<p>Texastaximom, I am livid for you. I cannot even believe the lack of action by the principal! What is wrong with that woman? In what city do you live? The reason I ask, is it a small town with political ties between the school and others? I got the impression you thought the newspaper and/or t.v. news wouldn't do a story even if apprised of the situation. It sounds like a who-knows-who thing and "let's sweep this under the rug". It's so very unfair to the students who actually worked for their grades. Kudos to you for taking the bull by the horn and attempting to bring justice to this cheater.</p>
<p>Write an anonymous letter to a reporter for the local paper - make it a "tip," and specify the letter is not to be used as a letter to the editor. And understand that due to privacy laws, the school will not be able to reveal the student's discipline history to the reporter.</p>
<p>Sorry texast-mom that your S is involved in this mess. I think your actions with regard to the school board and superintendent were appropriate given that your S's work was used. I hope the school board and/or superintendent will be able to get to the bottom of this with the principal and that appropriate measures are taken before graduation to reflect the facts as applies to the cheater.</p>
<p>I hope that your S's graduation ceremony will remain respectful. You really don't want to come away from the ceremony with a bad feeling about the event. I realize you'll feel awful (as will your S) about the awards the cheater receives, but an expression of disdain is not what you want to remember about this important day (black balloons, etc.). Take the high road. While it feels like a kick in the gut now, your S (and the other students) will have their self-respect. And, as it's said, that is priceless.</p>
<p>D will be a New Student Counselor in the fall. Perhaps your S will be in her group!</p>
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Am I the only one who wonders how it is that students have access to the work of others or the answer keys to tests at a time before they have turned in their own work?</p>
<p>I realize that where there is a will, there is a way, but sometimes these incidents make you feel like there ought to be a little common preventative sense used. Then you don't end up in these situations (as often).
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<p>Yeah...why don't the teachers lock the assignments in a filing cabinet after they are turned in?</p>
<p>Will this kid flunk high school if the superentident does something? If so, Nelson Muntz says: Ha Ha.</p>
<p>I just saw a show on CNN last night about the standardized test cheating scandal at Wesley Texas. Elementary school kids were routinely given the answers while taking standardized tests. This thread was started by Texastaximom.... presumably form Texas. It is possible that a lot of the kids at her local HS were educated in a culture that condones cheating. The person who protests and exposes the scandal (The OP for example) is ruining it for everyone else!</p>
<p>It seems like many of the responses are along the lines of... wait til the board of ed finds out. Maybe they are already familiar with the local culture.</p>
<p>here is a recent story:</p>
<p>Turn your backs at graduation? Release "black baloons"? How petty and melodramatic; there's a line between indignant and vindictive.</p>
<p>It is NOT your place, as parents, to express your personal offense to the individual student, nor can you pass judgment on his character or motive; leave the "punishment" to the social dynamic of your childrens' high school, and direct your ADULT attention to the appropriate and legitimate source: the school administration.</p>
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It is NOT your place, as parents, to express your personal offense to the individual student, nor can you pass judgment on his character or motive; leave the "punishment" to the social dynamic of your childrens' high school, and direct your ADULT attention to the appropriate and legitimate source: the school administration.
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<p>I don't see why not. She or he did it so they get what they deserve. What did they think was going to happen? I wonder if this person has friends. They will be very lonely on graduation night....</p>
<p>For anyone to answer--If this student gets away with this and goes to the university, aren't they filling someone else place? Since a university can only accept so many a year, they accepted this student and turned away an honest one with perhaps less EC's, slightly lower scores or GPA, etc, right? I don't know...?</p>
<p>Of course they are filling someone else's space. Universities usually don't want to accept students who are cheaters.</p>
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I don't see why not. She or he did it so they get what they deserve. What did they think was going to happen? I wonder if this person has friends. They will be very lonely on graduation night....
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For anyone to answer--If this student gets away with this and goes to the university, aren't they filling someone else place? Since a university can only accept so many a year, they accepted this student and turned away an honest one with perhaps less EC's, slightly lower scores or GPA, etc, right? I don't know...?
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I agree with you completely. Cheating shouldn't be swept under the rug and ignored. Those who know the truth have no obligation to acknowledge the ill-gotten gains of a cheater. I see nothing wrong with sitting quietly and refraining from any type of acknowledgement. Admittedly, I do not think I could refrain from a bit of eye-rolling.</p>
<p>Of course people get away with cheating. As they do with theft, rape, assault, and even murder. It does happen. You do not have to applaud anyone at a ceremony. If you have a personal reason not to do so, so be it. But do keep in mind, most schools will have kids in the audience who but for the luck of the draw could have been expelled from the school for cheating, lying, plaguerizing, taking drugs, drinking, stealing. They just did not get caught. Or they got caught and whoever caught them chose to let it go. Sometimes that is the only slim difference between someone who gets into trouble and someone who does not. The fact that YOU or EVERYONE knows about this transgression is not the driving force for the punishment but the decision of the person whose job it is to deal justice in this situation.</p>
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Of course they are filling someone else's space. Universities usually don't want to accept students who are cheaters.
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<p>Did the Guidance Counselor know about this? I don't see how this kid was accepted.</p>
<p>Sometimes you do not get the whole story. The cheater, or whatever transgression a kid did may well get reported to a college. With a mea culpe letter attached, colleges often will not renege on the admissions offer. They do get a number of these each year, and they are judged on a case by case basis. Or the school may have just decided not to act upon this specific case for any number of reasons. There could be some very technical issues that make it a case not worth pursuing. Or the school could be just plain lazy. It happens.</p>
<p>I find nothing wrong with not celebrating this kids victory. Why be gracious and say, oh well, And the ceremony is already tainted anyway. Not saying to release black balloons. Jst don't applaud or inlucde student in photos etc. Its not like it a suprise or anything.</p>
<p>Well maybe the professors will nail his or her butt in the Fall at the university for cheating on exams/buying a paper/etc.</p>
<p>What gets me through the day is KARMA....sometimes we are powerless but that doesn't mean we are have to be accepting and tolerate. I think an adult can display displeasure with a cheater. THat person cheated and doesn't care. If they don't even get dirty disapproving looks, then they think no one cares, and obvioislly a lot of people do.</p>
<p>It just slays me that this student gets a slap on the wrist for multiple incidents of cheating, yet today a HS junior in Columbus GA was suspended for the rest of the school year for failing to hang up his cellphone during his lunch hour when instructed to do so by a teacher. Oh, by the way, he was on the phone with his mother, who is stationed in Iraq. She called him during his lunch hour and he stepped out to the doorway. He has been living with a guardian since she was deployed in January.</p>
<p>Also in today's news, a Physics teacher in Gwinnett County, GA (home of the "runaway bride") was fired for refusing to change the grade he had given to a student athlete who had fallen asleep in his class. This teacher has had a 10 year policy of having consequences for students who are "wasting time in class", and from what I've picked up on the radio throughout the day, students are advised of his policies at the outset of school, and, I believe, are expected to sign a form acknowledging this. This teacher has implemented his policy several times during the year, but the only parent to complain (according to a local talkshow host) was the parent of the football player. And who got the consequence? The student?? Noooo, the teacher. More than 200 students showed up at the school board meeting last night in support of the teacher, and there has been an outpouring of support from all over the country.... </p>
<p>Each of these stories speaks to accountability, but in different ways. I cannot believe that the school system in Tx does not have an honor code in place. If it does, the student, the principal and the administration should be accountable. </p>
<p>Texastaximom-- if the newspaper won't publish it, why not try the local radio stations? Perhaps you can talk in generalities about the similarities and differences between the way the schools in Ga and TX handle honor code violations. Geez, really...<br>
The good news is, it looks like the media attention has been very helpful for the Physics teacher. And thank HEAVENS is has diverted the media away from going on ad nauseum about Jennifer Wilbanks (the runaway bride)!</p>
<p>I will try to post the links to these 2 news articles, but you might need to fill out a brief, free registration on the Atlanta Journal/Constitution website to open them. (I tried to find other links to them, but was unsuccessful)
<a href="http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/gwinnett/0505/06neace.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/gwinnett/0505/06neace.html</a>
<a href="http://www.ajc.com/search/content/metro/0505/06suspended.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.ajc.com/search/content/metro/0505/06suspended.html</a></p>
<p>When I was in high school, my family was involved in a civil law suit concerning an injury I suffered at a local amusement facility. During the course of the trial, family who took us to the facility lied about what had happened, but the other girl who went told the same story I did. This family had some serious financial problems which magically dissolved around this time. The daughter of the family (who also lied on the stand) was quite popular, and she became yearbook queen. As she walked down the aisle in the auditorium, everyone around me stood and applauded, but I, of course, did not. I knew enough not to belabor the issue with others, she was popular, I was one of the smart kids, etc. It was disillusioning for me, but whether it meant anything to anyone else, I am clueless. I guess I am saying that public arenas are not the place for active displays of disapproval, though passive is not inappropriate. The behavior of the protestor winds up being the bigger issue than the protested's deeds.</p>
<p>I don't see why you parents are particularly picking on that one person, how do you know that your own children do not cheat? I mean I go to a Jesuit Catholic high school, morality considered utmost for these schools and cheating is extremely rampant among the smartest of kids (thank god not among the valedictorian or salutadorian) but these kids numbering near 30 out of 200 are never ratted out on, and I don't rat on them in the fear of social repirations (as sad as it is to my moral goals).One senior was found cheating by my previous math teacher and a history teacher because he ranted about cheating, he is in the top 10% of th class with a 96 GPA(NOT EASY AT MY SCHOOL, AT ALL, AT ALL), despite it being on his transcript, despite getting kicked out of NHS, he still cheats and has been accepted into Boston University and NYU. LEsson is cheaters win and I always tell them "don't do it, you're better than that" they don't give a darn then why should I? I always ask them that, and I pray to the Lord that God will always keep me this way.</p>