group 8
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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?