Students and teachers talk about being honest in school.

by Connor Martin ’13

I do my homework every night. I enjoy every one of my classes. I love getting up early for school in the morning. Which one of those statements is the lie? If you guessed all of them, then ding, ding, ding! You’re right. These days, lying is easier and simpler than ever. The art of lying is surely being perfected by today’s generation of students, and it is very difficult for adults to tell whether a student is lying or telling the truth.

Why is it so easy?

“No one ever thinks I’m lying,” said an anonymous senior. “My caught/not caught ratio is really low.”

This student claims that he lies to teachers at least seven times per week ranging from “I left my homework at home” to “my printer’s broken,” when in fact he hadn’t done the assignment that was due. It is through these lies that he manages to get extensions and exceptions for  his work.

The senior attests to how he manages to successfully lie to everyone. “If someone doesn’t believe a lie at first, I say ‘No, really!’ and if they still don’t believe me, I say it again. I just keep saying that over and over until they believe me and it actually works 99 percent of the time.” And he’s not the only student who easily gets teachers to believe lies.

“I once told my teacher I was moving to Australia so I couldn’t do my homework,” said an anonymous freshman, “I had also mentioned that I was working on a farm in Australia just to make it a bit more believable.”

The teacher later called her parents and confirmed that the story was false.

Both students have tips for anyone looking to become a better liar. “I try to keep a straight face, and I try making the lie somewhat funny” said the freshman. The senior advised students not to laugh. “If you laugh, it’s over,” he said.

Lying is a concept reviewed in AP Psychology classes during multiple different units. AP Psychology teacher Christine McKeldin talked about how to tell if a student is lying.

“A lot of the signs are unfortunately ones you can’t pick up on like increased heart rate, blood pressure and respiration, but it’s similar to a tell in poker. If someone’s fidgety or all of a sudden won’t look me in the eye or is doing something that’s unusual compared to the way they normally communicate with me, then that’s a telltale sign [that he or she is lying],” McKeldin said. She also added that the more a student lies, the harder it becomes to pick up on those tells.

McKeldin mentioned that she suspects students of lying to her on a regular basis on a variety of different subjects, like being late for class when the student blames traffic or talking to a teacher, or missing work. Among the most common excuses are broken printers and family emergencies.