Some people may argue that cheating is necessary when trying to succeed; others will claim cheating is wrong and no one should do it.

Cheating is a dishonest and easy shortcut to get out of what is being tried to accomplish. The main reason why most people do cheat however, is because they focus mainly on their goal and do not realize what they are putting at steak when they cheat. Cheating is definitely not necessary to succeed and can result in lots of negative effects in a person’s life.I’ve always thought of Lance Armstrong as a healthy and respected athlete, that is until he admitted to blood doping and using EPO throughout his career. Armstrong did not believe that he could get caught, and at the time, he admitted that he “did not feel bad about what he did.

” (Source 1) Cheating in sports is one of the worst ways a person can cheat. With everyone being so competitive, it’s just a very risky and unnecessary action to take. Armstrong said, “I disrespected the rules, regardless of what anybody says...

That was my choice.” (Source 4) This proves that Lance Armstrong knows that cheating is wrong and ultimately an unnecessary risk to take.There are three main phases to cheating. The first phase is initiating cheating and then winning at whatever is targeted to become successful. Phase two consists of the comfortable stage of a cheater, where they have already accomplished what was needed; now winning is more constant for the person and cheating becomes more of an everyday practice.

Finally, phase three occurs when the cheater is caught and ruins all the “success” previously accomplished. For cheaters, getting caught is the most difficult moment throughout cheating. Armstrong’s picture of him getting caught (Source 2) in front of his family, friends, and team portrait him as guilty and knowing of the wrongness of cheating and the price he will pay for it.Besides cheating in sports, there are a lot of student that cheat in school and cheat in their education. Now a days, cheating “has been facilitated by new technologies” (Source 3), which is a big part of the cheating that occurs in schools when student access answers from the internet and copy down the information.

Students say, “they need to cheat sometimes to keep a scholarship” (Source 3) and “aren’t afraid of getting caught [cheating].” (Source 3) This mentality is the unfortunate manner of thinking that a lot of students adopt when dealing with the pressure of rigorous courses, parents, and peers.Many people still believe that cheating is acceptable. This is wrong because of costly consequences that result from cheating.

A survey showed that 26% of Wall Street business workers are aware of cheating occurring in their workplace, while 24% think that cheating is acceptable. These statistics prove that cheating is most common in a competitive setting in order to get ahead. Many workers state that, “We [the worker] just took a risk” when cheating and hope for success in the end. With this attitude however, everyone involved with cheating will continue to cheat and eventually fail, much like Armstrong.

People don’t care any more about cheaters, and even less about attempting to stop them. But what people don’t realize is that cheating is, and always will be, wrong and should not be done by anyone. Whether in business, academics, or sports, cheating is a dishonest way to win and will never be necessary to win.