Another story about cheating. It really is pervasive in life, isn’t it? I know people who get ahead by cheating and lying. In fact, you can be called an idiot for being honest. I’m not that honest myself, but I’ve known people who were. And paid for it.
Has anybody been truly honest and not lost out to someone who wasn’t?
Peace,
mangeorge
I am honest, intelligent, and knowledgable at work. I go out of my way to help my fellow employees (they all outrank me but they often remind me that they think of me as an equal) I am ‘staff’ the lowest level in the comp. My boss is a lying cheating credit-taking bad tempered low-iq dyslexic idiot.
I am quite happy to remain un-promoted. I do not want the burden of repsonsibility. What you call ‘ahead’ is a curse disguised (to the weak minded) as a blessing.
I consider myself more honest than average (no really - believe me ;)), and I haven’t lost out to anyone… yet. I’m still in school, though, so I guess there’s plenty of time for it.
I think it depends entirely on the environment. If a workplace allows cheating then cheaters may prosper, but I’ve seen enough people cheat themselves straight out of a job (out of a career actually, considering the reputation they developed.) Also, given enough power, cheaters at work can drive their business into the ground.
Personally, I was given the break into my current career because of my honesty and work ethic. With an education to back it up, I’ve done ok so far.
My honesty is enough satisfaction for me.
I’m honest and straightforward, both of which have served me well. I’m in an excellent position job wise, made even better by my relative youth. Also, my social life is quite active, and most people I know enjoy my company.
You said honest, not humble.
I am honest, I won’t cheat on exams (or any other work), and I’m still doing fine. I want to go through the world with honor and integrity, not on the merits of others. There have been times it has cost me, and it somehow once gave me a reputation for dishonesty, so I’m told.
Because it was not about learning, it was only about passing. I have only recently relearned what it means to learn.
I am honest dealing with honest people, but I can dance around cheaters all the same. What? You want me to show you my plan? Not on your life, pal.
Mr. Pundit was very good friends with another broker. That broker died. Mr. Pundit refused to capitalize on his friend’s death by soliciting his late friend’s clients. This is contrary to what you’re taught to do.
Fast forward two years. Friend’s daughter calls up Mr. Pundit and says she wants to move the family’s accounts to Mr. Pundit, because he was a gentleman and good friend to her father. She is now spearheading a campaign to get all her father’s clients to sign with Mr. Pundit.
I have thought about this. It may seem that the cheater got ahead but it is not so simple. An act of cheating has consequences that reach far beyond the close consequences of the act itself. Counterfeit currency circulates supported by good currency but that only works when the amount of counterfeit currency in circulation is tiny. Once you have enough counterfeit money around then both the genuine and the counterfeit are worthless because people cannot tell them apart. That or people have to spend a lot of expense and effort in distinguishing between the two.
Cheaters and liars succeed because we have an expectation of honesty based on our past experience, but with every cheating and lying, that expectation diminishes. I may get ahead momentarily by cheating but, at the same time, I am lowering the honesty level of my entire society. Little by little society descends to a point where a lot of time and effort is dedicated to prevent cheating. There is no more cheating happeneing than there was before but a lot of effort goes into preventing it which makes that society less productive,
In my travels I have been to countries where cheating is expected on everybody’s part and those people would laugh at any honest person. And yet, countries where cheating is a way of life, are inevitably poor countries.
I remember visiting a country where drivers would install windshiel wiper blades only when they needed them and would remove them the rest of the time. I was told the reason is they would be stolen if left on. Well, the fact is that the theft of windshield wiper blades was about the same there as it was in other countries (close to zero) but those people lived in a much worse society.
Countries where people generally justify cheating and lying, even cheating and lying to the state, are generally countries where I would not want to live.
In my high school graduating class, I came out somewhere 'round 12th or 13th out of 425. I knew all the people who graduated ahead of me. I know that a good percentage of them cheated in order to get their grades. I have a friend who graduated last year at the top of her class, and she got caught cheating senior year (and I know she’s been doing it since her freshman year, at least). So I suppose I could say that I’ve been negatively affected by cheating. However, it really doesn’t matter, 'cause now I’m the one that DOESN’T freak out about long-ass research papers and the like.
I guess I’m the only one, but I cheated in high school. Buncha nuns around here.
Yeah, I’ve cheated too. Nuns were absent though.
I don’t remember cheating. I was too oblivious to cheat. I went through school in a haze, to be honest.
It’s useless to cheat. You haven’t earned anything other than a letter on a piece of paper. You don’t really have the abilities that this piece of paper (the grade you got) say you do. It’s pointless. Where’s the fun in that?
There was a movie I just saw (Cuba Gooding Jr. in “Murder of Crows”) where he “stole” an excellent manuscript from a dead, unknown author and sold it as his own. I thought it was a miserable thing to do—how could someone enjoy getting all this credit for something they did not do? (By the end of the movie he really regreted stealing the book, of course.) I hate hearing about this kind of stuff.
Ahhhhh you know. Money an stuff.
I’ve seen too much of the other scale. Recently I posted a thread about a kid in my wife’s class who turned in a plagiarized paper. She found out it was plagiarized (not as hard to do as these kids think it is) and now, instead of having a poor score on a crappy paper, he has a poor score on a crappy paper AND a mark on his academic record that puts him in a shaky position at the school. He could have been kicked out. All over a stupid, 8-page paper.
In my first job out of college I worked as an assistant network admin for a state agency. We hired another guy to also do some of the same work. First day he showed up I went by, introduced myself, and talked to him and realized after a few minutes, “This guy doesn’t know much of anything about computers.” He had totally bullshitted his way into the position, which was fine, except it didn’t magically grant him the required knowledge. He saved my boss the trouble of firing him by going to lunch on that first day and not ever coming back. Can you imagine anything more embarassing than that?
What Legomancer said.
Another example: Sometimes in the art field a person will show a portfolio full of drawings and allow everyone to believe that they possess a wonderful freehand drawing talent. But in fact, the artist can’t draw anything at all, they can only trace. Sooner or later, they are going to get caught. It won’t take long before someone asks them to draw something right then and there, and they won’t be able to do it. And yes, like Legomancer said, I can’t imagine anything more embarassing than that.
Just like in that movie I cited. Sure, the first novel this guy stole will do OK, but he’ll never be able to do that on his own. How pathetic is that?
The cheating thing even permeates simple things like video games. Whenever my kids get new videogames, the first thing they do is surf the net for cheat codes that will allow them to finish the game without much effort. What’s the purpose in spending $50+ for a game when all you want to do is get to the end the first day? Why not just pay someone to videotape themselves going through the entire game and watch that?
To answer the OP: NO.
I went to a college which had an honor code, one which actually worked and by which everyone abided. No one locked their dorm doors; bicycles were left in racks without locks; all exams were self-scheduled, and no-one talked about them or how they did until the exam week was over; no detectors were installed at the doors to the library. All in all, it was the most liberating experience of my life. I never had to worry about stuff getting stolen. I never had to worry about someone copying off my test. I never had any stress about whether or not to turn someone in for cheating–it was truly an idealistic environment, which happened to really exist and work in the real world.
One more example: someone found a $20 bill on the sidewalk on the way to classes and taped it up on the wall with a note that read, “If this is yours, take it.” The money remained on the wall for over a week before its (presumptive) owner walked by and re-claimed it.
So, yeah, it’s ok not to cheat, and it can work, and it makes you feel good.
:: getting off my soapbox::