Caught in a Weird Cheating Scandal, help!

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

I’m not sure if this is the right section for this, but here it goes:

Basically, my class has this project in which a part of the project involved us going to a college class and taking notes on the lecture. This was a group project and our group didn’t have time to go to the class and take notes because we had to do other parts of the project as well in the 4 hour time-frame my teacher gave us. We all, as a group, decided that we were going to copy another group’s notes from this class. We asked someone from another group for the notes and she sent it to us. Someone snitched on our group and we all got in trouble. The entire group had a conference with the teachers in which we all admitted that we asked and were going to copy this part of the assignment. However, we lied and said no one sent us the notes because we didn’t want to get the friend who sent it to us in trouble. We continued to lie for like 30 minutes in our conference before we were confronted about this lie. Therefore, we are all accused of “conspiring to plagiarize and lying to our teachers.” They see this as academically dishonest and will take off major points from our project and maybe put this on our record.

I feel like they’re making a big deal out of nothing. Yes, we lied to the teachers and were probably going to copy this part of the assignment. But, we never did. We never turned in anything that was copied/plagiarized because the project isn’t even due for a few weeks. Also, the notes would have essentially have been the same because we were all in the same exact class. And also, there is no physical evidence of us doing anything wrong. The only “proof” they have is us confessing to planning to do this and admitting to lying. They also have pics of the notes we were going to copy. But, they don’t have the actual copied assignment because it doesn’t exist. Restating, the thing we’re in trouble for is “conspiring to plagiarize and lying to teachers.” I’m fine with points being taken off for the missing part of the project since we didn’t finish. But, I don’t think that anything else should be done because we didn’t actually do anything.

Please comment your opinions. I’m really frustrated because they’re penalizing us for more than the missing notes. I don’t know if I should just pursue this issue to the dean or administration, provided that the repercussions they take are beyond the ones for the missing part of the assignment.

TLDR:
Accusation against us: “Conspiring to plagiarize and lying to teachers - academic dishonesty”

Proof against us: No actual evidence of us plagiarizing because we didn’t actually do it. However, we admitted that we asked someone else for the assignment and they have pictures of the notes we were going to copy. Pretty sure there’s like group chat screenshots in which we all ask for the notes. However, nothing to show we actually did anything academically dishonest because we didn’t go through with it.

Are my teachers allowed to get me in trouble for “conspiring to plagiarize and lying?” This is shady but does this fall under the widespread and accepted definition of academic dishonesty?

Last point: What we were going to do was wrong, but literally every single group was doing it. I accept responsibility that it was wrong and am not crying/denying it. I just feel that any additional points taken off for anything besides missing notes is unjustified.

Thank you for your comments, I am really in a tough situation and appreciate all feedback!

2

Ok, let’s be real. Y’all did plagiarize by copying someone else’s notes. And while you may say we didn’t actually follow through with the physical copying, you reached out and asked someone for their notes with the intent to plagiarize. Next when asked, y’all lied to cover for someone else. Definitely academic dishonesty. Accept the consequences. YOU got yourself in trouble. Don’t blame the teachers for your actions.

3

I see you didn’t read the thread. We did not plagiarize.

4

You appear to be guilty. You are not accused of plagiarism. You are accused of CONSPIRING to plagiarize and that is what you did. To be guilty of a conspiracy requires the commission of an overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy. Agreement amongst the group members to not attend the class and asking another student to send you notes, which you intended to use to complete the assignment, satisfies this requirement. It is academic dishonesty and instead of trying to find semantic ways around it, the best thing to do would be to apologize.

Why didn’t your group assign one member to attend the class and take notes for the group? Were you allowed to separate? That would not have been cheating since sharing within your own group is part of a group project. How did the other groups handle this assignment?

I think the best thing to do would be to apologize to the teachers involved and take your lumps. If this is your first offense, hopefully, it won’t go on your permanent record. Even more hopefully, you have learned a big lesson.

Good luck.

5

“I feel like they’re making a big deal out of nothing.”

“We asked someone from another group for the notes and she sent it to us”
“we lied and said no one sent us the notes”

You got charged with “conspiring.” And lying. That’s exactly what you seem to have done.
You, in fact, walked up to that door and walked through it. Whether you then stood there, on the other side, and did nothing is secondary. You conspired and took it to the next level: asking for the notes. And accepting those notes.

You make a mistake and got charged points. Learn from this.

6

You did plagiarize. It is cheating. There is nothing “weird” about your situation. You cheated and got caught. The fact that you got caught before you turned it in is irrelevant.

7

@dam123 It seems that you refuse to accept the consequences for your own behavior. It also seems that you are not the least bit remorseful. Good luck with that.

8

No, your teachers are not allowed to get you in trouble. You got yourself in trouble. And you will likely continue to get yourself in trouble with you attitude.

9

I think they gave you a pretty fair punishment. I do understand your annoyance though, unlike some of the other commenters. It’s not as bad cheating on a test, especially since what you were copying was literally just notes, but it is still cheating regardless. I’d say knocking you down a few points is fair.

10

@lemondrop77 As a h.s educator, I have zero tolerance for students who not only participate in academic dishonesty but then find ways to justify why they shouldn’t get whatever punishment educators deem necessary. In my h.s. the project would receive a zero. If the students engaged in anything hinting at academic dishonesty again, it would escalate to suspension and expulsion. If this student wants to head to college without this incident being a part of their permanent record, it would behoove him/her to recognize the error of their ways earlier rather than later. I respect your thoughts, but do not feel that they are in the best interest of the poster.

11

Thank you. I agree completely. I already accepted the consequences and everything at school (I didn’t make that clear in my initial post). I’m just curious of how my argument would be met if I decided to rebuke the action of putting this on my record or something more serious than taking off points.

12

Bad is bad. The assignment was not to just copy notes. And they lied.
We all get “annoyed” at lots of things. The value is in how one thinks and grows. Not knee-jerk self defense.

13

I’m assuming that the poster and I are peers (I’m in HS also), so maybe that is why I can understand where they’re coming from. I don’t believe cheating is okay at all because it’s not fair to other high schoolers (like me) who work extremely hard and don’t cheat. However, I do see why so many people my age result to cheating though. High schoolers (seniors especially) get the message that having higher grades will get us further than authentic learning, so a lot of kids my age see the risk of getting caught as being well worth if it gets them a good grade. I do agree with you all though, I just like to look at why people do things rather than just the fact that they did it.

14

@lemondrop77 Thank you for sharing. I see your point, especially since I am in TX, home of the Top 10%. Students feel pressured to do all types of things to get ahead, including studying all night, forgoing parties/social lives, not participating in varsity sports or certain EC’s because it takes away an academic class, cheating, taking a ton of classes they aren’t interested in just because they are AP, etc. Students have to ask themselves, if that is how they want their high school experience to be? High school could be the best time of your young life. But, if you sacrifice your integrity to get there, is it worth it? No one can truly answer that for you. But it is tough living with consequences and regrets.

15

@lemondrop77 Yes, but we’d like to see some understanding and perspective from this OP. And that the “regret” is not just being caught.

16

Trying to spin it somehow if it goes on your permanent record is just going to dig the hole deeper. Your story as you told it will make any admissions officer roll their eyes.

17

MODERATOR’S NOTE:
Closing thread. OP created a second account to ask this question, which is a violation of ToS. Anyway, I think there are enough answers already provided.