I got accused of cheating once in a college intro class because my paper was ‘too good’. They had no actual evidence, it’s just that I spent a lot of time on it. It really pissed me off and was one of the reasons I took only the bare minimum of non-math/engineering classes. In math no one ever accused me of cheating if I came up with a clever proof so it felt a lot more respectful.
Yeah, it is a very sad state of affairs when a genuine effort is considered suspect. The thing is, so few students put in the effort and many of those who you do talk to are upfront about expecting a certain grade. It very much taints the expectations on both sides of the fence.
