I think there is no doubt that cheating is prevalent among both high school and college students these days. Plus it's easier to get away with than ever. I do think the rise in cheating is partly the adult's fault. There is so much pressure on these kids. I felt nothing like this sort of pressure when I was their age. I was a very strong student and played a D1 sport in college and went onto graduate school afterwards. And I never felt any temptation to cheat. But it was a different time.
The pressure shows up not just in the number of students who routinely cheat, it shows up far more tragically in the number of suicides among kids in high achieving school districts and schools. Around here one top local high school had like five kids kill themselves in a short time by jumping in front of trains. That was a few years ago but there were more suicides this year in that same school district.
So the whole high pressure, get into the most selective colleges, play for the most dominating programs, and get there anyway you can, is way out of whack and we shouldn't lay the blame primarily on the kids, but on those who have made the system be the way it is.
Still, I think taking shortcuts is a very bad way to go. Why does a kid with a 4.x GPA need to cheat? Even if he's about to take a C, heaven forbid, on some major assignment, even if his grade ends up being a B or even a C, what's the big deal?
We need to teach these kids some perspective and stop putting so much darned pressure on them.
What should happen to cheaters -- especially when you know the ones you catch are the tip of the iceberg -- is a harder issue. You gotta come down heavy, lest the students just do a cost benefit analysis. How heavy is heavy enough? I don't know. Above my pay grade, I guess.