Professor Brian Harvey on why not to cheat

There are limits to your working together. You're going to be hearing this from every single instructor this week, right? You've probably already heard it six times. Don't cheat.

I think that some of what people tell you about this is nonsense. For example, people will tell you that you're hurting your fellow students by cheating. That would be true if this course were graded on a curve, but it's not. Grading on a curve is evil because it makes you compete with each other instead of cooperating. So, you are not hurting anybody else by doing well in the class.

Another thing that I've heard people say that isn't true is that you are going to harm the reputation of the University of California if you cheat. Now come on, every three or four years, some football player rapes a townie at a fraternity party and that's terrible, but the reputation of the University of California is pretty good. So, that's not why you shouldn't cheat.

Here's why you shouldn't cheat, you guys: Right now, you are constructing the person you're going to be for the rest of your life. Human behavior is mostly a matter of habits. People talk as if you make big decisions all the time about what to do, but that's not true. Almost all the time, you just do what you're in the habit of doing.

If you get in the habit of cutting corners this early in your career, you know how are you going to make it through the harder upper division classes? And then what are you going to do when you actually get a job, and the person next to you isn't doing the same thing you're doing? Okay, you're not going to be able to look over somebody's shoulder, but you are going to be able to find ways to cut corners.

And I don't want to fly in an airplane that was programmed by somebody who cheated in this class. Okay, so really - and furthermore, what's the best thing that can come out of cheating? You condemn yourself to a life of doing something you don't know how to do and don't like doing.

Okay, so I don't cheat. If you do, you're really hurting yourself.