Is cheating on my homework a mortal sin?

[pinetree28]

Oh wow, I didn’t realize that. I figured because the resource was available to us it was okay, but I have started feeling a bit grimy about it.

This is just a liberal education course, if I was studying economics for a degree I think I’d given up 3 months ago, haha.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

I think that, in the grand scheme of things, your economics homework is pretty small potatoes. The education system is flawed and grading metrics are notoriously limited. I work for public schools, and I am very pro-education, but I am even more pro-student. Agonizing over whether cheating on your economics homework is a mortal sin is not going to make you a better person, and is likely to cause you undue stress and anxiety. Take it from a recovering Catholic and academic (a B.A. in political science, a B.S. in microbiology, and a M.S. in microbiology & immunology); it’s not as big of a deal as seems like it is now.

Setting aside the question of sin, as an academic you should know that cheating in college can be a pretty big deal especially if it results in any sort of notation on a person’s permanent record. As someone with several degrees myself, I’ve seen students who had extreme difficulty getting into graduate school or even into certain professions because they had a cheating or similar dishonesty incident in their file. Yes, the education system has flaws, but you still shouldn’t be encouraging people to cheat on their homework.

And the OP should be concerned about his behavior, not just because lying and cheating is sinful, but also because it could have serious real-life consequences. Even if many people get away with doing it, do you really want to take a chance on being one of the percentage who gets caught and has to deal with the consequences?

 

[Clementine14]

This doesn’t sound like cheating to me. I teach an online college course, and professors have the option of setting up some assignments in this way, to make sure that students review their work and have an opportunity to correct it. If this particular course allows the option, and the professor knows about it, there isn’t anything wrong with it.

If you think you should, you can always ask the professor whether setting the homework up that way was intentional, and make sure that it’s appropriate for you to be revising your answers. But I’m guessing that it was set up that way on purpose, and therefore you aren’t doing anything wrong by taking advantage of an opportunity to improve your grade.

 

[LawyersGunsAndMoney]

Yeah, I’m not sure this is even cheating. If the homework gives three chances, and the review information is posted after each chance, presumably the teacher meant for people to review before making a new attempt. I’m not sure why he/she would set it up that way, but that’s not your problem.

My point is it’s not like you hacked the system to gain access to information you weren’t supposed to have. All you’re doing is using the information the professor deliberately made available to you. I don’t see where you’re doing anything wrong.

Yes, obviously, cheating is wrong…I’m just saying I’m not sure this is actually cheating.

 

[LawyersGunsAndMoney]

Take it from a recovering Catholic

I don’t mean to sound like a scold, but this trope of “recovering Catholic” is both played out and a bit offensive. All types are welcome here, including non-Catholics, but please don’t imply that the faith most of us practice is an illness to be recovered from.

 

[ShrodingersCat]

I mean, I didn’t even do my homework and I don’t consider that a sin.

If you can look up the answers and learn from them, surely that’s why you have access to the answers??

 

[Tis_Bearself]

If you can look up the answers and learn from them, surely that’s why you have access to the answers??

I agree with the last couple posters who said that the assignment sounds like it was structured in this way as a learning exercise. You miss a question, you look up the answer, you try the question again.

If you have a question about how you should be doing the assignment, ask the instructor.

 

[ProdglArchitect]

If she’s aware of it, then it seems likely it is intended. The professors can generally set the conditions for those types of things.

I can’t say that just copying the answers and (name removed by moderator)utting them is alright, but it seems likely that she intends you to redo that assignment with the knowledge gained from reviewing your incorrect answers.

 

[Zynxensar]

How serious is the homework to your grade? If it’s a regular assignment eg “everyday homework” then cheating is at worst a venial sin. If it’s a homework that could determine your final exam grade that’s essential to your future eg university posting, then it might be mortal sin. But if it’s the latter, I really don’t think it would be “homework” but more of a project assignment.

 

[Arwing]

Probably not a mortal sin, but cheating is still wrong.

That said, I’m not sure this is even cheating, as some other people have said.

 

[chessnerd321]

I agree with others cheating is lying and lying is a sin. Aquinas says lying is a grave sin when it affects someones opinion about something important and relevant to them. So I suppose I would say it’s not grave to cheat on homework.

However, don’t make the mistake of assuming since it’s venial you don’t have to worry about it. If you lie and cheat in small matters it’s only a matter of time before you do so in big matters. For example, if you cheat on homework and don’t learn what you need to, why would you suddenly stop when it comes to exams, the MCAT, GRE, or other even more important things.

Unchecked sin only grows.

 

[CatholicSooner]

It is a sin.
But I don’t think it is mortal because I don’t believe cheating on an economics test/homework is grave matter.

However, it is best to treat every sin seriously and stop. Too often we get into this game in our heads of convincing ourselves that our sins aren’t really that bad b/c they aren’t mortal. This is the work of the devil and leads to the destruction of our souls. Before you know it, you are justifying actual mortal sins.

Stop cheating and go confess your cheating.

God bless

 

[Tis_Bearself]

Too often we get into this game in our heads of convincing ourselves that our sins aren’t really that bad b/c they aren’t mortal. This is the work of the devil and leads to the destruction of our souls. Before you know it, you are justifying actual mortal sins.

However, don’t make the mistake of assuming since it’s venial you don’t have to worry about it. If you lie and cheat in small matters it’s only a matter of time before you do so in big matters.

I completely agree with both of the above.

You shouldn’t be concerned so much with “is this sin mortal?” as with whether you’re committing a sin at all. That doesn’t mean you need to lay awake nights worrying about your sins, but it’s not like you can cherry pick sins and say “well A, B and C are only venial so nobody really cares, but D might be mortal so I’ll only be concerned about D.” You’re supposed to be trying to avoid A, B and C as well as D.