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<p>What's the rationale for making this news article a "featured discussion"? As a CC administrator, I would think your job would be to maintain a neutral stance on what goes on here. I fail to see how highlighting the mistakes of a few individuals at an institution can be seem as a benefit to the climate on this board. Many future cadets come here looking for guidance during their application process and to get an idea of what it's like to be a cadet. I acknowledge that this story is public domain, however, I do not think it necessary to draw attention to this situation in the manner you have done.</p>
<p>I was optimistic since no one was posting this for the last few days. Disappointing it had to be a CC admin.</p>
<p>I thought it was an interesting article. Why do you have such an objection to posting it as a Featured thread? The admins generally do so when a big school-related story comes up.</p>
<p>It is important, but this is NOT what the school is about, or what 99% of cadets are like. Also, this is collegeconfidential, it would seem that questions regarding the school and admissions would take on the main role here.</p>
<p>I'm not saying this should not be discussed, but I don't think it should be "the" point of discussion for the next x months.</p>
<p>Hmm.. may I take this chance to ask.. do the "I think they've got orange rockets on them" guys have anything to do with USAF?</p>
<p>In all the time I've been here, I've never seen a featured thread on this particular board. I find it disappointing that none of the positive things that have happened in connection with USAFA have been highlighted, yet a bad news story makes it here in record time. The media exploits issues like this enough, and I don't see the value in an article like this being "center stage" in a venue such as this. It certainly doesn't define the ethos of USAFA by any means.</p>
<p>lostincode - I have no idea what parallel you were attempting to draw.</p>
<p>The media need not report on the duties that are the standard. I am referring to the duties in fulfilling a job or role, being upright (and not cheating), being hard working, performing well, and so on. It's akin to when a President performs well, the media doesn't really care -- rather we don't care. When the President makes a mistake, the whole world comes crashing down. I am not referring to a specific President. </p>
<p>The media should be biased towards the negative ills of institutions because the strain of the public eye forces institutions to change much faster than without it. Yes it's an embarassment, and personally I wish I never happened, but it's a wake up call for them to change. After reading this, I don't think ithe problem is with the USAF as a whole necessarily, just the young cadets. I hope everyone coming to this thread for guidance can see that.</p>
<p>sadly,sticking your head in the sand won't make the cheating problem go away.this is big news in the education community (highly respected program, tax payer money, 'the whole offeicer and a gentleman' thing) so it's interesting to see why this episode happened and how it is dealt with. the airforce isn't sticking its head in the sand about it. they are forthright in exposing it and saying how they are correcting it. nothing wrong with that!</p>
<p>Many members of the public, cued by a critical media, demand perfection of the armed forces and military academies that they would never demand of themselves, standards they could not even begin to meet in their everyday lives. Weaponry must destroy only a single target in precisely limited ways and intelligently discriminate among the people there, killing only those who, in hindsight, could be proven to have hostile intent. And the war must be won within hours--not days, not years--hours. Prefectly. Now. </p>
<p>They demand the same perfection in the operation of the military academies. Their own locally-funded public colleges and universities could be cesspools of cheating, but that story will never merit even a scant six lines buried in the lower left corner of page 30. But each allegation of cheating at an academy, or of sexism, or of supposed religious intolerance, might merit days in the national news cycle and will often generate new demands for draconian action to fix the problem. Fix it perfectly. Now.</p>
<p>Were it not for Anna Nicole Smith's untimely death, this latest cheating incident involving 28 cadets might be a full blown media obsession. As it is, they only have so many news bites to go around, and Smith's death is the main course this week.</p>
<p>Fortunately, the vast majority of cadets is made of superior stuff equal to the challenge. I am pleased to see the USAFA administration meeting the problem straight on, thereby modeling the moral courage it wishes to instill in the cadet corps.</p>
<p>Hate to add my two cents to an obviously fruitless discussion, but just wish to express my thanks to General Regni for upholding such incredibly high standards. I'm so thankful that the press considers 28 freshmen cheating on a minor exam to be such earthshaking scandalous news. The honest cadets know now that they are on a level playing field with everyone else.</p>
<p>"sadly,sticking your head in the sand won't make the cheating problem go away."</p>
<p>This is in no way what I am implying should be done. What I am saying is that I disagree that the first thing potential cadets must look at every time they come to this particular board is an article portraying the academy in a bad light. If you care to look, there's already a thread regarding the cheating, and it's a decent discussion between primarily cadets and appointees. However, it's not given any more priority on the boards (i.e. being "stuck" at the top of the board with an excerpt of the story) than any other thread, as it should be.</p>
<p>"The media should be biased towards the negative ills of institutions because the strain of the public eye forces institutions to change much faster than without it." </p>
<p>I disagree with this, as I don't think this is always necessary for the problem to be dealt with. Issues being blown out of proportion by the media causes more harm than good. I am not speaking of the facts that come out; I am referring to the speculation and stereotypes that result. In instances like this, the stigma reaches far beyond the few people actually involved--to other cadets, to graduates (and the Air Force and military in general), and appointees.</p>
<p>"After reading this, I don't think ithe problem is with the USAF as a whole necessarily, just the young cadets."</p>
<p>The vast majority of "young cadets" are NOT the problem. It is a handful of people who chose to sacrifice their integrity that are the problem. This incident should not reflect negatively on the rest of the "freshman" class.</p>
<p>Uncynical, its called scandal. It will always remain scandal, it will never go away, and its what the people want to see.
1) freshman cadets get perfect score on entrance exam
2) freshman cadets steal and cheat on exam.
Which one is more "news-worthy" as far as unusual.</p>
<p>Bravo, excellent original post. If you read the article, you'll see that fellow students are conducting the investigation. One of my best friends is a freshman there, and they live by a different code, out of necessity, than the rest of us. Their handling and highlighting of this investigation is merely one more reason why we have the best military in the world, by far.</p>
<p>"Which one is more "news-worthy" as far as unusual."</p>
<p>The press will always go after the "scandals." However, I keep my initial sentiment that it's distasteful to spotlight this on a message board frequented by potential cadets, as it overshadows the other (more relevant) posts here.</p>
<p>UNcynical,</p>
<p>lostincode is referring to the recently released vidoes that show USAF pilots attacking British soldiers. The pilots attack after deciding that the orange on top of the British vehicles were orange rockets, not the orange panels used to identify allies.</p>
<p>Yet how is that related to the topic of the thread?</p>
<p>What are the facts:</p>
<p>28 cadets accused of cheating on a weekly test.</p>
<p>Fellow cadets (under the required Code of Conduct) properly informed authorities of their suspicions.</p>
<p>Recent scandals on sexual conduct re" Porno downloads on computers/</p>
<p>In the near term (past two years) sexual misconduct reported as an extensive problems, which was inadequately monitored by the authorities at the USAFA.</p>
<p>Religious intolerance coming from the USAFA staff towards the Cadet, both specifically and in general.</p>
<p>By this report, 19% of the student body has failing grades!</p>
<p>This is our Academy for the Air Force of the future, it is newsworthy and important to inquire, review and monitor across the board, not sweep in under the rug and hide it because some potential applicants will read about it on this site.</p>
<p>I was stationed at the USAFA in 1964-5, working in the Cadet Library when the cheating scandal occurred. Over 90 students were expelled either for either stealing the test, providing answers to the test, using the stolen questions/answers to pass the test, or failing to report the cheaters to the authorities.</p>
<p>I knew a number of the cadets that were expelled, one stayed at my home after being expelled as he got himself together before returning home to New Jersey.</p>
<p>I am glad to see these latest scandals being published. It is too important to both the USAFA, the USAF and our nation to hide or minimize.</p>
<p>The Code of Honor/Conduct is clear to all cadets and should be clear to all potential applicants. Cheating in any form is wrong and is cause for dismissal, as is failing to report such cheating.</p>
<p>This young men and women are seeking to lead our Air Force and our children (grandchildren) in times of conflict and danger. Being honorable is a basic requirement and all officers that graduate from the USAFA can be proud of their distinction.</p>
<p>There is absolutely nothing wrong with pubicity that proclaims that standard.</p>
<p>I suspect most colleges and universities turn a "blind eye" to this problem - none address it in such a public way and with such dire consequences to those who are caught or admit to have fallen short. This was not an academic test but a knowlege test about the Air Force. We as a nation would be lucky if we had a fraction of the character that the cadets at Air Force have. Keep your chin up Class of 2010.</p>
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Fortunately, the vast majority of cadets is made of superior stuff equal to the challenge. I am pleased to see the USAFA administration meeting the problem straight on, thereby modeling the moral courage it wishes to instill in the cadet corps.
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<p>Agreed. With all this publicity from the USAFA, it really seems they are serious with tackling this problem. </p>
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Their handling and highlighting of this investigation is merely one more reason why we have the best military in the world, by far.
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<p>Absolutely. Many academies around the world tend to bury embarassments without much resolution. I'm optimistic that this USAF academy can resolve this.</p>
<p>I considered saying that it was only a "handful" of individuals that had issues, but I couldn't. With 19% of the freshman class failing, and another ~1% under allegations of violating the academy's code, or have already violated the code, it seems to be a large problem.</p>