Today I had a midterm for my Japanese Business Perspectives class. I’m not going to lie and say I was totally prepared for it, I wasn’t. I hadn’t even opened the textbook until two days prior, and during the recent class periods I do more playing on my computer than paying attention. But for the midterm I spent some serious time reviewing all the notes that the teacher provided for us. I’d say a good 6 to 8 hours of studying. So when I got to class today to take the test, I dove right in and got started. The rest of the class, however, started whispering to each other and looking at each other’s papers. Every single one of them, with the exception of Alissa, who was sitting near me (but not NEXT to me, I had segregated myself from others, seeing as this was a TEST). As the test went on, we kinda exchanged looks, and eventually I just couldnt stand it anymore, and said outloud to everyone that I thought that their blatent cheating was sad. A few of them looked right at me and denied the fact that they were cheating. Eventually Alissa asked the teacher if she could move to the library to take her test, since she couldn’t concentrate it in classroom.

All through the test the teacher would wander in and out of the room, and when he left people would resume their comments. Some of them would periodically look at me to see if I was watching them (feeling a bit guilty eh??). 35 minutes later I was the first one done with the test (since I had STUDIED) and I walked right out of the room and away from it all. After getting back to my room I then IMed a few people, one of which felt that my desire to want to tell the teacher of what had occured in the class would have made me “an asshole”. Talking to another student later got me a response of “you should just chill out a little”.

Why do I have to be the only one that cares about integrity and honesty? Of all the people that cheated on that test, I’m sure I’m the only one that actually cares that the cheating took place, and I didn’t even do it!! Does being the only one with a zero tolerance for cheating make me the bad guy? Apparently it does. Its been the same thing since high school. Of all the people who were valedictorians of my class (I had hoped to be among them), most of them were well known for cheating. At that time, I had always believed in the saying that cheaters never prosper. So far, I’ve yet to see anyone receive any negative effects from their cheating. Certainly their conscience isn’t bothering them. They are getting better grades, which allows them to go to better schools and get better scholarships than me. This will eventually allow them to get better jobs and better paychecks. How is that not prospering? Even if I can say that my conscience is clean, I’m still hurt by the fact that other people are advancing and I’m not.

I don’t really know what to do.