<p>Nothing that the OP has written indicates that he thought it was allowable to help with his friend’s take home test.</p>
<p>From the OP’s original post: “Hi. This yr I was involved in a cheating scandal with 2 other friends. Basically, I helped another kid on his take-home test. This kid (Kid A) also sought help from another kid (kid B). Kid A sought help because the teacher did not teach the material. I knew how to do it and helped him. We were caught and all of us were suspended.”</p>
<p>Seems that the implication is that the OP didn’t expect to get caught.</p>
<p>We also don’t know if the teacher was incompetent. All we have is the OP’s word about this. We also don’t know why the principal lifted the suspensions of the other students. What the OP told us was at least 2nd hand info.</p>
<p>If my kid were in this mess, I wouldn’t be going with him to talk to the principal, and I certainly wouldn’t be playing the race card or whining that a suspension might hurt my kid’s college chances. My kids have always known that my H and I would go to the mat for them when they were in the right, but if they screwed up, my kids would have to take the consequences.</p>
<p>As a result, both of my sons got some low grades – Ds, Fs – due to tardiness that was because they didn’t get out of bed on time. Unlike their friends’ parents, H and I wouldn’t lie and send them to school with notes that they had been sick.</p>
<p>I successfully argued for a grade change for one S because he indeed had an incompetent teacher who had no rubric, but assigned grades willy nilly. I was able to win that argument with the principal because I had never tried to keep my kids from being held accountable by the school for their mistakes.</p>
<p>I’d rather have one of my kids learn a tough lesson when they are young – even if that causes them to miss out on going to the best college that they could – than for them to grow into adulthood without a sense of ethics.</p>
<p>I still don’t get how working on a take home test with someone is unethical. Must just be my school. . . seriously. Maybe I’m just crazy, but I don’t think the OP did anything wrong in working on a take home test with someone else.</p>
<p>If I were you, I would not go alone. There is a lot at stake and there should be adults (parents) in with you to be supportive, to assist you and to listen to the other adult(s). I am assuming you are a minor. If perchance there is some sort of written/legal agreement to be signed, you as a minor might not be permitted to sign it. The principal may also choose to have other staff in attendance in the meeting with him/her, and you should be permitted to have your parents there. That said, they should be supportive, but you should all listen calmly to what the principal has to say. If he/she asks questions, you should, as others said, be open, apologetic and contrite. But the consequences should be fair and equal to all involved. If you feel that this is not the case, you can mention that you may wish to discuss this with legal counsel, but I would NOT threaten or play the race card. Maintain your decorum and respect. </p>
<p>I think all the motherly lectures are unnecessary. I don’t think it matters if he knew what he was doing was wrong or if he feels bad about it. I think he wants to know how to get out of it.</p>
<p>If the principal does not lift the suspension after the OP shows regret, promises to not pull something like this again, maybe starts crying, etc., the race card is the way to go. If the suspension is not lifted, something is probably wrong with the way the principal percieves each student. Because of the inconsistency, any reason can be substituted in. Difference in infraction? They all cheated, in fact I think the one that gets helped should be punished more. Difference in response? They probably all would hint at some regret, so no difference there. Difference in principal’s opinions of individual students? BINGO. Maybe the OP is smarter, maybe the principal hates the OP’s last name, maybe the principal just hates the way the OP dresses. The fact is, this would constitute some form of unjust discrimination. Which discrimination charge would be most effective: clothes discrimination? intelligence? Those things are all on a relative and insignificant scale. Race? Yes. Not only are the student’s races visibly different, but race is an issue that will make a principal very afraid. Even if you just threatened to go to the superintendent or contact the local news, any racism publicity is bad publicity. His job is on the line. What’s on the line for you? Getting on your principal’s bad side? A rec that might be slightly less positive? If you don’t do this, as someone else said, you have the cancerous suspension on your record. To give you some evidence of that magnitude: you can get your acceptance rescinded for a suspension, but you won’t get your acceptance rescinded for getting on your principal’s bad side. </p>
<p>If you bring your parents in, that will only add more authority to your accusations (you don’t want to make this seem like a bluff). And it really shouldn’t be a bluff. It can be argued that the principal not only is a racist, but allows that to influence administrative proceedings.</p>
<p>I’m hopeful and confident that the situation will not get this far and that the principal is calling you in to ask you if you learned your lesson and then removes the suspension. But, as cliche as it is, you have to hope for the best, prepare for the worst.</p>
<p>Edit: And maybe, like jym mentioned, don’t play the race card but say you will ask around with lawyers and bring this issue to the superintendent. The race card may make you seem desperate and looking for a way out.</p>
<p>GammaGrozza your post highlights the problem with behavior like this on the part of administrators. Inconsistency in enforcing the rules inherently undermines and illegetimatizes their moral foundation. For this reason, at Stanford the Fundamental Standard prevents Professors from applying penalty grading (aka lowering a kids grade because they cheated) or encouraging cheating students to drop the class. To be in accordance with the Fundamental Standard a Professor must report all suspected cases of cheating to the Office of Judicial affairs and let them deal with it. If Professors were allowed latitude to give punishments or something else similar that would inherently lead to subjective punishments (one kid may be advised to drop while another gets sent to judicial affairs=suspension for a quarter) which counters the whole idea of having an honor code. Tbh, regardless of race or anything else, unless there’s something that we don’t know that makes the OP’s behavior worse than the others, the Principal should either annul all their suspensions or reinstate them all. Nothing worse than inconsistency when it comes to administration IMO.</p>
<p>Also, bring your parents OP, issues of this gravity when regarding your future are not to be handled by 17 year olds alone.</p>
<p>If the OP and his two fellow-students were all being punished for cheating, I would never in a million years suggest that he do anything to get out of the consequences let alone “play the race card.” The problem here is that the other two kids (including the kid who used the OP’s illicit help to achieve a higher grade) have had their punishment revoked. This would be troubling no matter what the races of the three kids, but the fact that the two kids who had their punishment revoked are white while the OP, whose punishment remains, is a minority kid, raises some disturbing questions. </p>
<p>If the other two kids who cheated had their punishment reinstated, I’d be perfectly fine with the situation. But if the other two remain free from consequences that the OP must bear alone, it seems to me appropriate for his family to play any card they want. Or for them to find an advocate to play the card for them. It’s America; it’s a public school; the school must have a written policy on consequences for cheating; it’s not OK to apply that policy differently to students who commit the same infraction in a way that appears to correlate with race.</p>