“cheating” is almost not a thing outside of school.

Ever heard of scams? Fraud? Legal loopholes? All those white collar crimes that people somehow manage to get away with? Or, more importantly, plagiarism?

I know, "only plagiarism is similar, none of the other things is about copying someone else's work". True. But all of them are about not getting caught.

Also, specifically for programming, you can cheat if you're "smart" enough, by simply outsourcing your job and claiming it's all your work.

you collaborate and work with people to help you and them understand. It’s crazy that showing someone the answers and explaining said answer to them is considered cheating. And because the very act of sharing your work is villainized these students have never been taught how to properly work collaboratively outside of just sharing answers. It’s absolutely ridiculous.

This, I fully agree with. Humanity didn't get here with people learning and memorizing shit by themselves, never asking for help. It's always been about sharing knowledge, collaborating for a goal that's impossible at the individual level. Most education systems completely fail to teach collaboration.