You are the naive one. I don't live in US but almost everyone cheats where I am from. I thought integrity mattered but it doesn't for people. It doesn't even register to students that cheating is wrong.

I never cheated and it got me really nowhere. I was a top student throughout school but I only lost time I could have used for better if I had cheated. People don't even put little effort into cheating.

I complained about students who cheated blatantly and got punished by the teacher because he was chewed by the management. At graduation, the cheaters get the same certificate. There is almost no difference and most schools don't care about cheating but enrolling more students.

I was a fool for doing busy work for school while everyone copied or ignored it.

I don't see the world outside school as more honest. You can't change the world without political power and money and to have both, you need to be as bad as the person sitting on the throne. People care about party names, political slogans, etc more than actual work. They care about media shout outs, endorsed by celebrity, institution name etc more.