What to do with kids cheating on tests?

I go to small (400 kids) private Catholic high school in New Jersey. I am ranked number 5 out of 100 in my grade (junior year). I work as hard as I can, and honestly too, but my difficult classes have left me with 3 B’s this year, which I hate getting but try my hardest. The kids above me in rank are constant cheaters. They sit in the back of class and hide vocabulary lists and other cheat sheets under desks, in book cases, and other places. They even text answers to each other. And the whole while they suck up to teachers, making them favor them and become oblivious to the cheating going on. I really would hate to be a rat, but I can’t take being beaten every quarter by a bunch of cheaters. What should I do?

Before you go to the teacher, I’d suggest speaking in confidence to your counselor about these suspicions. If you are at a small Catholic school, I bet you know him/her fairly well. Get their advice on it.

here’s my take for what it’s worth….kids are going to do this sort of thing. It’s going to happen. Life does suck at times and is most certainly unfair. The pressure to succeed, get the grades, score on the SATs….our education system has created this kind of behavior, really.

You »re going to be fine at 5/100. And those kids who cheat are playing with fire…and you know the cliche about playing with fire, right? Let them get burned in time. You do what you need to do, and stay honest.

Stephen Colbert on I Am America (And So Can You!) – Book Expo (6/8) (2007)