By Remy Rosenberg

If you’ve ever gotten a text from a friend or classmate saying, “Hey, can you send me your homework so I can check mine?”, you are definitely not alone. In high school, it’s common to want to help your friends, especially when an assignment may be confusing or when someone missed class. But when everything is submitted online now, sharing homework electronically comes with risks and a lot of students don’t think about it until it’s too late.

Helping a friend with an assignment is one thing. But sending your actual assignments, essays, or answers can turn into a big problem fast. Once your work leaves your hands, whether it’s a screenshot or shared document, you lose control of what happens next. Someone might copy it exactly, submit it as their own, or even pass it along to someone else, even if they “promise” they won’t.

At the beginning of the semester, a classmate shared a picture of her homework with a friend who said he just wanted to “check his work.” Instead, he submitted the picture of his classmates’ work accidentally through the school portal. The teacher noticed the same name was on both of the assignments and gave them both zeros. The student who shared the assignment was just trying to be helpful, but she ended up hurting her grade and her trust with the teacher.

In a world where school platforms track timestamps, edits, and document history, it’s easier than ever for teachers to see when students submit identical or nearly identical work. Even if you didn’t intentionally cheat, sharing your completed assignments can make it look like you participated in academic dishonesty. It’s frustrating, because no one wants to feel responsible for someone else’s choices, but it can happen if you’re not careful.

According to The Atlantic, “Ninety percent of students admit to having copied another student’s homework” showing how common it is for students to cheat. In an article from Oakmont Regional High School in Massachusetts, a student conducted a survey of 100 students at their school and concluded that “82.4% admitted to copying someone’s homework or classwork in the past 2 years.”

How to Help Without Putting Yourself at Risk

  • Explain concepts, don’t send answers. Instead of sharing your homework, offer to walk your friend through the steps or explain how to work out the problem.
  • Share notes versus completed assignments. Class notes help your friends learn without giving them something to copy and paste.
  • Offer examples. Give your friends examples of how you did something, not the entire assignment.
  • It is okay to lie to your friend if you feel pressured into giving them your work. Tell them you already turned it in or you haven’t even done the assignment yet. This is better than the risks of getting caught cheating.

Conversation Starters:

  1. Have you ever shared homework with someone electronically? How did it turn out?
  2. Why do you think people feel pressured to send their assignments to friends?
  3. What are some ways to say “no” while still being helpful?
  4. Have you seen a situation where someone got in trouble for sharing their work?

Learn More

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