Slader, unlike the test bank, is a cheating resource

By Ayush Patel | Student Life Editor

Recently, Irvington High School blocked access to Slader, a website where students can access homework answers for primarily math and science textbooks. Now students cannot clutch their homework a few periods before its due. Instead, they have to take the “L” and just get a zero on the assignment. Unlike my support for test banking, I am definitely against Slader, which is nothing but a shortcut for lazy students that blocks many of the wonderful Irvington teachers’ attempts to enrich students with a valuable education.

Slader takes away our learning experiences in science and math. How are students supposed to learn if they spend all of advisory copying down the homework they didn’t do? Students need to take the time to actually bring their books home and diligently answer the questions in the book. Students need to sit down and understand the various concepts they’ll need to answer these book questions. Students need to do their own work rather than relying on outside resources to aid them in their STEM classes. Furthermore, many Irvington students take STEM courses in their future, so using Slader on their most relevant courses in high school does nothing, except damage their capacity to think, create, and innovate.

Slader is especially bad for the teachers. What kind of teacher would like to waste their time teaching their classes, only to find out that their students are a bunch of cheaters? Students cannot undermine the staff’s efforts by using a website in which ads constantly pop up, responses are usually rated 2.1 stars, users are super sketch (i.e. DooraDaMathExplora), and pages take extremely long to load. It de-legitimizes our teachers’ hard work to broaden students’ perspectives.

We  –the hardworking students – get it. But think about the teachers. What good are they when students rely on slader to assist them rather than these influential educators? I ask you, the people of Irvington (especially the notorious Cheating Class of 2018), did Betsy really damage our education system this badly?

Slader is a wonderful academic resource

Subaita Rahman | Staff Writer

The answer to unfinished math homework, Spanish “inspiration”, history answers, and AP Chemistry assistance, Slader has been a savior to many of us from the moment we started high school. At first glance, it may seem as if students are simply using this website to slack off and copy their homework online, but that is a serious and unfounded accusation to make. This highly enlightening website provides students with valuable technological skills necessary for the future of America, and exposes them to different perspectives on thought, ultimately sculpting them into better members of society.

Nowadays, almost every single interaction or service we encounter involves some sort of technology, whether it be ordering clothes, filling out applications, or even swiping right. At the end of the day, why must education be left behind? With a library of math, science, history, and foreign language answers right in our pocket, the opportunities are limitless. It’s silly to think that one would bother to go to school and learn from actual human beings when they can  just copy answers from a website and never think about the subject again.

Critics of Slader may say that the website is used as a cheating resource and nothing more. Nonsense, I say. If one takes the time to read between the lines (which, by the way, if you’re having trouble with, SparkNotes is a handy tool for as well) they’ll see that Slader actually holds bountiful opportunities to learn how other people think. If you’re stuck on a math problem and can’t work your way out of it, JimBobLovesMath4205 will show you his thought process and before you know, it your mind is opened to perspectives from parents’ basements all over the country. And if you can’t (or don’t want to) think of an answer in the first place, even better! After all, why think for yourself when other people can just do it for you?

Indeed, this “cheating website” is actually more a benefit than a flaw, as students learn characteristics that will help America thrive for years to come. With these new skills in utilizing resources and being more open-minded to other viewpoints, the future will hold a new generation of hopeful, honest, and hard-working students of tomorrow, and for that we only have Slader to thank.