I’m a sophomore in Texas.A couple days ago,there was a big cheating scandal and I was one of the many individuals accused of giving out answers.This thing is,I never actually did.Heres the evidence against me:3-4 testimonies saying I cheated,although 1 of them was just a random question that was unrelated and the answer was used to assume I gave answers to a specific person.Another was a misunderstanding between my friend and I(I wrote down random things on his phone that weren’t on the test and my friend thought that they were answers).The evidence with me:4 testimonies,one is from the person that was asked a random question(as mentioned before)and clearly states that I did not give out answers,another if from the friend that I had the misunderstanding with and states that I did not give out any real answers.The other two are from individuals who sat near me when I was accused of cheating and who know the truth.The vice principal hates me and thinks I’m a liar no matter what and the actual principle looks at evidence and tries to understand what really happened and is much nicer.Are there any suggestions about what I can do to gather more evidence and prove that I didn’t cheat.
Can you explain a little more? Someone saw things on two friends’ phones from you and thought you had provided answers to a test, but that were not on the test. Why were they on the friends’ phones? How can people who sat near you say they know you weren’t cheating if the answers were on a phone? And is this accusation about helping others or did you yourself benefit in any way?
I believe you from what you have written but just don’t understand completely. So sorry this happened to you. You could hire an advocate of some sort if you can afford it.
This seems incredibly suspicious to me. Why would you write things down on a friend’s phone? Even if it wasn’t on the test, it gives the impression that you were trying to aid him in the test. Even though you may not have directly cheated, you are being seen as an accomplice.
Agree with @lindagaf, get your parents involved ASAP. If this ends up on your record, it can make your college admissions more difficult.
So basically it was a joke.The stuff I wrote was just random sentences and my friend thought that they were real answers and was unaware I was joking around when he gave a testimony against me saying I had cheated but after I conversed with him he looked back to the little stuff I had typed and realized that nothing I had added to his phone was actually on the test.This caused him to give a testimony in the opposition saying I had not cheated.As for the parent involvement,that has already been done,which has caused little to change, so I just wanted some extra tips that I can use to firmly prove my innocence.In addition,I am not currently able to afford extra legal assistance.If there is any further confusion I’d be happy to clarify.
Even if you did not intend to cheat, and perhaps didn’t really cheat, I am not convinced of your innocence. First, you placed information related to the content of the test. Innocence means you did not put information, whether relevant to questions or not on a friends phone. You put the information on your friend’s as a joke. How is that funny, especially since your friend thought the information was supposed to be real help on the test. Even if cheating was not your intent, you surely did something that looks like cheating.
You are not innocent. The accusation and the behaviors you admit indicate you did something wrong. You should expect some sort of penalty and then get on with your life. Tests are serious business. Joke about something else.
Were these sentences in ANY WAY related to the material being tested? Even if they didn’t show up on the test directly, the fact that you put stuff onto his phone makes you an accomplice to his cheating.
I would be surprised if the administration lets you off. Is there some sort of disciplinary review board at your school? What does your school hand book have to say about this? Ask your counsellor if this information will go on your permanent record, and if it will be disclosed to colleges.
Cheating is not looked upon lightly by college admissions people.
Okay sgopal2 and Zannab if you think that I’m 100% guilty then please stop replying.As for everyone else,here is the joke explained.My friend is not good at English and asked me for answers.I couldn’t just outright say no because we are friends so I decided to just type random things.This is a joke because I wrote things like this character is stupid and I assumed that my friend would realize I was joking around and laugh but he didn’t and so when I told him to look back at what I had written he realized that nothing I wrote was on the test.This is not cheating according to school rules seeing that nothing I gave was an answer to any question to the test and just because the stuff I wrote was related to the topic does not mean that I was cheating especially if it in itself makes no sense.
A real friend would say I can’t help you cheat. If the stuff you wrote was related to the topic, I think it’s going to be hard for the school to consider it not cheating whatever your intention was.
I am always suspicious when the first post I see from a new member is so long and convoluted. Not cheating is very straightforward. But lying or cheating? Now, that’s where people get really creative and jump through all sorts of hoops.
If you are truly innocent, make your case before the administration in clear, unequivocal terms.
This doesn’t make sense. You wrote something and your friend didn’t look at it-- and without knowing what you wrote, he initially he gave testimony you cheated??
And no one looked at what you wrote on his phone? (Are you going to tell us that, after realizing you hadn’t given answers, he deleted it?)
Yes,I know that part of this situation is confusing.I didn’t have the guts to say no.I should have though.Any comments or tips on anything besides that part of the situation?
yes, the poster here, if a genuine poster, doesn’t like some of the responses he is getting. Too bad. Responses here mostly question what you are saying, but no one has said you are 100% guilty. To question what you are saying is not the same as calling you a cheat. Yes, it looks bad, it looks suspicious, and the convoluted way you are explaining bits and pieces does not bolster your case.
You may be wholly innocent of cheating and only guilty of poor judgment and poor writing, we don’t know. What you consider “funny” seems peculiar too, even for a sophomore in high school. None of that makes you guilty of cheating, but understand it does make you look suspect.
I am still hopelessly confused. I believe your intentions were innocent.
Some here assume the use of a phone means cheating, but phones are also the way kids communicate. And in our school phones don’t get used during a test.
I just don’t get what happened. I think you need to work on making your explanation clearer, because it is so confusing that it may not be convincing.
It is nearly impossible to give you any constructive advice because your story is so muddled and changes. If you can’t explain what happened in a clear manner here, chances are you won’t have any success in making your case with the school administration.
If I understand you correctly, the people who you were supposedly supplying answers to thought that the answers were genuine. Now they are testifying against you. Your defense was that because the answers that you gave were incorrect what you did was still honorable. Basically, you were too embarrassed to say no and thought that if you pretended to cheat but really didn’t, that it would be a win-win. It looks like your joke backfired big time. You can put forth this defense and maybe win if you have actual evidence, but if you typed in on somebody else’s phone, who then used your incorrect answers, or those individuals got caught cheating and is turning you in for their own leniency, they would most likely delete what you typed from their phone and you would be hosed. It’s really hard to have sympathy for your plight.
You’ve made a mistake. A potentially big one. Learn how to live with it. You can recover.
You really should get used to taking offense when people ask you to cheat.
If you discussed with the AP and principal the way you presented here, I can understand how they may not grasp the whole story. It is not a slam to you in anyway, it is just disjointed and makes everyone else come away with having to fill in holes.
Sit down and write out, in chronological order, the events as they happened. Proof read it. Delete all the superfluous details and emotion. Make it verbatim and factual.
Friend X asked me for answers on the literature test in Mr. Book’s 3rd period English class.
I could not say no to Friend X’s request, but instead, wrote a bunch of non nonsensical sentences in the notes on his phone.
Because my grades are important to me, I would not jeprodize my grade on the literature test by giving answers to another student, even if they were my friend and I was not comfortable telling them no.
and so forth. You get the idea.
It is not uncommon to become scattered and jump all over the place when faced with a scenario such as this and it is your first time handling/going through such a thing.
Calm yourself, breathe, and get the facts down clearly in writing for yourself and present clearly what happened.
You do not say how you were caught. Did your friend you gave fake answers to get caught or rat you out because he wrote the stupid sentences you wrote for him?