Are we the nation that rely on cheating sheets or on accountability? Do we plagiarize at school?

First thing we do when appear on this world is to learn. We learn to breathe, then we learn to open eyes, to eat, to speak, to walk...

What are each of us, it's a combination of lessons, experiences and knowledge. Involuntarily, we learn the most important things, and we make effort to go forward, to train cognitive abilities and to apply our intelligence, logic and cleverness.

Due to the fact that human nature is, in fact, a varity of teachings and depends on nature of information that is processed and the attitude toward this process, Magenta Consulting decided to know the Moldovans opininonregarding studying in educational institutions.

Cheating is justified by the complicated curriculum

Magenta team asked Moldovans their opinion about copying from classmates or using cheat sheets at school.More than two thirds of Moldovans consider that plagiarism is a bad thing, and the knowledge and marks shall be acquired honestly, as they are very important and there is no place for cheating. The same opinion share half of respondents aged between 16 and 20 years, pupils or students, some of them being in the period of Baccalaureate exams.

However, there is a category of Moldovans who claim that „students are under the necessity to copy”, justifying that current school program is very complicated - 17%.The number of young people (16-20 years),who are proving plagiarism through complicated curriculum, is about twice as high (37%). However, 7% of the total respondents and among young people consider that it is possible to copy and plagiarism would not be a problem, according to their vision.

There are those who do not believe in the power of diploma of study, 6% of Moldovans believe that a good degree means nothing, and now people who have knowledge do not get success. In this case, it is necessary to copy, this is what other 6 % of young people propose.

Moldovan opinion about cheating at school,%

Most of those who are agains of plagiarism represent elderly people, who are over 60 years old, from rural areas, who have less than 3 thousand lei monthly income and increasingly, those who have a state job.

A category of Moldovans who have a positive attitude towards plagiarism, is represented by a majority of people living in the city, students, unmarried people, and, also people aged between 16 and 21 years old.

In the Republic of Moldova, Baccalaureate examinations are in full swing, and the opinion that „we must learn honestly”, expressed by most Moldovans, inspires the idea that students will tend more towards knowledge than to high scores.

Because real exams begin only after graduation, where life does not asses by marks, but harshly punishes those for whom only marks mattered.

Methodology: The survey was carried out by Magenta Consulting on a sample of 1129 persons. The data from this survey are representative at national level and have an error margin of ±3% with a confidence interval of 95%. The data were collected in the period 22 September - 8 October, 2015