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The economics of cheating

As a college student, I worked 15 hours a week at the university

reseach institute. The job was fun, but I worked out of necessity.

School was expensive, and the extra income was a must. One day a

week, I put notices on the mailboxes of dozens of professors. One

afternoon as I was stuffing the mailbox as the economics

department, I noticed a large stack of papers in the mailbox as one

of my instructors. The top sheet read, “ answer key, econ.303

problem set. ” economics 303, econ.303, was my toughest class that

he mastered. It covered the tick and introductory econometrics. The

problem sets were very time consuming. Looking at the stack, I

thought how easily I could take a copy of the top. No one would see

me. I was totally alone. In the end, I didn’t take a copy. Instead, I

stay up late that night finishing the problem set. In class the next day,

I handed the assignment in and received the same answer sheet I

had seen the day before. With a deep sight, I reviewed my mistakes.

Resisting temptation became a weekly ritual. The papers called to

me every week. There were so many copies of the answer key that I

knew no one will notice if I took one. As the assignments became

more difficult, it became more and more difficult to walk away. I

became thinking a reason for taking a copy. The detail answer sheet

would be a great learning tool, a study aid really. I wouldn’t stop doing the homework. I would simply look at the answers if I got

stuck. I saved time. It would even help the poor overworked

teaching assistant who had to figure out my errors. How selfless of

me. Thus the master grew more and tense. Classes, work at the

institute, singing her souls, my girlfriend, those were sufferable

problem sets. I became feeling overwhelmed by all these

commitments. I finally decided to take a answer key. I remembered

walking in the economics mail room, half hoping the papers wouldn’t

be there. But there they were as always, and as always, there was no

one around. All I had to do was take top copy and put it into my

bookbag. But I stood there, thinking about the consequences. Of

course there was the honor coat I sighted, but more disturbing to me

was the possibility I could be caught. Maybe the copies were

numbered. Perhaps the classmates would find out. Was it worth it?

Was saving myself a few hours of work worth the risks spent

generous explosion? Calculating the costs and benefits, I decided I

work too hard to throw everything away on something like this. The

benefits would be small and the possible downside enormous. I

walked away. Seven years later, my college deployment now sets up

a corner bookshop in my livingroom. It is one of the first things I see

when I walk in the door and the source of great pride. I wonder

would I look upon it differently if I had taken the answer key? Maybe I would. My achievement would be demolished. My pride qualified.

Perhaps, most important the sacrifices my family made so I could

attend the first tier university would be betrayed. But I can’t

congratulate myself too much, because my decision was based on

peer as well as princple. Does the motivation matter? Or does it still

crowd us doing the right thing when you do it for the wrong reasons?