I found out that right before the night of the competition, One of my group members plagiarized many of the writing and data. I thought this was wrong, so I told my teacher about it, and he said not to reveal this because if we draw out now, then our grades will go down, and the school would get a bad reputation. I was confused because I thought it was wrong, but my teacher said not to tell anyone.
The Pros of revealing are that I stay honest. The cons of telling are a worse grade, no college money, and a lousy school reputation. The pros of not revealing you might win and get college money, and the school reputation will stay good. The con of not showing is the judge might find out, and you get disqualified. I think the best path to go is to redo the work overnight so we win and the reputation of the school stays clean.
If I reveal, then there are more cons than pros, and if I don’t admit, then there is a high chance we get caught, so if we redo over the night, we may be able to make it. Revising overnight also means that the person who plagiarized will not get a good grade and will be punished and that I have a chance to put things in a way that the judges will appreciate and love. In some groups, I can also call to finish the project and give ideas, making the writing somewhat faster.
After I redo, I can talk to the judges on what happened but not penalized because we have rewritten the plagiarized writing portion. I also now know who not to put on my team for the next competition. I can make a good impression on future teachers, and others will also want me to be on their team to get work done quickly and efficiently.
But if we cannot get all the job finished, then I will have to notify the judges as it is the right thing to do and should not be put lightly. Even if they don’t find out (which they probably will), and we win, we will have a guilty conscience knowing we cheated. This also proves that we should start early and not leave anything off for the last minute and that I should check on everyone even before they are finished.
After this is over, It will have proved a great life lesson that we should never cheat or lie; otherwise, you and others could be paying the consequences.