WP 1111 Integrated Academic Writing: Analysis of Soling's Article

This essay provides an in-depth analysis of Cevin Soling's article, "Why I Think Students Should Cheat," evaluating his arguments regarding the morality of cheating within compulsory education. Soling's article suggests that external pressures and a flawed education system often drive students to cheat, viewing knowledge as a temporary commodity rather than a valuable asset. The essay examines Soling's persuasive tone and authoritative style, assessing how effectively he conveys his points and addresses counterarguments. It also explores the implications of prioritizing grades over genuine learning and the disconnect between academic studies and real-world applications, ultimately urging students to focus on knowledge acquisition rather than solely pursuing high grades. The analysis concludes that while Soling presents a provocative perspective, a balanced approach to education is essential for fostering true understanding and long-term retention of knowledge.

Running head: ANALYSIS ESSAY
ANALYSIS ESSAY
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1ANALYSIS ESSAY
The following paper aims to evaluate the article by Cevin Soling entitled “Why I Think
Students Should Cheat”. The article was published on an internet source and aims to discuss the
fact that the usage of the unfair means by the students is majorly dependent on the external
situations that they have been facing. The essay deals with the justification behind the
implementation of unfair means in order to gain better grades. The following essay deals with the
evaluation of the ways in which the given article aims to discuss the morality of the usage of the
unfair means by the students. The students are generally known to adopt the unfair means in
order to obtain better grades in the examinations that they undertake. The better and enhanced
conditions of the grades help them to secure better jobs in the future thereby helping them
achieve the goals that they had set for themselves.
Soling in the concerned article attempts to justify the cheating activities that are
undertaken by several people under varied circumstances. The author suggests that though
adopting unfair means are considered to be completely unjustified, yet there arise certain
situations wherein the concerned person has to adopt unfair means in order to save his own self
(Soling). The author discusses a situation wherein the concerned person has to lie in order to
save himself from physical harm. However, the person hesitates to adopt unfair means for saving
himself due to the instillation of certain values within the psyche of the person. The situation that
has been discussed by the author describes a dire situation wherein it was necessary for the
person to lie. However, in this situation the person is found to have not been abiding by unfair
means. This puts him in the face of high risk in case he could not answer his kidnapper correctly.
“You have been kidnapped and dragged off to a remote location where your
abductors have tied you to a chair. One of your captors is seated in front of you.
He holds up ten flash cards and informs you that he is going to ask you a series of

2ANALYSIS ESSAY
questions and the answers are printed on the backs of the cards. He assures you
that once he has finished asking these questions, you will be released. There is a
catch, though. For every question you get wrong, he will signal his accomplice to
cut off one of your fingers.” (Soling par. 1).
The concerned article further discusses the fact that the education department does not
consider similar views in case of conducting examinations on the students.
The author claims that the students are generally taught to avoid the unfair means that are
generally adopted by these people. The implementation of the unfair means by the students in
their academic areas results in the loss of the grade. The grades on the other hand serve to be the
only tool for motivation of the students in the multitude of educational organizations that have
been presently active all over the world (Soling). The use of the unfair methods such as cheating
and plagiarizing content by the students thus lead to the loss of the grades of the pupil. The
school authorities generally tend to punish or motivate the students on the basis of the grades that
they have received in lieu of the various examinations that they have taken during their course
duration (Soling par. 2). This results in the conditions wherein the concerned students remain
devoid of the proper knowledge and aim primarily at gaining grades. The gradation system is
widely used in order to decide the future of the concerned student. The judgement of the
students, especially their abilities on the basis of the grades that they receive thus this destroys
their belief as well as their urge to study (Soling par. 3). The author argues that the receipt of
comparatively lower grades than their peers develops a sense of depression among the students.
The teachers and the other educators of the child might aim to instill the fact that the
knowledge gathering activity is more important than securing the grades. However, on looking
from the practical point of view, the securing of the grades seems to be more important than

3ANALYSIS ESSAY
gathering the deep knowledge on the matter (Soling 5). The author persuades that the majority of
the students tend to implement the studies in their professional lives that require them to secure
better grades. The author further states that the retention capacity of the knowledge varies from
one child to the other and thus the reproduction of the knowledge at their assessment also varies
(Soling). This results in the condition wherein the students tend to learn and retain the knowledge
only till the time they need to take the examinations for the subject. It is often observed that the
students retain the knowledge only till the examinations and tend to forget the information
thereafter. The author suggests that this is extremely harmful for the future life of the students
themselves.
The author in this article entitled “Why I Think Students Should Cheat” aims at the
discussion on the implementation of the unfair means that are adopted to score higher grades in
the given subject (Soling). The author uses a persuasive tone that aims to deal with the issues that
are presented within the given article. The article uses a warm tone in the discussing the issues
that are related to the usage of the unfair means for the scoring within the examinations. The
author further states that the students generally report no connection between their course of
study and the work that they have been assigned at the given workplace. The article discusses the
fact that the examinations are generally farcical and does not serve the purpose behind the
system (Soling). This is due to the fact that the students generally forget the things that they had
learned prior to the examination of the concerned subject.
The author is observed to have been using the authoritative style of discussion in order to
present the theories that are incorporated within the article. The author is observed to have been
placing all the points and the counter points with proper authority. This helps in building the trust
of the readers of the article in the thoughts that are presented within the given article. This helps

4ANALYSIS ESSAY
in ensuring the fact that the readers of the article pay special heed to the material that has been
put forth within the given article. One such instance within the article is
“It's important to bear in mind that students prepare for tests with the intention
that they will retain the material just long enough to take the test and then forget
most of what they learned soon afterwards. This completely undermines the
purpose and value of testing.” (Soling par.4).
The author discusses the refuting points within the composition as well. The author states
that the children often take refuge of the unfair means in order to enhance the gradation. The
enhancement of the gradation helps in the issues that are related to the future job involvements of
the concerned student. Thus, the students are generally observed to take refuge of the unfair
means in order to secure better grades against the concerned subject. However, the
implementation of the unfair means during taking the examination however leads to the
conditions wherein the student remains majorly unaware of the actual facts that have been
presented within the concerned course of study. The author in this case is known to have been
discussing the ways in which the students have been joining the rat race to get better grades
which in turn would help them in securing their future. The author opines that the students tend
to give more importance to the grades that they receive over the amount of education and
knowledge that they gather from the concerned subject of study (Soling). The author is observed
to be successful in convincing the readers regarding the various reasons behind the adoption of
the unfair means in order to enhance the received grades.
Thus, from the above discussion, it might be inferred that the students should be advised
to concentrate more on the gathering of the knowledge in the concerned subject rather than the
gradation that they have been receiving in the concerned subject. The students generally report

5ANALYSIS ESSAY
no connection between their course of study and the work that they have been assigned at the
given workplace. The examinations are generally farcical and does not serve the purpose behind
the system. The observations state that the retention capacity of the knowledge varies from one
child to the other and thus the reproduction of the knowledge at their assessment also varies. This
results in the condition wherein the students tend to learn and retain the knowledge only till the
time they need to take the examinations for the subject.

6ANALYSIS ESSAY
Work Cited
Soling, Cevin. "Why I Think Students Should Cheat". WIRED, 2018,
https://www.wired.com/2015/01/think-students-allowed-cheat/. Accessed 26 Oct 2018.