So, as the title implies, I was on The Michael Medved Show this afternoon, nervously speaking - about a non-political subject, surprisingly. The topic being discussed was a recent study that showed that kids admitted, anonymously, to cheating in school, among other things.

I always appreciate Michael's takes on certain issues as he can debate better than any other talk radio host with his plethora of facts and historical anecdotes handy.

Here is the full audio, starting with Michael's lengthy introduction, then my call and his his thoughts:



My thoughts on the subject were two-fold - First, the definition of cheating has changed over the years. Back in the 1940s, when the Army had a cheating scandal with the football team, it was due to cadets in the afternoon class finding out what the questions were to the test given to the morning class. I'm unaware of any student who doesn't ask their classmates what to expect on upcoming tests.

Second, many of the teachers are unfortunately lazy. Year after year, they use the same test for classes. The majority of them at least change numbers around to make it somewhat different, but once those tests are available to the entire university, they can't expect students to not find out and use it to their advantage.

So while I didn't get my point across as eloquently as I would have preferred, cheating depends on how you define it. Getting the test and answers beforehand and then using that for an advantage is cheating. So is passing notes, texting, and talking to other students when the teacher isn't looking. However, gathering as much information as possible to succeed is simply smart.

Michael has a good explanation, in that the majority of students today are in a highly competitive battle for good jobs. Years ago, most students simply got a job out of high school, while a small percentage went on to college. So much is focused on having a high GPA and good grades that students will do anything, morality aside, to succeed.