Cheating a mortal sin?

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wsoxfan7

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I have several questions concerning online quizzes and cheating.

Would looking up an answer for an online quiz be considered a mortal sin?

If yes:
Would it depend whether it was a quiz, test, or midterm/final?
Would it depend on the amount of questions looked up?
Would it depend if one was checking their work before the exam was submitted?
Would it still be considered a sin if one looked up the answer and still got the answer wrong?

Thank you.
 
I don’t think cheating on a school quiz comes close to constituting grave matter… unless perhaps you cheat to pass the bar or get medical credentials and thus risk lives.

It is a likely a venial sin.
 
No…by high school cheating is an expellable offense…ie. serious.
No…cheating is cheating.
That depends on how you are checking your work, if you were instructed to, etc.
No…flubbing a lie or a theft doesn’t make them lesser sins. Same thing goes for cheating.
 
wsoxfan7 said:
Would looking up an answer for an online quiz be considered a mortal sin?
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No. Cheating is generally a venial sin. Though I doubt that even counts as cheating to be honest. Basically everyone does that.
 
Could serious cheating come under 'Thou shalt not steal?"
 
NOTICE: My answer will be a rather lengthy response. However, students ought to be more aware of the moral situations in which they frequently find themselves. And the principles I am putting forward apply to most moral actions which is helpful in many situations, not simply academia. I’ll firstly provide brief answers to the questions and go into detail in the next post. So here we go!
  • Would looking up an answer for an online quiz be considered a mortal sin?
    Maybe. This greatly depends on meeting the three requirements for a mortal sin.
  • Would it depend whether it was a quiz, test, or midterm/final?
    Maybe. The type of examination can effect the circumstances of a moral act.
  • Would it depend on the amount of questions looked up?
    Maybe. This partly depends on the amount of questions of the test.
  • Would it depend if one was checking their work before the exam was submitted?
    Maybe. It depends on what one does after “checking.”
  • Would it still be considered a sin if one looked up the answer and still got the answer wrong?
    No. This just means you’re a terrible cheater. But as they say, “I’d rather be the man who bought the Brooklyn Bridge than the man who sold it.”
 
Would looking up an answer for an online quiz be considered a mortal sin?

A cheater in effect claims answers which are not his own when it in fact they belong to others. Cheating is always considered a sin not due to the inherent gravity of the circumstances as circumstances may change but because the object of dishonesty concerning one’s actual knowledge (or lack thereof) directly violates the 8th commandment. “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” The neighbor in this case is directly the academic institution and/or administrator of the test as well indirectly all those in the future for whom one’s academic quality is pertinent (e.g. employers, grad-schools, etc.).

Looking up an answer with the intention of cheating on a test which forbids external aid is a complete moral act with an object, intention, and circumstance (Object: Finding an answer without myself, Intention: Correcting an answer with external aid, Circumstance: Test forbidding external aids). For, if one does not ultimately cheat this is still sinful due to the defect of intention. Though the intention is evil it should be obvious that it is not as severe as proceeding to actually cheat.

The severity of cheating depends on the circumstances. If in fact the institution has a zero tolerance policy for any academic dishonesty (e.g. cheating, plagiarism) then one may be expelled for cheating. This in turn may negatively effect future academic enrollment and even employment. It is not likely that most students in zero-tolerance institutions realize 1) that the institution has zero tolerance and 2) the gravity of the consequences. Grave circumstances render a moral act as grave. If we examine the three necessary qualities of mortal sin, the following are required: 1) Grave matter, 2) Full knowledge, and 3) Deliberate consent. Thus when 1) the real possibility of expulsion is grave, 2) one has full knowledge of the gravity, and 3) one willfully consents to the act then one has committed a mortal sin. If any of those three are absent from the equation, the act is rendered at most venial.
 
wsoxfan7 said:
Would looking up an answer for an online quiz be considered a mortal sin?
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Does it matter whether or not it is a mortal sin or a venial sin? You know it’s a sin either way, so don’t do it.
 
nbhart said:
The severity of cheating depends on the circumstances. If in fact the institution has a zero tolerance policy for any academic dishonesty (e.g. cheating, plagiarism) then one may be expelled for cheating. This in turn may negatively effect future academic enrollment and even employment. It is not likely that most students in zero-tolerance institutions realize 1) that the institution has zero tolerance and 2) the gravity of the consequences. Grave circumstances render a moral act as grave. If we examine the three necessary qualities of mortal sin, the following are required: 1) Grave matter, 2) Full knowledge, and 3) Deliberate consent. Thus when 1) the real possibility of expulsion is grave, 2) one has full knowledge of the gravity, and 3) one willfully consents to the act then one has committed a mortal sin. If any of those three are absent from the equation, the act is rendered at most venial.
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I don’t think any accreted colleges don’t have a zero-tolerance policy for cheating, and I think most high schools are also in that category–if not immediate expulsion than severe consequences. Elementary students are taught what cheating is.
 
Sad commentary on our society. A person should know by age 7 or 8 that cheating is wrong.
 
how is an online quiz different from an in school open book test?
 
Would it depend whether it was a quiz, test, or midterm/final?

It can be more grave to cheat on one type of examination than another such as the state bar examination for legal licensure verses a Chapter 1 Spanish vocabulary quiz as an 8th grader. The latter case might result is an academic reprimand which is relatively momentary in the grand scheme of this life while the former will results if a permanent band from the state bar and likely criminal prosecution. Even in the latter case, cheating on a vocab quiz is less grave than cheating on a final exam though neither would likely be mortal sins. Venial sins have an hierarchical order of gravity even before becoming mortal sins.

Would it depend on the amount of questions looked up?

The amount questions on which one cheats does effect the gravity directly and indirectly. The direct effect is the amount of sin so that cheating on one question is less grave than cheating on multiple question though both scenarios may only be one moral act. In a different circumstance we might see it more clearly. The gravity of viewing pornographic images for a five minute period is less severe than viewing those images for two hours though both are still grave matter. Making the decision to stop a moral act and however shortly latter deciding to commit the moral act again constitutes separate moral actions. Thus cheating on a test regardless of the amount of cheating constitutes one moral if one did not decide to stop and then decide to resume. If the sin is mortal, one then confesses the one act cheating and not the amount of questions you cheated on though the gravity of the one act increases with every question on which one cheats.

Would it depend if one was checking their work before the exam was submitted?

If one was simply checking and not cheating, then the discovery of correct answers would be of no consequence (i.e. incorrect answers would remain incorrect despite knowing the correct answer). Even if the intention was only checking, it is wrong for at least two reasons: 1) the administrator likely forbade the use of all external materials and 2) this puts one in the near occasion of sin. Willfully putting oneself in the near occasion of sin is in itself sinful as one either 1) presumes his/her own strength/capability to resist temptation or 2) one tests God by presuming He will provide the grace to resist. The obvious sin in this near occasion of sin is cheating wherein upon learning the correct answers after “checking” one might 1) decide to cheat and/or 2) reveal the question to other classmates wherein one becomes an occasion of sins for others. In the second case, this constitutes a sin called “scandal.” If one is checking due to curiosity this constitutes an immoral act as one has no need to know. The virtue in contrast to the vice of curiosity is known as studiosity (Studiositas as St. Thomas Aquinas names it). Checking the answer is inherently the job the of the teacher, so why do you need to check? Moreover, the time for learning is before and after the test and not during.
 
Would it still be considered a sin if one looked up the answer and still got the answer wrong?

It’s still a sin for all the reasons we have discussed, but one ought to give thanks for being bad at sinning. If one tries to kill another person and fails, thanks be to God! “The children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light.” (Luke 16:8) It is beneficial for the soul that after committing a sin it sees how utterly futile it is not only in the light of eternity but also in in this earthly life. We ought to try to be terrible at sinning so that we might become perfect in virtue.

Some other things to keep in mind:
There are likely other sins leading up to cheating for which our conscience must be examined:
  • Was I prudent by setting apart enough time to study? Did I study to the best of my capability during that time?
  • Was I punctual to my classes? If not, why? Are the reasons justifiable (e.g. medical emergencies)? What did I do to compensate for missing class (e.g. asking another student for notes)?
  • Was I attentive and actively engaging the material during class? Did ask questions about material I did not understand? If not, why? Was I too proud? Was I too lazy?
  • Are others paying for my education? Am I wasteful with their generosity by being lackadaisical and dishonest when the education could go to one more deserving?
  • Am I ungrateful for being provided an education? Do I waste the time of my educators?
Let us remember that if we are not working for the greater glory of God then we are consciously or unconsciously by deed or omission working against it.
 
Xystus said:
how is an online quiz different from an in school open book test?
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Most clearly state that one is to stay on the page and not “navigate” away, nor are they to use notes. It’s a standard quiz, just administered online rather than face to face.
 
Perhaps, but a zero tolerance policy is not inherent with an academic institution and the policy thereby effects the gravity of the circumstances.
 
nbhart said:
Perhaps, but a zero tolerance policy is not inherent with an academic institution and the policy thereby effects the gravity of the circumstances.
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College level, it is. If a Uni wants to keep their accreditation a zero-tolerance policy towards willful cheating (including plagiarism) is mandated by all US accreditation boards. Schools actually must work to root out cheating rings because the acts of a few students left alone could literally put the entire degree process at risk.

At the high school level, it’s different by state and district as well as private vs public. While most schools do establish zero tolerance the consequences for the school itself (ie accreditation) is not so grave. However, I’ve yet to see a high school without some kind of expulsion policy that dosn’t include cheating/plagiarism.
 
“Right is right, even if nobody does it. Wrong is wrong even if everybody is wrong about it.” (G.K. Chesterton)
Be careful not to subscribe to a democratic morality.
 
Some plagiarism could constitute theft as it is not only dishonest but may take credit from the original source whereby the original source might lose credibility, recognition, perhaps monetary compensation (for professional cases of plagiarism), and may even be falsely accused of plagiarizing the true plagiarist.
 
Is this cheating on an online school quiz, or a Buzzfeed quiz?

I think it depends. You could say ‘all lies are sins,’ but there’s a difference between lying about whether your wife looks fat in a dress and lying about whether you’re having an extra-marital affair.
 
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