a Centerburg park."

Now, a week later, folks are still debating the canceled ceremony and the ethics of cheating. I have to ask: Is it unethical to cheat on a test that is mandated by the state? Must students report cheaters? And who was cheated?

Ohio forces young adults to attend school. However, they are not forced to attend a government school. Students can attend a public school, a state chartered or nonchartered school, or a home school.

Therefore, no one can honestly claim that the students at Centerburg were forced to attend their local government school. And that makes this a difficult call.

If the state coerced and compelled students to attend a government school and take the tests, then cheating would be the same as "slacking" at a forced labor camp. Cheating would be an ethical nonissue. But that is not the situation in this instance.

Do state attendance laws create enough of a system of coercion to absolve the cheating? Or does the fact that other schooling options exist provide enough cover to make this claim: The students selected their government school and, therefore, had accepted an implicit contract whereby they agreed to follow its rules?

I have to admit that I am struggling here. I seem to be leaning toward accepting the idea that government schools are akin to forced labor camps. Why? Most people believe the lie that the state must educate their children -- a lie created and perpetuated by the state, the social apparatus of coercion and compulsion.

Therefore, to the students, they were forced to attend their local government school. Nevertheless, I struggle with this conclusion.

Must students report cheaters? Only if I am to report every car I spot speeding. Of course, if a student freely signs a contract whereby he agrees to report cheating, he must.

This question remains: Who was cheated? The Centerburg school district? If so, how did the students cheat the district? Assuming coerced attendance, can students commit fraud? Can the slave cheat the slave master?

What about colleges, universities and future employers? Yes, these entities would have a claim that they were deceived -- defrauded -- if the offending students stated they achieved X, when X was the result of cheating. This would be true even if the state forced the students to take the tests.

However, these entities have not entered the debate thus far. I assume they are taking notice and the graduating students will soon learn their fate in the marketplace.

In the end, the ethical issue for students in government schools is not cheating or the reporting of cheating. The ethical issue is any fraudulent claim of achievement made to private individuals and entities afterwards.


note: Of course, the market may set a much higher standard and punish the students despite state coercion in education.

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