<p>From what I can gather, there is family pressure to do well in school, but they have been oblivious to what their child has been up to. No connections or big bucks--although that does play at our school as well. The parents were finally were called in the last time, or maybe it was the time before that. Son said that today the child denied having ISS, said it was a doctor's appointment yesterday. Today who knows? They could come to zero hour as ISS starts first block, so they did and pretended like nothing was different. I wonder if the parents even know. I think the ISS form must be signed by a parent, but a child that would cheat on a paper might fake a sig, too.</p>
<p>What is scary is that this child has been told point blank that taking the papers and stealing the answers is wrong, it is cheating. And yet, it happens again. My golly you would hope that the first time they were caught it might scare them! A child without a conscious. Maybe that is really what bothers me.</p>
<p>It's not worth sending a letter to UT - it won't matter none to them! UT automatically takes top ten percent. They won't notice if a few kids from your school district or school get expelled, and it won't hurt the acceptance chances of other kids from your school. That being said, it's sad that your school has done nothing to reprimand this kid. He/She should have been given a 0 in the class, and 3-day suspension the second occurence.</p>
<p>I used to wonder if these people ever got what they deserved, as I saw so many people skate by without consequences for bad behavior.</p>
<p>Lately, I've seen some people REALLY catch hell in their lives.....people who deserved it for YEARS....and the hell they caught was really, really serious.</p>
<p>So, I would say not to worry.......these people are building a lifetime of bad karma................ just keep your distance and you'll be fine.</p>
<p>Why shouldn't people cheat? Why should someone who just works a little harder or who is good at math get what he deserves? Why should they flourish because God gave them the gifts. Well, cheating is the gift men gave to themselves! It's not fair. Too bad! Life is not Fair!</p>
<p>Mstee, If I wrote my son's papers he'd be flunking out. </p>
<p>We had a situation recently with the son of a school board member who got some preferential treatment and "forgiveness" of bad behavior. My son and I had been discussing a newspaper article about teaching evolution when this story came on the news. His comment was "That boy will come back as pond scum." </p>
<p>Our teachers use that turn it in site and the word is that they've caught a lot of students. I have to believe most of these cheaters will get their due some day.</p>
<p>I teach at our large public HS. Have served for 2years on our inaugural Academic Integrity committee. We researched and found that over 70% of kids admit to having cheated. They don't see anything wrong with it, although they don't want to get caught. We have developed an honor code, etc., and are starting a pilot program with the software that checks assignments for plagiarism. My D says that this will not change so long as the popular kids think it's OK. (She also served on the committee and helped develop the code.) She has been taunted as a "stoolie" and "traitor." Not that she cares - she has never been one to care about what the other kids think. I have now caught the same upper class student cheating in my class, using freshmen's work. He is a terrific athlete, and thinks he can get away with anything. I sent him to the AP and the first time, he was told to come and ask me if I would still give him a grade on the quiz, since he admitted it. I said that I wouldn't because he wasn't going to get a grade and the other kid a zero. They were both equally as guilty. Today was the second time I caught him, and after I sent the 2 boys out to the AP's office, the kids said he does this in all his classes. Thankfully, his parents have been supportive, but last year when the chemistry students (a bunch) cheated on their projects, the teacher went through He***** and finally the pressure of parents worried about their kids not going to Harvard prevailed with the administration. Personally, I would have said no way, I won't give them a break. The names are listed, and they won't be able to get into Natl Honor Society, some were kicked out of drill team (the male athletes had to run a bit). Until the kids realize that "helping" their budy adversely affects their grades and class rank, this won't stop. Repercussions for actions are what it's all about. But when repercussions are minimal, then why shouldn't they take the easy way out? There was a news show about cheating and one of the Wal-Mart kids' ghost writer of papers in college spoke. She made a lot of money by doing this. (20K) Unfortunately, many parents come in threatening lawyers, etc., and the school district doesn't want to defend costly suits. There was also the case in the news last year of the kids who took their science fair projects off the internet. The teacher caught them, and since a high percentage of their grade for that report card period was the project a huge percentage of her kids failed. Even after much pressure from parents, and an appearance before the school board, she refused to change their grades. The school board overruled her, and passed all the kids. She quit. The kids who did not cheat were furious, because they were worried that the school's reputation would affect them adversely with adcoms. Some became home schooled.<br>
As to the GC'c letter, I feel sure it did not mention the cheating. The GC and school district are afraid of liability. It ws probably a stock letter. I would send a letter to the uni and if I knew what scholarships this student obtained that have not been reported, I would inform those affected. Sometimes justice has to come from the courageous ones. And you certainly don't need to give your name, just sign it, "an honest, concerned taxpayer."</p>
<p>Most kids refrain from cheating not only because they think it is wrong but also because they think that if they did cheat they might get caught. It takes a significant amount of self-discipline for a child to never cheat, especially if he knows that others are cheating and getting away with it. As a homeschooling parent, developing the character in my children to never cheat is difficult, particularly because there are times when it is easier for a homeschooler to get away with cheating than it would be for a child in school. (for example, a correcting manual may be lying around, etc.) There have been separate instances with 3 of my 4 kids that I have caught them cheating, and I have to use that as an opportunity to try to impress on them the value of doing something well (or even struggling to do it not as well) on your own. As with many behaviors, the key is to catch them and correct them when they are young.</p>
<p>My wife's friend, who was homeschooling her children, was grading a math assignment of her six year daughter. The child watched as the mother corrected the assignment, with all the answers perfectly correct. The child was then surprised when, seemingly out of the blue, her mother said to her, "Amanda, I think you have been cheating." The little girl confessed and cried, but did not understand how her Mom could have known that she copied the answers from the correcting manual. The question was to estimate the length of her foot, in inches. Her answer was just as it was written in the correcting manual: "Answers may vary." That incident happened about 6 years ago, and the family still ribs her occasionally about "Answers may vary." But they have impressed on their daughter that the cheating was bad not only because she got caught, but because it was not the right thing to do.</p>
<p>Just like cheating on your income taxes or FAFSA, etc., even if a significant percentage of others are doing it does not make it right. Fortunately we are Christians and I can tell my kids (similar to advice of chocoholic) that there will ultimately be justice (but not necessarily in our lifetimes).</p>
<p>There's nothing like swift, public justice to focus the attention of young minds in their formative stages. I interview prospective parents for our school, and so many of them are interested precisely because of the delineated standards of behavior. I tell them that it can seem harsh--someone is expelled nearly every other year--but it's not because there are a lot of bad kids there, just that there are some things the school will not tolerate: cheating, drugs on campus, stealing, violence. Everyone knows the rules, they are constantly reinforced, and when someone is kicked out, there is always a school meeting where the situation is explained to the kids. It can be a very hard thing as a member of the community to see this happen to someone you know, but the message is unmistakable: you can't do those things and be one of us. The group of seniors that were expelled for cheating (mentioned in an earlier post) included several key varsity athletes in the middle of a winning, possibly championship season. That was one heck of a message when, a week later, the assembled student body was told that these kids were no longer their classmates, and why.</p>
<p>I thought the way Harvard and some other schools handled the B-school applicants who used a website to "hack" the admissions results sent a similar, useful message.</p>
<p>driver - the students at your school know what's right, no mistake about that. Consequences for cheating benefit the cheater as much as the others in the school, if not more. It is sad when it happens, but it's so much sadder when cheating is ignored or excused.
The students at your school are lucky to have such unambivalent rules.</p>
<p>Ah, sweet Karma! We have learned that one of the scholarships, a 2.5K+ renewable, was revoked. Someone finally got some kahonas, or maybe they were worried that it would come back on them with their signature sitting on the bottom of the application and scholarship materials? Whatever it may be, it has been taken back. Apparently the mother came in and raised holy heck, while her child was sitting in ISS for cheating no less. So much for good reinforcement at home. </p>
<p>Ironically, this child is still sitting on a master teacher scholarship in the name of the old science department head. Ironic because the student has cheated (gotten caught red handed I should say, who knows just how far this cheating extends?) in not one, not two, but THREE AP science classes. Perhaps that will motivate the teachers not to turn a blind eye, when the potential for that award to lay in the hands of a flagrant cheater becomes reality.</p>
<p>This is just the beginning...even if the scholarships left are not revoked, the story will get around. It shows other kids that there are consequences, and while something may not happen right away. it will catch up with you. </p>
<p>What you wanna bet there will be more fallout. And if this mother keeps raising a stink, it would only hurt her child. And the world is very small, word gets around, and this will come back to said student and bite them in the behind...</p>
<p>This is nothing new, and the attitude that it's okay is nothing new, either. I once--some twenty years ago--had two guys who were on the football team at the uni where I was teaching freshman lit analysis. They sat at the same discussion table. One was proficient at writing; one was not. A paper came due, and they turned in the same paper in the same class, with just the order of two paragraghs switched. Understand: this class had only 23 people in it. How stupid could I be??</p>
<p>When I called them on it after class, the one who had rather innocently allowed the other to read his paper to "get an idea of what to do" meekly accepted the zero and my demand that they rewrite in class. The one who had copied without the writer's knowledge rushed me and tried to attack me physically. Fortunately, he was the smaller of the two. The more intelligent football player held him back, and I lived to teach another day.</p>
<p>There were also no consequences from the football coach/program (gee whiz!)</p>
<p>the rise of cheating is dramatic and horrible. It's a terrible thing for our kids and a very bad thing for society in general, when cheaters are allowed to win without consequences.</p>
<p>I think it would be better - and easier on the school administrators - if each school had a published and well-known policy to deal with these issues. Without a standardized policy, the students and parents all seem surprised and outraged when consequences are applied.</p>
<p>Just as when we were raising our kids, it's better that kids understand clearly what is expected; and when they do not abide by the rules, what will - not may, but will - happen. Then when the parents raise holy hell, the admiistrators can say they cannot overset the rules for individuals. Will this stop all the outrage and keep the parents from complaining? No. will it cause backbones to grow in administration spines ? No. But it would make it easier for them to enforce the rules when not doing so is itself a violation of policy.</p>
<p>So one major constructive action would be to advocate a clear and well advertised policy of behavior and consequences.</p>
<p>Great story ctymomteacher!<br>
My daughter learned an important lesson about "sharing ideas", when the assignment is supposted to represent individual effort, in the third grade.</p>
<p>The school district where she went to elementary school has an annual poetry contest, with one winner for each grade level in an 11- school district. Her teacher assigned the poem entry as a class assignment, and all students in the class were required to enter a poem. ( I never agreed with this approach, but that's another topic.) My D was working away on her poem when the little girl sitting next to her announced that she couldn't think of anything to write. My D suggested that she write a poem about dolphins. The little girl sat a bit longer and then said to her, " But I can't think of anything to say about them." At this point my D rattled off four simple lines describing dolphin behavior in rather colorful prose.
The girl wrote it down immediately and turned it in. My D continued with her long and (too) elaborate poem, turned it in, convinced that it could be a winner.</p>
<p>You no doubt know how this tale turned out. The little girl won the contest for the third grade for the entire district, and had the honor of reading the four line poem about dolphins during a community event. My D was dumbfounded...too stunned to even be upset. ("But it wasn't even a very good poem!" )</p>
<p>Ever since, her work is hers and no one else's.</p>
<p>Interestingly, I served on our inaugural Academic Integrity Committee and drafted the Honor Code for our HS. We wear t-shirts that say "In a school full of tigers, there is no room for cheat-ahs" WE have the code, but when I talked to the AP about this situation, I was asked whether or not the assignment was a daily or quiz or test grade. There was no additional penalty for it being a second offense in 4 weeks! I reported this to the head of the committee who spoke to the P about it, and there will be a meeting to determine what teachers want and will include parents. If there is no agreement on the punishment, then there is no need for an Honor Code.</p>
<p>I actually have seen a case recently in my school that revealed a bumble-headed cheater for what he was! A kid was to write a research paper in a history class about some relatively recent event . . .so he chose something about Vietnam. He literally cut and pasted the entire thing from the Internet, complete with "click on the picture" and "I am a Cambodian refuge. My grandparents were killed in the war." and "Refer to the picture on the right." He HADN'T EVEN READ THE PAPER BEFORE TURNING IT IN." The fonts were different! </p>
<p>What was so priceless is that the teacher made the kid stand up in front of the class to read the paper out loud, and he had no idea those references were in the paper! When he got to the part about being a Cambodian refuge, he said "Uh, do I really have to go on?" And the teacher said, "Yes! We are fascinated! Do go on!" </p>
<p>We have an in-school TV network, and he then had to read the paper to the entire school. I hope they learned something!!!</p>
<p>My favorite story of a caught cheater was one who passed an exceptionally well written paper on Germany between the wars. So well written in fact that the footnotes were in German.</p>