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What Is Cheating?
Cheating is when a person misleads, deceives, or acts dishonestly on purpose. For kids, cheating may happen at school, at home, or while playing a sport. If a baseball team is for kids who are 8 or younger, it's cheating for a 9-year-old to play on the team and hit home run after home run.
At school, in addition to cheating on a test, a kid might cheat by stealing someone else's idea for a science project or by copying a book report off the Internet and turning it in as if it's his or her original work. Copying someone else's words or work and saying they're yours is a type of cheating called (say: PLAY-juh-rih-zem).
How Do People Cheat?
Cheating can happen in a lot of different ways, like:
- sneaking answers to a test
- breaking the rules of a game or contest
- pretending something is yours when it isn't
When people cheat, it's not fair to other people, like the kids who studied for the test or who were the true winners of a game or contest.
It's tempting to cheat because it makes difficult things seem easy, like getting all the right answers on the test. But it doesn't solve the problem of not knowing the material and it won't help on the next test — unless the person cheats again.
Sometimes it may seem like cheaters have it all figured out. They can watch TV instead of studying for the spelling test. But other people lose respect for cheaters and think less of them. The cheaters themselves may feel bad because they know they are not really earning that good grade. And, if they get caught cheating, they will be in trouble at school, and maybe at home too.
Why Do Kids Cheat?
Some kids cheat because they're busy or lazy and they want to get good grades without spending the time studying. Other kids might feel like they can't pass the test without cheating. Even when there seems to be a "good reason" for cheating, cheating isn't a good idea.
If you were sick or upset about something the night before and couldn't study, it would be better to talk with the teacher about this. And if you don't have enough time to study for a test because of swim practice, you need to talk with your parents about how to balance swimming and school.
A kid who thinks cheating is the only way to pass a test needs to talk with the teacher and his or her parents so they can find some solutions together. Talking about these problems and working them out will feel better than cheating.
What Can Happen if Kids Cheat?
Many kids feel tempted to cheat once in a while. Most resist and do the work instead. Some kids cheat once and feel so bad that they never do it again. Others get caught and decide it isn't worth it. Unfortunately, some kids start cheating and feel like they can't stop.
Kids who cheat may feel worried about getting caught. Whether they are caught or not, these kids may feel guilty, or embarrassed, or ashamed — or all three. Even if the cheater feels fine or doesn't get caught, that doesn't mean it's OK. If you see someone cheating, or if someone asks to copy your work, you can tell a teacher or another grown-up.
Kids who get caught cheating might be given a "zero" score on the assignment, be sent to the principal's office, and have their parents contacted. Worse than the bad grade may be the feeling of having disappointed other people, like parents and teachers. A parent may worry that you are not an honest person and a teacher might watch you more closely the next time you're taking a test.
Cheaters cheat themselves in a way because they don't make an honest attempt to learn as much as they can. For instance, if you cheat your way through spelling tests, you won't learn how to spell. That can catch up with you when you get older! And adults who cheat — at work, sports, or in their relationships — get into serious trouble, far more serious than a bad grade on a spelling test.
Making a Comeback
There are plenty of reasons why a kid shouldn't cheat, but some kids have already cheated. If that's you, it's never too late to stop cheating. Cheating can become a habit, but like other bad habits, a kid can always decide to act better and make better choices. It might help to talk the problem over with a parent, teacher, or counselor. Choosing to play fair and be honest again can help a kid feel relieved and proud.
There's an old saying that cheaters never win and winners never cheat. This may sound confusing because sometimes it seems like cheaters do win — at least for the moment. But kids who don't cheat are true winners because, when they win, they do it fair and square.
Note: All information is for educational purposes only. For specific medical advice, diagnoses, and treatment, consult your doctor.
© 1995-2024 KidsHealth ® All rights reserved. Images provided by iStock, Getty Images, Corbis, Veer, Science Photo Library, Science Source Images, Shutterstock, and Clipart.com


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WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 11: Jeffrey Zients, acting director and deputy director for management at the Office of Management and Budget, testifies before the Senate Budget Committee on the president's fiscal year 2014 budget proposal on April 11, 2013 in Washington, DC. Zients said that the proposal will replace the indiscriminate cuts of the sequester while still reducing the deficit by $1.8 trillion. (Photo by T.J. Kirkpatrick/Getty Images)
© 2024 Blaze Media LLC. All rights reserved.
This Is the Guy the White House Is Bringing in to Fix the Horrendous Obamacare Website
October 25, 2013
It will take a lot of work, but "HealthCare.gov is fixable."
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Nearly a month into the dysfunctional rollout, the Obama administration acknowledged the wide extent of its health care website's problems Friday and abruptly turned to a private company to oversee urgent fixes. Setting a new timetable, officials said most issues will be repaired by the end of November.
It will take a lot of work, but "HealthCare.gov is fixable," declared Jeffrey Zients, a management consultant brought in by the White House. By the end of next month, he said, there will be many fewer signup problems such as computer screen freezes - but he stopped short of saying problems will completely disappear.
The administration also said it is promoting one of the website contractors, a subsidiary of the nation's largest health insurance company, to take on the role of "general contractor" shepherding the fixes.
WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 11: Jeffrey Zients, acting director and deputy director for management at the Office of Management and Budget, testifies before the Senate Budget Committee on the president's fiscal year 2014 budget proposal on April 11, 2013 in Washington, DC. Zients said that the proposal will replace the indiscriminate cuts of the sequester while still reducing the deficit by $1.8 trillion. (Photo by T.J. Kirkpatrick/Getty Images)
Quality Software Services Inc. - owned by a unit of UnitedHealth Group- was responsible for two components of the government's online insurance system. One is the data hub, a linchpin that works relatively well, and the other is an accounts registration feature that initially froze and caused many problems.
Zients reported that his review found dozens of issues across the entire system, which is made up of layers of components meant to interact in real time with consumers, government agencies and insurance company computers.
HealthCare.gov was supposed to be the online portal for uninsured Americans to get coverage under President Barack Obama's health care law. Envisioned as the equivalent of Amazon.com for health insurance, it became a huge bottleneck immediately upon launch Oct. 1. A major embarrassment for the administration, it is likely to end up as a case study of how government technology programs can go awry.
The briefing from Zients came a day after executives of QSSI and the other major contractor, CGI Federal, told Congress that the government didn't fully test the system and ordered up last-minute changes that contributed to logjams. Next week, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius is scheduled to testify on Capitol Hill.
Visiting a community health center on Friday in Austin, Texas, Sebelius said that "in an ideal world there would have been a lot more testing." But she added that her department had little flexibility to postpone the launch against the backdrop of Washington's unforgiving politics. Republicans hoping, in the words of their TV ads, to "defund Obamacare" precipitated a government shutdown.
Some Republicans have been calling for her ouster, and she addressed that issue a day earlier in Phoenix. She said, "The majority of people calling for me to resign I would say are people who I don't work for and do not want this program to work in the first place." She added, "I have had frequent conversations with the president, and I've admitted to him that my role is to get the program up and running and we will do just that."
Zients gave some new details about the extent of the problems, but administration officials are still refusing to release any numbers on how many people have successfully enrolled. Although 700,000 have applied for coverage through the new online markets, it's believed only a fraction of that number actually have managed to sign up. Prior to the website going live, an administration estimate projected nearly 500,000 people would sign up in October alone.
The marketplaces are the gateway to obtaining health insurance under the new health care law, which requires most Americans to have coverage by Jan. 1. Middle-class people who don't have insurance on the job can purchase private plans with new tax credits to make the premiums more affordable. Low-income people will be steered to an expanded version of Medicaid in states that agree to extend the safety net program.
The federal government is running the insurance markets or taking the lead in 36 states. The rest were set up by states themselves.
Consumers have until Dec. 15 to sign up for coverage to take effect Jan. 1. Under the law, pre-existing medical conditions will no longer be a barrier. But the markets also need lots of young, healthy customers to keep premiums affordable. Open enrollment season extends until March 31, and the administration says it is working to ensure that people who sign up by that date will not face a penalty for being uninsured.
Zients said almost daily fixes are already having an impact. For example, over 90 percent of users can now complete one of the first steps, creating an account.
But the application process, which involves submitting and verifying personal information and income details, remains "volatile," he said. At one point, as few as one-third of users were getting through that part.
Zients said there are two big categories of problems. Performance issues involve the speed and reliability of the website. Functional issues are bugs that keep the software from working as intended. He said the government has a "punch list" of needed fixes that adds up to dozens in each broad category.
Near the top of the list: insurers are getting enrollments with incomplete, incorrect or duplicative information.
Until now, officials at the federal government's Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services have taken the lead operational role on HealthCare.gov. The government operates a successful e-commerce site for Medicare coverage, but it appears to have to have gotten in over its head when it comes to Obama's law. Maryland-based QSSI will now be responsible for the execution.
The company built a component of the website called the federal data hub that appears to be working relatively well. The hub is a conduit for verifying consumers' personal information with government agencies.
An executive of the parent company, Andrew Slavitt, told Congress this week that QSSI had concerns about the federal website and relayed those to the government. Officials said the company's new role as "general contractor" will be an expansion of its current contract.
Its parent company also owns UnitedHealthcare, the nation's largest provider of Medicare Advantage plans, a popular private insurance option available to seniors.
One of Obama's top campaign fundraisers was Anthony Welters, executive vice president of UnitedHealth Group. According to information from the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, Welters ranked 31st among Obama's top "bundlers," raising more than $785,000 toward the president's 2012 campaign. Welters' wife, Beatrice, is the former ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago. She also raised money for Obama in 2008.
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subset: commoncrawl


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Add attitude with accessories for those fashion-forward finishing touches
It's all about accessories for injecting individuality into your look. Find your festival favourites from fedora hats and floral crowns to bumbags and body glitter, play up your partywear with a pop of pastel nail polish and make a statement in oversized sunglasses. Forget less is more, this season we're all for out-there hair, beauty and jewellery.
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Special Feature
"I'm going out there to finish him. I have to go in there and make a statement to the world that it's my time, and I'm not going to be happy unless I finish him." - Chris Weidman
"I think when you have a goal, you have to live from that goal; you can't just see it as a far-fetched thing," says Chris Weidman, 29 years on Long Island tinting his voice. "You've got to live from it. If you wanted to buy a really nice house, but you don't have the money for it, you have to visualize yourself in that house, in those nice rooms for a long time before you live in there. That's the way I'm taking this fight."
From the time he made the decision to shelve his Olympic aspirations in favor of forging a career in the cage, Weidman has had his sights set on Anderson Silva.
When he was beginning his career with four consecutive victories in Lou Neglia's Ring of Combat promotion, his time in the gym under the direction of Ray Longo and Matt Serra wasn't just spent preparing for the next fight; it was building towards the day when he would share the cage with Silva, the UFC middleweight title hanging in the balance.
A lot of fighters have talked about being the man to bring Silva's incredible reign atop the 185-pound weight class to an end. So far, all nine that have tried have come up short, including former champion Rich Franklin, Dan Henderson, Vitor Belfort, and Chael Sonnen… twice.
Tomorrow night, the undefeated Weidman gets the opportunity he's been working towards his entire career, and he's intent on succeeding where everyone before him failed.
"I'm in this sport for one reason, and that's to be champion," he says flatly, more a declaration of things to come than dream scenario being put into words. "It would be a discredit to my family if I was in here talking and not believing in myself, not believing I'm the best in the world. It would be a waste of time.
"I'm not just talking the talk; I'm in there to win, and that's it. There's no point in this fight where it's `I just want to see how I do.' I know what it's like to lose, and I know what it's like to beat yourself, and I'm not going to let that happen. I'm not going to walk away from that cage saying, `Uh, I wish I would have tried this or that.' I'm going full force and that's it."
Weidman wanted this fight last year, but for a while, it looked as if he was going to have to take a number.
After pushing his record to 9-0 with a savage second round knockout victory over Mark Munoz last July, the unbeaten contender called for a meeting with "The Spider." Silva and his camp balked at the idea, suggesting Weidman was lacking both the experience and name value to share the cage with the middleweight champion, prompting the unbeaten Serra-Longo Fight Team product to sign on to face fellow unheralded contender Tim Boetsch at UFC 155.
And then things got interesting.
In late October, Hurricane Sandy ravaged the East Coast. Weidman's house was part of the carnage. Less than a month later, a shoulder injury that ended up requiring surgery forced him from the showdown with Boetsch.
In early January, the UFC declared that a victory over Vitor Belfort would secure Michael Bisping a chance to fight for the middleweight title. After "The Count" came up short, Silva started throwing out names of potential opponents; Weidman's was not one of them.
"It was definitely frustrating for a while," he says of hearing Silva express his interest in fighting just about anyone but him. "I got to a point where I was like, `I don't care. I'm going to fight whoever I've got to fight to get myself big enough to where there is no question that he's going to have to fight me.' It ended up that I didn't have to do that.
"Everyone else that could have fought Anderson lost, and there was no other choice for him. (UFC Chairman and CEO) Lorenzo (Fertitta) and (UFC President) Dana (White) told him that he's fighting me, and there was nobody else for him to start pointing fingers at.
"I just think everything happens for a reason," continues Weidman. "When I had different setbacks – surgery, Hurricane Sandy, whatever – I always had a positive mindset that something good was going to come from this. I never got down. I stayed positive – it's not the end of the world. I had kind of given up on the Anderson Silva thing, but I still had a feeling that something positive was going to come from it, and obviously it did."
Saturday's championship showdown was officially announced on March 6, and in the four months since, a wide assortment of fans, media, and fighters have voiced their belief that the undefeated challenger will depart the MGM Grand Garden Arena as the new UFC middleweight champion.
"It's pretty cool," he says of the support he's received from his fellow fighters. "I have a lot of confidence in myself, but when you have peers that haven't ever seen me train see something in me where they think I can be a champion, it's definitely a nice feeling. It's nice to have other peers that do this for a living have faith in me and believe I can do this."
Over the course of his illustrious UFC career, Silva has developed an aura of invincibility; winning 16 consecutive contests on the biggest stage in the sport will do that for you.
Much like when opponents lined up to share the ring with Fedor Emelianenko in the midst of his dominant turn in PRIDE or when a young "Iron" Mike Tyson was laying waste to the heavyweight division in boxing, many feel that some of Silva's opponents are beaten before they even step into the cage; the winning streak and repeated viewings of his previous highlight reel performances turning "I can win" into "Can I win?" by the time fight week rolls around.
Weidman isn't thrown off by the Brazilian's standing and stature with the sport. If anything, the fact that Silva is so revered only motivates him more.
"I know what I can do, and I know what I'm capable of based on the things I do in training and how hard I work every day. The fact that other people are so into this mystical creature that is Anderson Silva, that makes me even more excited to go out there and kind of disprove that, and shock the world.
"I love the fact that people think he's that good, and I have this opportunity to show them how good I am. I want to be that mystic creature."
The charismatic challenger laughs, but he's completely serious. This is the moment he's been preparing for his entire career.
This is the not only a chance to capture the middleweight title and end Silva's near-seven-year-reign atop the division, but also a chance to prove the critics that said he wasn't ready wrong, and begin building a legacy of his own in the sport.
This is his chance to unlock the door to that really nice house he's always pictured himself living in.
"I think about winning, and I think about what it's going to be like to be champion. I visualize myself holding the belt, and visualize the things that come from being champion, and I've put myself in a position to reach that goal."
As much as he's pictured himself with the middleweight title around his waist, Weidman also knows that when the cage door closes, there is no letting off the gas. Until his hand is raised and the words "And NEW UFC middleweight champion of the world" echo throughout the venue, the only thing he'll be thinking about is continuing to dominate and assert his will.
It's the same thing he's been thinking since the start of training camp.
"The number one thing that (keeps you from getting caught up in the moment) is just to work as hard as you can every day. When you spar, you're not looking up at the clock, thinking about how much time is left.
"If there is another second left on that clock, that's another second for you to dominate this round. If you have mindset of just pressure and forward and what you've got to do, you're not thinking about `I'm gonna win' or how much time is left or `I'm almost there.'
"I'm going in there to use every second to my advantage, and there's not a second that is going to go by where I'm thinking `I'm winning the fight right now; how do I keep this going?' My mindset is going to be `How do I finish him? How do I make this more devastating? How do I be more impressive?' When you have that attitude, you're just thinking about continuing to do what you're doing."
For Weidman, that means more than just succeeding where the 14 fighters to come before him have failed; it means finishing the previously unbeatable champion on Saturday night.
"I'm going out there to finish him. I have to go in there and make a statement to the world that it's my time, and I'm not going to be happy unless I finish him. I'm going in there to absolutely finish him, and come away with a dominating victory.
"The way to do that is just to be confident, and do what I do great; believe in myself, move forward, and go for the finish. I have to be aggressive and be relentless with my attacks, and look for the finish.
"I want to set myself apart from everybody else in the middleweight division."
Power Slap


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Last summer three former Jacksonville Developmental Center residents moved into their on home in Central Illinois.
Eddie, Jeff and Bobby are happy to be living in their own home in the community.
Eddie: I got my own room and I got my own guitar. I got my own TV. Yeah, I happy here. I don't want to go back to JDC no more. Cause I like it here. I got my own life.
Dr. Charlene Bennett, CEO, Executive Director - Individual Advocacy Group: These are three great guys that live in a house in the community. Um, they are very happy here. And just like you and I this is their home. Their home. Living their life.
Jeff: You get to go out on outings more often than JDC. You get to go shopping.
Dr. David Brooks, CEO - Individual Advocacy Group: The concept of people with different types of disabilities have to be put someplace where they can be treated the best way. Is now shifting to people with any type of disability or without a disability should live in a community, participate with others, be a member of their neighborhood.
And that is the shift, you don't have to be put someplace to be treated. You need to simply live your life, enjoy things. It's not a us versus them type of situation any longer. All of us are together. We can do the same things. We enjoy the same things. We have the same hopes and desires.
Um, so simply because you have something called a disability, doesn't mean you are exempt from those opportunities.
Dr. Charlene Bennett, CEO, Executive Director - Individual Advocacy Group: It's a sense of belonging. It's their own home. They can live a life with choices. They can live a life with dignity. They can live a life with respect and they can have happiness.
Eddie: singing Elvis Pressley's "Love me Tender" "..All my dreams come true, for my darling I love you and I always will..."
Illinois Department of Human ServicesJB Pritzker, Governor · Dulce Quintero, Secretary
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IDHS Help Line 1-800-843-6154 1-866-324-5553 TTY
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