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i think this is most likely from a highschool perspective, where getting into college is the big thing people compete for.
Ph.D. perspective here:
At the undergraduate level and below, it honestly doesn't matter.
All of those people will get random jobs that will promote on merit anyway. 74% of people don't even end up in careers related to their undergraduate major!! And the folks who can't learn the job, will fail. Few of those jobs require much education. Certainly not to the level of a BS, and many of them not even to the level of a high school diploma. We've created a system that frankly puts people through the hell of 8 years (4 hs, 4 college) of education that they don't legitimately need in order to say we're hiring based on merit. It's a joke. And everyone who has really looked at what is required of the jobs that kids' with a BS get hired into know it's a joke.
I mean, it is in fact unethical. And we do punish it when caught. But, frankly, the world has decided that a B.A/S. is now what a high school diploma used to be -- and the standards have shifted to reflect that.
But at the graduate level, it does catch up. You can't cheat your way through a thesis. You can't cheat through a master's at any reasonably good school. You certainly can't cheat through a Ph.D. level degree at a properly accredited brick and morter school.
And, the folks who cheat, don't generally apply to those programs because they do recognize that they aren't as good as their record. Sure, we run into it from time to time. But even in this cynical day and age, when a grad student is caught cheating it's still a big deal.
If your parents are hitting you -- that's physical abuse and a crime. It is not the fault of cheaters, it is the fault of your parents being terrible human beings who need to be imprisoned.  Please seek help from the appropriate authorities.