<p>taxguy said: "Although we have all heard the saying,"crime doesn't pay," we were wrong."</p>
<p>Sorry my friend but you're wrong. If you stop worrying about other people's problems you will come to realize that by seeing this student, and not imitating his actions, you are strengthening your integrity as a person on this Earth. This integrety will take you far in life. So make good about the situation, and don't complain about the bad.</p>
<p>Don't complain about the bad? What does the mean? Do we ignore when people do bad things? If that was the case, our world would be in an even bigger mess.</p>
<p>Complaining and trying to fix this is basically what our country was based on. not trying to be hyperbolic, but if people just said, well, let them cheat, it don't matter, I am the better person, that is wrong. </p>
<p>Integrity is also doing the right thing and not ignoring injustice. Intergrity is not jsut for the self.</p>
<p>I say its great to complain. Many things have been made better because people complained. And followed through. Sitting back while wrongs are done is very self invovled and uncaring, imo.</p>
<p>An essential but often overlooked part of most honor codes is that students will report to the honor council any cheating they witness. Often students fail to do this because they don't want to be a snitch, but here we have a case where the administration is not upholding the honor code.</p>
<p>What goes around does come around - just not in the time frame that you would have liked (before graduation). This will come around in the form of diminished respect from classmates. Many people have long memories, and, as my grandfather likes to say, there are only 700 people in the world, so you should watch out. Years from now, the gut reaction of an old classmate to seeing the cheater will be, "So you're the one who cheated, got suspended, and still got away with it."</p>
<p>Sad part is, sometimes those people don't care if people dislike them or wha they did, did blow it off- saying they are jsut jealous. They haven't cared yet, or so it appears.</p>
<p>Aries, it is so true. When I was an undergrad, I worked at the student center, and one of the student managers was a thief. He would steal from the cash register and give his buddies freebies. We all knew he was doing this,but catching him directly was not easy. Finally, a trap was set, he was caught and fired. At my 30 year reunion, several people remembered the guy and what he did. What a thing to be remembered for in college! I found out he became an accountant; I knew he had been successful some years ago, at least financially. Well, he got into big trouble for cheating, embezzling, stealing, I found out. When cheating become the acceptable way for a person, it is just too difficult to avoid that shortcut, as life does become more complex, the stakes harder, and sometimes the low road is the much quicker way out of a nasty predicament. And there is that risk that you get caught. I know when I heard that this person was doing so well 15 years ago when I was struggling with my own life, financially and with other issues, it did hurt some. It took a few years longer, but his tendencies did get him into trouble again. And the gut reaction was just as you say, Aries.</p>
<p>I definitely agree that something will come around, eventually. My goal is to prevent this scenario from happening again. The school needs a policy for academic infractions, plain and simple. It needs to be even handed, and implemented in the same manner each time. This is something our district just can't seem to grasp, given the way kids who violate the drug policy are treated.</p>
<p>I have read every post on this thread - I would like to put my vote in that Texastaximom is definitely on the right track. Try to fix the loopholes that allowed this student to get away with this. While grossly unfair, trying to bring one student to justice will likely not happen at this late time. The really sad thing about this is that the adults involved in this process have not done this student any favors. We are here to HELP our children/students build character and make their way in life. If there are no consequences for your actions, then one just goes through life thinking that anything goes and the bad behaviour will likely continue. One of these days these adults will have to face that they are partially responsible when this young lady goes to jail because she never learned right from wrong because she faced no consequences for wrong. I have a really close friend that is a teacher and she ALWAYS gives zeros for cheating. She said that the only time she ever relented and didn't give the zero (the cheating was a little harder to prove this one time), the child continued to cheat. She says she will never let a cheater get by again. She said that in every single instance where she gave the zero - the cheating stopped and the student was much better in the long run. She has even had students THANK her for turning them around! However - she is the middle school principal in a private school and while the parents wield a lot of power - she is so respected and liked that she wins in those type of situations. I find that public schools (D1 is in public, D2 is in private - partly because of the impotence of public school officials) are much less likely to punish for this kind of thing. Our country is going to you-know-where-in-a-hand-basket!</p>
<p>confidential - your definition of integrity makes me ROLOL! in a sad sort of way... FYI - the Amer Heritage Dict defines integrity as the "steadfast adherence to a strict moral or ethical code."</p>
<p>history does not teach one to turn away when something is wrong, but rather to stand up for what is right. or am i missing something?</p>
<p>I will admit that letting this student escape is easier for me...my son had his answers lifted, but he did not miss out on any opportunties because of this student's actions. There are, however, vicitms here. The student that should have gotten the scholarship, the student that lost the top ten percent auto admit by one person, the student just bumped out of the top ten honor grad position. Those kids DID lose opportunties because of the cheater. </p>
<p>And so, my goal is to make sure that starting with next year there is a policy in place that makes sure that cheating is dealt with in a systematic manner. If you do A, then B. It doesn't matter who you are or what class you do it in. Perhaps we will finally have honor grads who are honorable. </p>
<p>With any luck, the cheater will be taught at the next level that cheating is wrong, and that you cannot cheat habitually and get away with it.</p>
<p>I totally agree texastaximom...she isn't just complaining, either, she is stepping up and doing what is right. This will help her son, he will learn that you can work to make things right, and doing the right thing, even if it doesn't directly benefit you, shows even more intergrity. </p>
<p>You go, girl!!</p>