Students who cheat learn about survival, not about success.

Byline: Conrad Gilchrist 20Below News Team / The Register-Guard

THINK OF THE last James Bond movie you saw. What kind of gadgets were in it? Probably watches with lasers inside, maybe a rocket pen or two and some tricked-out German car with the hydraulics of a kangaroo.

It was an impressive array of technical innovations, but I could do better. The average high-schooler can, and does, do better.

Students have enormous amounts of pressure on them. The importance of college preparation has been shoved down our throats since fifth grade. Acronyms such as GPA, SAT and PS2 all but control our thoughts.

Between the stress of classes, the pressure from parents and the temptations of slacking, most adults would buckle down and cry for mercy.

How do students deal with these scholastic pressures? Instead of doing that buckling and crying thing, sometimes we cheat.

I personally don't have the clearance to reveal our secrets, but they often involve a well-placed sneeze, a transparent pen or a secret language.

Surprised? Don't be. When have students not cheated? First grade, maybe second? That's about it.

As a high-schooler juggles sports, friends, school, sweethearts (at least for the luckier of us), activities, hobbies and families, balance is hard to find. Cheating can save two or three hours of studying.

But of course, there is the one question that is asked every day and answered in many ways: Is it the right thing to do?

Of course, the answer is "no." But let's look at both sides of the issue.

High school exists for two main reasons: To educate students and to prepare them for college and life.

Sometimes, I can learn more from cheating than from learning the traditional way. Take history, for example.

When I would take notes from the book, I had no idea which notes to take, so I wrote everything that came to mind. It took forever, I missed a lot of key points and today, I can't tell you half of what we studied.

Toward the end of the year, I might use someone else's notes and absorb what I was supposed to learn. My test scores went up, I understood the class better, enjoyed school more and had more time to myself.

What's more, I don't see the difference between copying a classmate's notes and copying some old guy's textbook. If I learn, there shouldn't be a problem. If the student learns, I think the goal of the assignment has been accomplished.

You might say it's not fair to the student who worked hard to have someone copy their work. But I don't think it's fair for a student to work so hard to copy from that old guy whose career was his textbook.

Granted, the textbook is intended to be studied and copied, but so are the notes on the table a friend gives you. Fundamentally, the two are the same.

Even when cheating doesn't get the lesson learned, it often fares no worse than studying. I have taken a test after studying for hours, and aced it. Other students took the same test, cheated and aced it.

Ask us what we remember of the test, and we will all say "pretty much nothing." So what was to be gained by studying?

While cheating may prepare a student for a test, it doesn't prepare a student for college. Not at all. The things you learn from not cheating are more valuable than information - things such as honesty, preparation, time management, test-taking skills and studying skills.

Cheating teaches a student about survival, but not about success.

The dilemma is this: James Bond never dies. Never. He might get shot a couple of times, but his gadgets, brains and looks always bail him out somehow.

But students who cheat can make the argument that their test grades go up, their grade-point averages go up and their self-confidence goes up - positive results from negative means.

I personally look forward to the day when society has moved beyond all this, when cheating is no longer necessary, but rather is seen for what it is: an art.

Cheating is unstoppable; it is everywhere and it is nowhere. It comes in the form of pens, chairs, taps on a desk, skywriting, words on bathroom stall doors, office messages, whispers and extrasensory perception.

The creativity I have seen from cheating students is astounding. Really, if we would put as much effort into doing things the "right" way as we did putting answers on our shoelaces, we would all be fine.

Conrad Gilchrist is a junior at Sheldon High. He can be reached by e-mail at 20Below@ guardnet.com.