<p>A top student in our class was caught cheating on an AP Bio exam - the teacher threatened to give every student a zero on the exam if the person responsible doesn't confess by Friday - everyone knows its her. It is pretty big news amongst most kids as there are tons of seniors taking AP Bio and their grades are all at risk because of her - people are upset. I can understand.</p>
<p>However, I was the only one who expressed any sort of concern or pity - she is in a terrible place right now and the situation could mean tons of colleges revoking her current acceptance or rejecting her come this March. She has cheated in the past - many people have always been upset with her as they think she has unrightfully earned distinctions such as VP of NHS and a place in the top 10 students when she has always cheated in every class. I was talking to one girl who was nearly foaming at the mouth, hoping, praying, that she confesses and it all blows up in her face and she ends up getting rejected/rescinded everywhere. </p>
<p>I kinda just feel bad for everyone involved. Including the girl. </p>
<p>How do you feel about cheaters? Do you have any sympathy or do they often deserve their fate? </p>
<p>I don’t like cheaters. Do I ever tell if I see someone cheat? No, because I do feel that’s being a tattle-tale and somewhat pointless. I think it’s terrible ethics to cheat, and below my values. I would never cheat. </p>
<p>Yeah, she should have her acceptances rescinded. </p>
<p>I definitely think cheating is wrong and there’s no excuse for it, but sometimes it’s just a single stupid mistake and the person shouldn’t be vilified for it. I have a lot less sympathy if it’s a way of life for her and she’s gotten away with it multiple times before. I can appreciate that this experience sucks for her and the fact that she deserves it doesn’t make it suck any less, but I don’t exactly feel bad. </p>
<p>I probably have a minority opinion on this, but I believe that cheating is a tactic. It comes with a lot of risk, but if you are clever enough to do it and get away with it (without hurting others in the process) then you deserve the success. Although the risk is too great for me, I do not have a problem with those who do it and succeed.</p>
<p>That said, if it blows up then they do deserve it. She most definitely knew what would happen if she got caught. This time she was not clever enough and she lost the game. The consequences are hers. I do feel pity for her, but she was the one who decided to take the risk…</p>
<p>If you don’t get caught you deserve the A or whatever and if you get caught then you do deserve the consequences that come with it. That’s my motto anyways. </p>
<p>I also get a lot of people asking to copy or test answers and I usually give it to them. </p>
<p>No sympathy. Especially since its a repeat offense. If it was a one time mistake - then fine, she was just being stupid, and maybe now she’s sorry. But its repetitive. No pity. Maybe mercy (…maybe…) but no pity. Cheaters get what they have coming to them.</p>
<p>At my school there would probably be a tar and feathering session - I side with the girl you said is foaming at the mouth. I would never want my grade and my GPA (and therefore the possible rescinding of scholarships) to be at the mercy of a cheater and a liar.</p>
<p>The way she was cheating was so bizarre - she had a device quietly reading off vocab words but the device read off five of the words REALLY loudly and everyone heard, including the teacher, who had a feeling it was the girl but couldn’t pinpoint it exactly. </p>
<p>I would so tell on the cheater in a heart beat. I have had enough bad happen in my life. But I am not going to mess up everyone else’s lives to cover my own butt. </p>
<p>If the cheater was caught cheating, why would the teacher ask who it was? I don’t really care about cheaters as long as they don’t bother me or affect my grade in the class. Let the cheater cheat and hope s/he gets caught but if s/he doesn’t get caught, then lucky for the cheater. Everyone cheats but it’s always the high achievers that cheat the most. I know several people who go to Ivy Leagues and there are some that cheated once or twice and there are some that cheated throughout high school.</p>
<p>The teacher knows with 99.9% certainty that it was the girl - the teacher wants the confession as proof and as a way to force the girl to openly accept responsibility for her actions by going to the teacher and saying outright that she cheated rather than just getting reprimanded. </p>
<p>@SwaggyC - She has <em>almost</em> been caught 4 times - but she always destroyed the evidence before she could get punished (cheat sheets, text messages, etc.). </p>
<p>^What I want to know. I think that if I had something reading off words during my AP Bio exams, everyone would hear, no matter how quiet it was - you can hear a pin drop during our exams.</p>
<p>My philosophy is - always try your best, do your work, ask questions, seek out extra help. If you’re stuck, fail the test. Fail with honor - if you’ve proved yourself to be a good student who puts in the effort, teachers will be forgiving and offer corrections, retakes, extra credit, etc. That has always been my experience. </p>
<p>@runner019 - I wondered that too - I’m not in AP Bio, so I don’t really know what the atmosphere is like, but I feel like she was tapping her foot or pencil or something to create extra noise, or maybe she was sniffling/coughing - not entirely sure. It is a big classroom, very spacious - she could’ve sat in the back near the lab benches. Who knows - I want to ask her but she’s kind of in a awful state right now emotionally. </p>
<p>I normally don’t care too much for cheaters, as long as they don’t impact me. I don’t help them if they ask for help, but I don’t get mad or tell on the teacher if I see them doing it next to me. HOWEVER, there is this one kid in my grade who is THE biggest cheater (everybody knows him, and teachers have caught him before but none are strict enough to actually do anything about it) and got accepted with almost a full ride to the University of Chicago… now that makes me foam at the mouth, especially since I am getting no money whatsoever from my university of choice. </p>
<p>@SwaggyC Yes, fail with honor. I’d much rather look my father in the eyes and tell him that I studied for three hours but still got a 62 on a test than tell him I got a 97 by cheating. The culture that I grew up in treats deceit/lying as one of the worst offenses one can possibly commit. </p>
<p>As for my teachers - my AP World teacher knew I was diligent. My work was always a cut above the rest - my essays were advanced, detailed, and analytical - but I never seemed to do well on his tests. I’d always get C’s - so he’d give me points back from my homework assignments (like he’d give me a 12/10 on a homework assignment and then move those extra 20 points to a test). I ended up getting an A+ (99%) in the class and a 5 on the exam, which is what he expected as he figured my hard work would <em>eventually</em> pay off, even if I wasn’t doing so hot on the chapter tests periodically. </p>