“Hey, can you send me the answers when you’re done?”

Most of us know what it is like when someone asks this frustrating question. We all know this person is fully capable of doing it themselves, but is just lazy and wants it done for them. Granted, there are times when it makes sense to ask for the answers, but when it happens constantly, it gets annoying. Everybody understands that things in life happen, people get sick, emergencies come up, or other things happen, but there is a point when people need to take responsibility.

Students spend hours working on assignments just for it to be given away to someone who will copy down the answers in 15 minutes. No one wants to give up their answers to a 150 question study guide they spent two hours working on — so do not ask for it. Teachers usually give in-class time to work on longer assignments, and they can be done in class as long as someone takes advantage of that time. Unfortunately, not many do. Instead, these people sit on their phones or talk to friends when they could be using that time to be productive. A simple solution: use your time to work on the assignment that is due instead of saying “I’ll just look up the answers later.” No, you will not, you will ask your friend who you know did the assignment already because they were smart and used their time.

Many teachers do not accept late assignments, yet people love to wait until the last minute to ask for the answers instead of planning ahead. If you know you have plans on a certain day, like a sport, work around it so that you get things done on time. No one wants to do all of the work and have someone else take it away from them.

When group work is optional, we all know those kids who decide to “work with” the smart kid of the class, so the one person does all the work and the others can slack off but still get the credit. No one wants to be in that position, and the people who know that feeling know the stress and frustration that comes with it.

Everyone wants to cheat, but no one thinks of the consequences. Your teacher and mom were right when they told you every person involved who gets caught will get a zero on the assignment, and possibly a violation of academic integrity. Colleges look at these violations which may affect if someone gets into the college they want to. Students think academic integrity is a joke, but it is a serious risk no one with an academic future or someone who spent hours on an assignment wants to take.

Cheating is like speeding; a lot of people do it but not everyone gets caught. Once you get pulled over there is not anything you can really do but say “yeah, I was speeding” and accept the ticket. People do it over and over again and it eventually catches up to them. 

When a person gets frustrated after being repeatedly asked for the answers, they tend to say “no, I haven’t done it yet,” knowing they did, but just do not want to give up their time and effort to a lazy person. This toxic relationship makes the receiver feel guilty. They feel bad for saying no because it is usually their friends asking for answers, so they feel obligated to say yes in order to not make their friend mad. A one-sided relationship is never good, and that goes for everything in life. Giving someone any and everything they want and not saying “no” can lead to worse problems.

The majority in this situation wants to tell the person no but does not know how. Two kind approaches are “I’m sorry, I haven’t started mine yet,” or “I don’t have it with me right now.” If one is looking for a more sarcastic response, someone could say “I didn’t understand this at all so I just made everything up for most of the questions, are you sure you want to use mine as the answer key?”

To everyone that relies on others for answers: Do your own assignments. No one wants to give you the answers, it is irritating and you are only building a “I like to rely on others” reputation. No one is going to hold your hand and do everything for you.