Falsified Worthle

Falsified

Amid heightened pressures to perform well on daily Wordle, cheating scandal at Stevenson is uncovered

By jazzyfifi & Sophiuhhhh?

It’s the test of her life, but as she cowers over her iPad, Lisa Dearbon ’22 starts to doubt herself. All she can see is blank squares, and Dearborn frantically racks her brain for some bit of knowledge that could help her on the exam. Nearby, the presence of her friends adds to the growing pressure; Dearborn is desperately trying not to score lower than them and bear the brunt of their gloating.

With her mind empty and down to her last guess, Dearborn turns to her failsafe: cheating. She pulls out her phone and looks up the answer to her daily tribunal: the Wordle.

Dearborn’s actions make up just one part of Stevenson’s massive Wordle cheating scandal. The new word game has taken the school by storm, but like any activity that becomes popular at Stevenson, the student body has quickly labeled it as an unoffcial mark of one’s talent and intelligence. With all that pressure, it’s only natural that students turn to cheating as a means to succeed on the Wordle.

“I try to be an honest Wordle player, but my friends and I share our scores every day,” Dearborn said. “It’s totally embarrassing if I don’t get the word in four tries or less, so it’s just easier for me to cheat.”

From searching up the answer on the internet to doing the Wordle on two devices, there are many different methods students can use to cheat. While the tactics vary, the act of cheating has become almost universal due to the game’s increasing popularity.

According to a study of 500 Americans aged 14 to 18 conducted by the National Association of Puzzles and Word Games, 52 percent of Wordle players have cheated on at least one Wordle in the last month, a 300 percent increase from previous numbers. That proportion increases as the stakes of the game are raised; the study found that 95 percent of Wordle players who share their scores with friends or family have admitted to cheating.

In response to the recent spike in cheating occurrences, a new club dedicated to inspiring youth to take a stand against Wordle dishonesty of any form has been created. The Honesty Club’s founder True Stellar ‘25 encourages students to not only pledge against cheating, but also to speak up when they notice their peers engaging in such behavior as well.

“As a student, I completely understand the temptations to cheat on the Wordle,” Stellar said. “However, giving in to those temptations is simply unacceptable. If it were up to me, the daily Wordle would be conducted like standardized tests—everyone in a room with a proctor, locked-down devices, and only one snack break.”

Wordle cheaters have also been frowned upon by members of the community who believe looking up answers ruins the Wordle learning experience. Similar to cheating on a test, English teacher Lin Gwistick says that cheating on the Wordle deprives students of the opportunity to expand their knowledge by increasing their vocabulary; he believes that cheating on the Wordle is even more deplorable than cheating on a test.

“Cheating on the Wordle is completely unjustifable—I don’t understand why anyone would cheat on a silly little game,” Gwistick said. “Sure, I can’t stop my students from using Sparknotes on my reading quizzes, but I will undoubtedly step in if I see any Wordle related dishonesty. The future of this generation’s vocabulary is on the line.”

Unlike Gwistick and Stellar, Dearborn maintains that her Wordle tactics are a victimless crime despite recognizing how her own actions could contribute to her peers’ insecurities that eventually lead to cheating for both parties.

“There’s this whole culture where I cheat to exaggerate how good I am at Wordle, and then my friends feel like they have to cheat to compare with how well I did, so in the end none of us really have an accurate view of reasonable Wordle scores,” Dearborn said. “Still, it’s all worth it if I can avoid disappointing my friends and my family. The only person I’m disappointing is myself, but what does that matter?”