Cheating in High school

[Guest gtsliejgwai]

Salamualaikum, 

When I was in grades 9 and 10 I cheated on all my courses during online learning. I really regret it now and I repented for my sins. Will Allah forgive me? It's been a long time and I stopped myself from cheating. I have been uncomfortable since yesterday and I can't focus well on my studies. All I do is think about my mistakes. Also, I took 2 grade 11 courses in grades 9 and 10. Universities often look at grade 11 marks, however, they focus on grade 12 marks. They don't look at my grades 9 and 10 courses, however, they are a part of the 30 courses I need to earn in high school. I don't think I can upgrade my grade 9 and 10 courses because they are 17 courses! And they might question me or know I am a cheater and say I was academically dishonest. Will it be haram if I don't re due my grades 9 and 10 courses? What about the 2 courses from grade 11? For the first grade 11 course I cheated on, I was new to high school so my sister did all my assignments for me and I only did a few. And for the final exam, I remember cheating a little. And for the second grade 11 course, I think I cheated on 2 quizzes and 1 midterm, and maybe 1 unit test. Please anyone know what I should do? 

[notme]

Yes,  of course you will be forgiven,  but you still will have to deal with the consequences of your actions. All of the learning that you didn't do, you're going to have to do on your own now, without a guide,  or you will remain behind your peer group.  

Cheating in school, except university or higher,  or some trade schools, only hurts you,  nobody else.  

[VoidVortex]

You can ask on the ask those who know app as for whether you need to retake. 

I personally doubt you have to retake those exams you did but ask a scholar

[Guest gtsliejgwai]

9 hours ago, VoidVortex said:

You can ask on the ask those who know app as for whether you need to retake. 

I personally doubt you have to retake those exams you did but ask a scholar

Nvm I double checked. I don’t need to retake the courses but I need to study them on my own. 

I also wanted to mention that when I was in grade 9 & 10, I was in a private school so my parents had to pay them money every month. Would the money be haram because I cheated in all the courses I took in these grades? Is there anything we need to do because it’s as if the money was paid to do something haram. 

[Guest gtsliejgwai]

Even thought I did cheat, I studied most of the time but I would cheat when I don’t know the answers to questions or to check my work. However, there were some courses I didn’t understand at all because I never studied nor paid attention in class. 

[VoidVortex]

you could ask on the ask those who know app. 

Sorry I'm not 100% sure

[notme]

11 hours ago, Guest gtsliejgwai said:

However, there were some courses I didn’t understand at all because I never studied nor paid attention in class. 

This is what I was talking about when I said it only hurts you.  If you plan to get a job or go to university,  you will not know all the things that your peers learned in school.  I always tell my students that cheating only hurts them,  but some of them just can't see it.  

[notme]

On 1/25/2023 at 6:40 PM, Guest gtsliejgwai said:

Would the money be haram because I cheated in all the courses I took in these grades?

No.  Your parents paid for you to learn, from their money.  They did not pay for you to cheat.  You  chose to throw away their money in that way. 

[ali_fatheroforphans]

23 minutes ago, notme said:

If you plan to get a job or go to university,  you will not know all the things that your peers learned in schoo

Tbh in most degrees we barely use the things we've learnt. Like most of my learning has been on the job. 

But having said that back to the OP:

Of course Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَ تَعَالَى) will forgive you and I can see by your post that you do regret what you've done in the past. Everyone makes mistakes but we just have to learn from them. 

Maybe check with a scholar if there is something you can do to compensate and maybe give 'Radd-e-Mazalim' - which is a charity you give if there are any lapses or oppressions you have committed (like backbiting etc.) So basically on the day of Judgement anything that is held against you, will be pushed back ('Radd' means to push away) through the reward of the Charity that you had given. Say you backbited someone, then that person is pushed away through the reward of the charity you had given.

Just confirm is this is applicable to your case. It'll be good as you can have some confidence that you've done what you can to compensate.

[3wliya_maryam]

On 1/25/2023 at 4:03 AM, Guest gtsliejgwai said:

Salamualaikum, 

When I was in grades 9 and 10 I cheated on all my courses during online learning. I really regret it now and I repented for my sins. Will Allah forgive me? It's been a long time and I stopped myself from cheating. I have been uncomfortable since yesterday and I can't focus well on my studies. All I do is think about my mistakes. Also, I took 2 grade 11 courses in grades 9 and 10. Universities often look at grade 11 marks, however, they focus on grade 12 marks. They don't look at my grades 9 and 10 courses, however, they are a part of the 30 courses I need to earn in high school. I don't think I can upgrade my grade 9 and 10 courses because they are 17 courses! And they might question me or know I am a cheater and say I was academically dishonest. Will it be haram if I don't re due my grades 9 and 10 courses? What about the 2 courses from grade 11? For the first grade 11 course I cheated on, I was new to high school so my sister did all my assignments for me and I only did a few. And for the final exam, I remember cheating a little. And for the second grade 11 course, I think I cheated on 2 quizzes and 1 midterm, and maybe 1 unit test. Please anyone know what I should do? 

Salam,

Someone correct me if im wrong, but I heard somewhere that cheating on subjects other than islamic related ones is not haram.

Even if this is incorrect, most online courses tend to be open book. 

[VoidVortex]

 

open book exams are different, its been permitted by the examiner so its not considered cheating to use available resources. 

As for normal exams, yes cheating is haram, whether islamic or non islamic

Question: Is it permissible to cheat [in the exams] at public schools, colleges and universities? Is it permissible to cheat [in the exams] at the private Islamic and non-Islamic schools?

Answer: Cheating is not allowed in any of these places.

[Gaius I. Caesar]

6 hours ago, 3wliya_maryam said:

Salam,

Someone correct me if im wrong, but I heard somewhere that cheating on subjects other than islamic related ones is not haram.

Even if this is incorrect, most online courses tend to be open book. 

Whoever said that is an absolute liar, I cannot believe what I am reading.  Cheating in school and engaging in academic dishonesty is always wrong and serves no purpose to the cheater.  It doesn't matter if the subject is open book in a private  school or is non-Islamic in nature. If you don't put in the work, you will never learn or understand the material you are studying . And if you cheat in a private school, public school or college/university, you will get expelled or kicked out of the school. Nobody needs a fatwa to see that this is clearly wrong. Unbelievable, I am just shocked by the lack of common sense.

[Gaius I. Caesar]

On 1/24/2023 at 9:53 PM, notme said:

Cheating in school, except university or higher,  or some trade schools, only hurts you,  nobody else. 

 100% Not true^ 

Cheating in university is also bad, it's not an exception. When you cheat in university, you risk academic suspension or expulsion. Plus, once you have a record of cheating, it becomes infinitely harder to transfer or go on to graduate school or in the case of expulsion, readmitted to college in the future. Also the instructors will automatically fail you and give an F, that's what my instructors did. If you cheat in a university/college, you can be held legally liable and fined as well. Plus the school/university can be sued by their sponsors or government agencies.  Also, you can make life difficult for other students who are serious  in their studies, as the school and instructors have to police the class for any further cheating, instead of teaching the class.  Again, I cannot believe this answer. It's not the cheater that gets affected, everyone is affected and cheating makes life really difficult overall.

Cheaters never prosper.

[notme]

9 hours ago, Gaius I. Caesar said:

Cheaters never prosper

Sadly,  sometimes they appear to.  In some cases, nobody ever holds them accountable for what they should have learned, or they make excuses, or they buy their "success" without effort.  

I don't think of my students as being harmed by my vigilance for cheaters after catching some.  I can imagine scenarios in which it would be an inconvenience.  

But at middle school level, I'm not allowed to drop the student from the course or give a failing grade for the entire course.  Of my recent pair of cheaters, one transferred to another instructor's class and the other struggled to bring his F up to a C and continues to struggle due to relying on others instead of learning the background material, but he's doing much better now.  You can recover from cheating, but it's not easy.  

 

[Gaius I. Caesar]

6 hours ago, notme said:

Sadly,  sometimes they appear to.  In some cases, nobody ever holds them accountable for what they should have learned, or they make excuses, or they buy their "success" without effort.  

Appearances can be deceiving, when we look at such people, we are 99% unaware of the mental gymnastics they do internally to placate their gnawing conscience. People don't just fake until they make it without a price. There are a few exceptions but  they are usually sociopaths or amoral and wired differently from the average person.

 

6 hours ago, notme said:

You can recover from cheating, but it's not easy. 

I agree, but the stakes are much higher in a college/university setting and it can bleed into seemingly unrelated areas like work. One can recover from cheating in elementary and middle school but not in high school or especially, university/college where everyone is adult and hopefully past the age of poor impulse control (Not always the case).