Although there are many advantages to be an opportunist,
there are many reasons for people to not to act opportunistically. Ethics is one
of the reasons why people choose not to act opportunistically, even if they have
the chance. There is an example from my friend, he is a Chinese international student
who currently studies in the U.S. He told me that when he took the SAT test in
HongKong a couple of years ago, there was a person connected him, and offered
him the answer of the SAT exam. The person said that he would be able to obtain
the exam question the night before the exam, and send my friend exam answers in
the morning of the exam day. The cost of the answer was around $1000, and the
person promised my friend he was not a fraud, and said that my friend could pay
him after the exam.
Actually, my friends had heard some rumors about people buying answers for SAT exam in HongKong, and got really high scores. The offer was tempting to him, because better SAT score usually linked with better opportunity of studying in the U.S. His exam would be taken place in a large room, where will be over a hundred test takers, so they would not be well-monitored during the exam, and it was possibly doable for him to sneak the answers in.
He struggled a while, and eventually spurn the idea of cheating on the exam because he considered it as very unethical. He believed that he could earn a decent test score by hard work, but not by using some unethical, even illegal means, though that others may never found out. Besides, it would also be quiet risky if my friend chose to buy the exam answers, he could get caught despite he tries to not be. So refused the answer eliminated the risk for him. He eventually had a decent score for the SAT, and was accepted by a decent university in the U.S.
Actually, my friends had heard some rumors about people buying answers for SAT exam in HongKong, and got really high scores. The offer was tempting to him, because better SAT score usually linked with better opportunity of studying in the U.S. His exam would be taken place in a large room, where will be over a hundred test takers, so they would not be well-monitored during the exam, and it was possibly doable for him to sneak the answers in.
He struggled a while, and eventually spurn the idea of cheating on the exam because he considered it as very unethical. He believed that he could earn a decent test score by hard work, but not by using some unethical, even illegal means, though that others may never found out. Besides, it would also be quiet risky if my friend chose to buy the exam answers, he could get caught despite he tries to not be. So refused the answer eliminated the risk for him. He eventually had a decent score for the SAT, and was accepted by a decent university in the U.S.
My friend’s
story demonstrate that many people choose not to act opportunistically though
they have a chance. I think the reasons for that can be considered as two
parts, one is for the well-being of the community/ society, because taking
advantage cause unfairness in the community/ society, and could also lead to
unethical/illegal behaviors, which may harm the community/society; another part
is for the well-being of oneself. There is a may be risks to be an opportunist,
such as having bad reputation, losing trust, even facing lawsuits, so people
avoid these risks by not acting opportunistically, and believe that they can
earn what they deserve ethically and fairly.
Cheating on standardized tests is indeed an ongoing issue. If you take the exam in the U.S. but at a location that is not your local school, and if you have a fake ID, then somebody else can pretend to be you and it is very hard to verify otherwise. I know of one instance of this back when I was in high school. I can only imagine the frequency of it has gone up since. There is a lot of speculation, but not hard data, about students from China having phony test scores. Given these stories, it is unclear to me who would lose out in China if the cheating were uncovered. It is pretty clear who loses out here.
ReplyDeleteYour post talks about the risks of getting caught. The fear of that acts as a deterrent and deterrence is definitely one reason not to cheat. But let me give you a different one that may have mattered to your friend, at least implicitly. Once in the U.S., the student would be at a school where other students who were at the school did well on the SAT and where the instructors would be expecting that sort of student. If the student were not well prepared, he might then fail. By getting a decent score on the SAT without cheating, he could better convince himself that he was prepared for college in the U.S.