A disease is sweeping the nation. No, it's not a fever and a runny nose, but instead of a disease of the body, it's a disease of the mind: academic cheating. There are several forms of academic cheating; from a student simply looking at his seatmate's paper to outright plagiarism. There are various reasons which include desperation, ignorance and indolence. Any form of cheating is harmful not only to the student, but to the entire education system, his family and his future. Academic cheating is a pandemic in today's society, assisted by today's growing technology, and it must be stopped. There are different forms of cheating; cheating in a math class is extremely different from cheating in an English class. An entire four-page essay cannot be written on a student's arm, but multiple-choice answers can. However, the equivalent of scribbling a list of letters on your arm is plagiarism. This can be done simply with basic knowledge of the Internet. Plagiarism can range from stealing a person's basic idea to copying the entire article and handing it in as your own. Some students even dive into the deep realm of hiring someone to write their article for them, article writing tasks are prevalent, for ten dollars a page a student can hire someone to write an article for them and writers guarantee A's (Villarreal and Missel).Perhaps the most common reason for cheating is desperation; it is not only a student's fear of failing in classes, but also of disappointing her family, losing face with her friends, and disappointing herself. Another common reason is ignorance, students don't consider it cheating and have grown up with this norm... middle of paper... they need to know if necessary and help them don't be so worried about admitting fault for having continued on their treacherous path, they feel more guilty than most realize and the likelihood is that most of them would fess up and do the work necessary to honestly return to their current rank, if they were given a 'sure opportunity to do so. It is an ambitious goal to eradicate academic cheating and will most likely continue forever as there will always be dishonest and lazy people out there. But maybe America can help reduce that number in American schools and colleges, maybe the next generation will see the senselessness of academic cheating and use the new technology for the better. It's not just the fault of teachers, parents or students, it's when all three don't work together in unison and that's what America needs to change.