Ethics in School

     Since as long as I can remember I have always been told what good ethical principles were in school. In many of my classes, my teachers have handed out academic integrity papers saying not to cheat and to report anyone you have seen cheating. However, I would never feel comfortable reporting another student cheating since cheating can be defined in so many ways. Cheating can be copying some math homework answers, forgetting to site a source in a paper, changing another person's words around to sound like your own, looking at another students test, telling a friend the test format, finding answers online, etc. I know everyone has cheated once or twice in their life. I know I have and I have seen many students cheating. If students told on one another for cheating, then more than half of the students would have "academic dishonesty" reported on their records. So I've always thought, what is the best ethical principle for witnessing cheating? If I reported it, I would be telling on a fellow student who could also be my friend and if I didn't report it, it could be considered as lying. I don't understand why schools would put students in this kind of situation. I believe that students should not be responsible for reporting other students cheating.