(June 4, 2004) — Cheating, everybody’s done it, whether it is letting a friend “borrow” an assignment or quickly glancing at another student’s test. One thing students rarely do, however, is contemplate the consequences. The next time you’re tempted to hand your paper over to peer pressure or lower your morals for the sake of grades, imagine this: a big fat zero tainted in the grade book under your name or a long journey to Assistant Principal Joan Shoff’s office. Before sending the student to the office, each teacher applies his or her own policies. Science teacher Dominique Evans-Bye, for instance, gives the student a zero, a U on their report card and a referral to both the person who copied and the person who gave the answers. Spanish teacher Victoria Marcucci, on the other hand, gives negatives points, calls their parents, and hands out referrals to the office. According to Shoff, any student caught cheating on a final will be given a zero and a possible fail in the class. Once the situation is handed to Shoff, you’re doomed. However, not to worry dear cheating students, the trip to Shoff is reserved for very special occasions. The first meeting with Shoff will grant you two days of lunch detention. The second time around you’ll be given an automatic suspension from school. The severe measures taken are not unjust as students are given many warnings about the consequences. Most, if not all, teachers give handouts in the beginning of the year stating the class guidelines. Some teachers also give warnings before every test. Bye reminds students to keep their eyes on their own papers and takes extra measures, such as not allowing students to go out of the room until testing time is over, in order to eliminate any cheating opportunities. Marcucci reminds the students ahead of time to “sit up straight, cover your answer sheets, separate and clear you desks, and close your backpacks.” She then proceeds to walk around to check that no one is hiding anything and continues to survey the room during testing. The consequences of cheating do not end at school but continue on home. From the school’s office the parents are called and notified. There on out the student has to face being labeled a cheater at school and the torment of being punished at home. A majority of parents don’t expect their child to be cheating and in many cases parents will instill harsh consequences such as grounding, lowering allowances and giving lectures. This issue is not to be taken lightly as bad habits tend to follow you for the rest of your life. Like the commercial persuading parents to enroll children in preschool, the saying “you’re more likely to do well in life if you do well in college and you’re more likely to do well in college if you do well in high school” also applies to cheating. Shoff disapproves any form of cheating, “because if it happens in college the professor will kick them out of the class and most likely be they could be expelled.” If you are expelled from, one college chances are that another college won’t accept you. This could ultimately slow down your life goals and accomplishments. Cheating habits if not stopped now will haunt you for the rest of your life.