<p>What if Jeffrey Skilling had been caught earlier? You know, with his lack of ethics, borne by a cheating personality that was probably promoted all through is life. If his denied admission to Harvard had been rescinded, he probably would not have caused hundreds of thousands of people to lose their jobs.</p>
<p>The accountants at Arthur Andersen? Yup, that little under-the-table bookkeeping was a one-time affair. And when you threaten to get caught -- quickly COVER IT UP!</p>
<p>So, let the OP get away with it. Teach him such a light lesson, softened by all his privilege, that when he gets his job or whatever and gets caught again, "helping" a friend "manage" the books, he knows what excuse to make: "Have mercy, it was only a one-time incident!"</p>
<p>And the purpose of this thread was to offer advice to the OP. He said he knew what he did was wrong, and yet you and Duper come in here and just make him feel worse and tell him things he is already aware of. </p>
<p>Oh yes you are the ideal citizen. Please....</p>
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yes. first time a 5 year old child looks at the paper of his neighbor.
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<p>The OP isn't a five-year-old.</p>
<p>He is a smart individual, around eighteen years old, with all his personality traits formed, and probably with circumstances that are well-favoured by society. His niche has been carved out for him. He has also displayed that he has virtually no ethical or moral qualms. </p>
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he made a mistake! your going to tell me you've never made one?
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<p>I've made academic mistakes. I've procrastinated. Once, I got a D for a class. I bombed the AP Electricity and Magnetism exam.</p>
<p>Those are mistakes. I'm determined to correct them.</p>
<p>Cheating however, is of an entirely different nature. How is cheating a minor mistake? If it is a "mistake," it is one of malicious and malevolent deception. To call it a mistake is an insult to all the other kids who have worked hard and would be horrified by the idea of cheating. To most kids, you would have to put a gun to their head to get them to cheat. That is why I said that cheating is comparable to killing someone -- you have to overcome immense psychological and ethical barriers to do either.</p>
<p>(LIKE YOU KNOW, BRINGING A PHONE INTO THE AP EXAM. WHO IN THEIR RIGHT MIND WOULD DO THAT IF THEY DIDN'T HAVE MALICIOUS INTENTIONS. ON TOP OF THAT, ACTIVELY DECEIVING THE INVIGILATOR, AND ONE'S CLASSMATES. ONE-TIME INCIDENT PUH-LEESE.)</p>
<p>I'm not addressing the OP directly, only the facetious claims that this is only a "one-time" incident.</p>
<p>It is impossible, with the arrogance and the impudence required to cheat on an AP exam, that this was a one-time incident. In all likelihood, it was likely a culmination of a long strong of previous incidents that were never caught.</p>
<p>I don't even totally support the idea of rescindence. If the OP's truly scared out of his wits, then I might even be sympathetic to the idea of not rescinding him. </p>
<p>What I disliked, and what I targeted, was the statement that went, "OMG, there's no way Penn should rescind him for this -- if they do I will lose all respect for Penn." Such statements reflect very poorly on the speaker's values. kingofqueens in particular called the idea of rescindence "idiotic". </p>
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<p>I'm sure this reflects especially well on the aforementioned poster's intelligence.</p>
<p>I'm sorry for sounding brusque, but *** is going on with all the "cheating on standardized tests" posts?!? I had no idea people actually did stuff like this! Let's examine the operative word: STANDARDIZED!!! Meaning everyone has the same chance as everyone else! My only question to you all is what if the people who posted this stuff actually GOT AWAY WITH IT? I'll bet you all wouldn't be so quick to "go easy on them because they knew what they did was wrong". And why would you actually ASK if you were going to be rescinded? Don't you think you DESERVE to be rescinded? I know everyone says "it's just one mistake and everyone makes mistakes", but this is a pretty awful "mistake" to make! You knew the consequences, you knew you were probably going to get caught, you knew that thousands of other kids were taking the test honestly, you knew your friend didn't deserve the advantage....in my book that's a pretty BIG mistake!</p>
<p>kingofqueens and co.:
galoisien is not in the least bit insane. i'm glad there are people like him to say the things that he does, given that the moral standards of our society seem to be continually decaying along with emphases on academic integrity.</p>
<p>galoisien:
this is not really the place to be making huge, extrapolative statements about human nature and evil in the world. the OP just wanted some advice, not a moral lesson telling him he is doomed to become a bad person because of a single instance of poor judgment at age 18. After all, the frontal cortex (region of the brain which regulates decision-making and risk analysis) does not fully develop until about age 25, so there is hope after all for the OP that he may very well learn something from this experience. </p>
<p>Your instant condemnation was slightly troubling; hasn't there ever been a single instance in your life where you have done something that you feel ashamed of?</p>
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the curve for AP tests, or any CB test for that matter, does NOT depend on how well everyone in the nation does. the curve is set BEFOREHAND, thus the definition of STANDARDIZED (same grading standards for everyone).
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This may be true for SATs, but AP scores are based on how well everyone in the nation does.</p>
<p>I hate to break it to you but I think you're screwed.
This kid I know cheated on his AP test and it was reported. He was rescinded from Harvard, Stanford...now attends Duke. Best of luck...hope you have safeties.</p>
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Your instant condemnation was slightly troubling; hasn't there ever been a single instance in your life where you have done something that you feel ashamed of?
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<p>I'm not instantly condemning the OP -- I'm just saying that as far as perspective goes, rescindence from an Ivy is rather light punishment compared to say .... jail time, if this sort of attitude doesn't get corrected in time. ("It's nothing, I was only helping a friend!") Again, I might be sympathetic to the idea of not rescinding him if he's truly scared out of his wits. </p>
<p>My real condemnation was more towards the people in this thread like kingofqueens, who said that "cheating is take [sic] way too seriously." I really had to roll my eyes at that point. I'm certainly far from being a Javert. But I was only putting the problem of cheating in perspective. </p>
<p>If at 18 you start with "helping" friends on AP tests, what happens when you're 36 and you're a major partner in an accounting firm?</p>
<p>Almost every student in my grade cheats. Students taking rigorous course loads of 7 AP classes, students in the top 1% of the graduating class. Cheating takes place everyday at the majority of high schools. It will always happen, learn to deal with it. I'm sure your father cheated in high school galoisien, therefore he should be stripped of his job, fair?...I think not. Stem it at its source...give me a break. You are absolutely ridiculous.</p>
<p>lol if he had a cheating problem then he wouldn't really end up as a major partner in an accounting firm, now would he?</p>
<p>youre assuming that he's not gonna cheat all throughout college and beyond, then one day BOOM he's gonna make a horribly wrong decision ALL because of something he did back in highschool.</p>
<p>wow, when i have kids, i better tell them not to do anything bad in highschool, or else theyre gonna regret it 20 years later (but in between its all good)!</p>
<p>and this is all ignoring the fact that your "once a cheater, always a cheater" belief is ridiculously wrong.</p>
<p>You privileged kids with your wealth and private schools are absolutely ridiculous, oh please.</p>
<p>My father was a scumbag (if you want to know the details of my parents' divorce), but he was an immigrant from Malaysia who, as far as I know, taught himself the principles of electronics and UNIX, out in a **ing duck farm near Penang**.</p>
<p>Oh please. I'm sure my father cheated in high school -- THE ****ING HIGH SCHOOL DIDN'T EVEN EXIST.</p>
<p>Only you idiotic wealthy kids make such bigoted assumptions like that. You think that because all your life you've been afforded the comforts of privileged education (including having proctors who intentionally slack on the job to give all you wealthy kids an edge), that everyone has the benefit of studying that way. Newsflash: not everyone has had the same luxury as you. Everybody cheats .... well, everyone who has the privilege to do so, that is. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, we poor public schoolers have to suffer teachers who actually have morals -- the type who never slack on their invigilating duty. Can you imagine?!!</p>
<p>Now your stereotyping us all as wealthy private schoolers? well evidently I know just as much about your father as you know about me. I do go to a public school, and no i would not consider my family wealthy. Lets say your father did go to highschool and DID cheat, would you consider him as low as you think tyball is?</p>
<p>*<strong><em>Oh sorry, I meant all of us posters do go to private school! And we have lots and lots of money! We take baths in it sometimes!</em></strong></p>
<p>hell yea my public school teachers LOVE to let us cheat! i even get extra credit if i prove to my teachers that over 60% of my test was copied off someone.</p>