As quoted by Niccolo Machiavelli in his widely known book The Prince “the end justifies the means.” In other words whatever measures taken to accomplish your goals are justified as long as you ultimately accomplish them. Of course Machiavelli was applying this concept to politics, but is it crazy to think that nowadays this could apply to school?

In a poll conducted regarding plagiarism it was revealed that 53% of people (55 out of 104 total votes) have participated in academic dishonesty and gotten away with it. What does this tell us about the school environment? It tells us that students feel compelled to cheat in order to get high grades. Unlike in the Renaissance time period, when Machiavelli was alive, students don’t have a zeal for truly learning at school, but instead feel as though it is necessary to get high grades to please their parents and teachers. 

 I, as a student at Eleanor Roosevelt High School, think that I can speak for others when saying that the amount of pressure put on students now is ridiculous. Students are brainwashed into believing that if they don’t take all AP classes, and if they don’t achieve a perfect 4.0 GPA or higher, or even if they don’t participate in all the extracurricular activities ERHS has to offer, then they are doomed to failure.

Now I’m not saying that you should not push yourself to take challenging classes, and strive to receive a high GPA, but if you are going to cheat your way through classes in order to graduate, what is the point? You would be leaving high school, a place that, whether you realize it or not, is a big “safety net,” and entering the real world knowing essentially nothing if you plagiarized all through high school.