Why Academic Cheating Is Not Immoral By Default

Many school policies indicate that cheating in the context of academic matters like tests is often seen as a major offense.  This is even regarded as grounds for expulsion from universities when it is actually an amoral behavior in many circumstances.  If a student did not promise to avoid cheating, there is nothing "deceptive" about academic cheating, meaning there is no breach of honesty and thus no offense against truth involved.  Those whose consciences flare up at the thought of this must remember that conscience is merely an emotional reaction and that tradition is irrelevant to morality.  For the Christians in that group, it is necessary to emphasize that the Biblical prohibition of lying (Leviticus 19:11) does not have any ramifications for issues that are not strictly connected to it by logical necessity (Deuteronomy 4:2).

Someone who intentionally puts lackluster effort into the particular academic subjects they would rely on in the workplace, which rules out multiple subjects taught in schools in most cases (not that the standard subjects addressed in schools are consistently important), will face the constant possibility of being exposed as unqualified once they graduate--unless, of course, they equip themselves in some other way.  In fact, they may not even be able to enter the industries they had allegedly aimed for if their lack of preparedness comes out early on.  Knowing that this is a potential outcome that becomes more probable the more they avoid reflecting on and developing themselves for their career, they can make their own choice.

Students who look to their classroom assignments to prepare them for their jobs might simply fail to obtain or perform well in their jobs, which will be the pragmatic--but not moral--consequence of cheating in a college classroom setting.  This has nothing to do with the act being immoral, but it instead has everything to do with a person's lack of technical competence in their industry costing them job security.  Biblically speaking, outside of situations where they promised to complete academic coursework without "cheating," there are no moral dimensions to the issue.

It is common to find Christians who think that cheating in a university setting or some other sort of educational context is a grave moral error because they have never reflected on the issue without making assumptions, or else they would never dispute or contradict any of the aforementioned facts.  Cheating in this manner is not automatically the same as lying.  There is no Biblical principle or command that condemns cheating on tests, no matter how odd the notion may strike many people.  Nevertheless, traditions and norms rule many people far more than reason, so it is no surprise that academic cheating has been condemned so harshly despite this.