Throughout my entire high school career, I have witnessed several of my peers cheat to get to the top. It ranges from asking a person from an earlier period what the questions on a test may be to outright looking at another person’s paper for the answers during a test. I do not engage in cheating whatsoever, because that’s just really unfair; however, the Valedictorian in my graduating class is notorious for cheating. She’s willing to do just about any dirty tactic to get the hundred. To be honest, I know I shouldn’t care, however, she always mentions how much “hard work” she put into being Valedictorian. What annoys me is that she feels that she is entitled to that position, even though she technically didn’t even earn it. One time she cheated during a Spanish final with the Saluditorian of my grade and another person, they all ended up getting caught. The teacher was going to give them a failing grade, but the Valedictorian went insane. She ended up making a BIG deal out of it - she called the superintendent, stalked the principal, and even bad mouthed the Spanish teacher to other teachers/students… This whining ended up getting them a measly 5 points off of their Spanish final… F-I-V-E POINTS!!! This punishment does not fit the crime at all. She then pretends to be innocent and to this day has a grudge against the Spanish teacher. I’m pretty certain she cheated to, because she has told me on several prior occasions that she does cheat in that class. I thought the Valedictorian position was a position of honor, but I guess not. My question is if Valedictorian cheating is this common among high schools? If this is the case in your school, would you share it here? Thank you all for your time!
I think among the top of any graduation class, especially “Honors/AP kids” it’s not uncommon to see people try to gain the advantage through cheating, kissing up to teachers, bribing, etc. At least for the public school I go to, many of the Valedictorians are pretty hardworking but I would not be surprised if they have cheated before. Just worry about yourself- life can be unfair but in the end, the way some people carry on their lives with entitlement (as you described of the Valedictorian) will eventually bite them in the behind sooner rather than later.
Get over it, seriously. Years from now you will laugh and just think what a d bag that person was.
I hope it’s not too common…Personally, I go to a religious school that emphasizes honesty a lot. While I’m sure there has been the occasional cheater, I would be shocked if anyone I knew was cheating. I hope this doesn’t sound pretentious or holier than thou!
Ranking students should be done away with in all high schools. There would be top 5%, top deciile, etc… Only. This would cause all these shenanigans to stop.
Typically the kids who are at the top don’t need to cheat to get there
I only know of kids in my school who have cheated a lot but they are nowhere near the top 10 out of 600. There was this one girl who accused my teacher of sexually harassing her when she wrote answers on her leg and he saw her doing it. It ended up being not such a big deal because many people came forward to say that she is a known cheater.
Also some kid cheated in a final earlier in the day and got a double F when he was caught. Then he cheated again in the second final of the day but the two people to his left and right sold him out (Like they should have)
I guess my point is that cheaters can never prosper in the long run. Because they eventually are known cheaters and it hurts their reputation to the point no teachers will trust them.
Btw, I also used to be obsessed with class rank but I found out it doesn’t mean much as long as you’re in the top 1%-5%. Class rank is just who can afford to take the most summer classes to get ahead to take the weighted courses. Rarely is valedictorian the smartest or hardest working member of the class
And my life became so much better once I stopped obsessing over class rank, yours will be too!
If it’s any consideration, simply imagine the rec letters this person will be receiving if any are needed. Faculty talk. They know the fakers. I’d say it’s likely that she will get into a school that doesn’t require rec letters. No really competitive school will probably admit her
The val at my dc’s school was also involved in a cheating scandal. Doing away with ranking wouldn’t make a difference since the criterion for val is straight As.
At my school, which does rank, cheating is super common. Not on tests and quizzes tho kids are good about that kind of stuff but a lot of copying homework and stuff. Also i agree rank shouldnt be a thing, i hate the extra competition.
I graduated from HS more than 40 years ago. There was a group of kids in my honors physics class who volunteered to help the teacher. They helped themselves to the sample tests in his desk. They offered to let me in on it and I declined. I talked to my favorite uncle, who was a HS teacher. Ultimately, I wound up telling my teacher about it but it was a strange situation that probably wouldn’t have worked with any other teacher. My physics teacher lived in the same apartment building as I do and I told him in the lobby, with my father standing with me. The teacher made up a phony test and put it in his desk. The kids studied for that one and weren’t prepared for the real test. The teacher knew who cheated. He stopped letting them help. The sad part was that these kids were very smart. At least two became doctors.
I guess cheating exists and has forever.
How wonderful that you’ve gotten such an important life lesson before even finishing high school: Life isn’t fair. Sometimes cheaters get ahead. I agree with others that it’s not super common, but sure, it happens. Karma will undoubtedly come for your valedictorian when she someday encounters the situation she can’t cheat her way out of, but what does that matter to you? Focus on being the best you and don’t worry about others.
So, I guess the main takeaway from this is to just ignore it and do my best regardless. She most definitely knows that she made it there, because of her constant cheating. I’ll just continue doing my best then :)! Thank you for all of your advice. Does anyone else have anymore stories? I think they are fun to read.
My English class Freshmen year was full of cheaters. My teacher was notorious for leaving class all of the time, even during tests (although I still consider him one of the best teachers in my school). I remember one time during a stem/vocab quiz, he left the room and about 10 people got up and went to my desk to take all my answers. I tried to cover them up, but I was also trying to focus on the test, so they took a lot of them. On the bright side, I still got an A, and they still barely passed the class.
One time a kid was on Quizlet during the final in that same class and accidently had the sound on. Their phone went off when the teacher was right next to them. I’m pretty sure they failed.
My English teacher this year told us he didn’t care if we cheat, as long as we cheat well.
The girl who I assume will be valedictorian of my class cheats constantly, as does the runner-up. It used to really upset me. I remember doing an in-class practice FRQ in APUSH as a sophomore on which the whole class did poorly (as in sub-50) and I studied really hard and made an 80, but the future-valedictorian made a 100 so our teacher read the entire out loud and praised it for half of class. Later, she admitted to some of us at the lunch table that she copied a similar one off her phone while the teacher was at her desk and that’s why her essay was so good. I cried about it when I got home (oh, the drama!) and whined to my mom, who gave me some pretty good advice. She said that there will always be people like that, and I can either accept it now and do my best on my own work, or I can be upset for my whole life. Of course, there will be times when there is no easy way out and these people suffer, but sometimes it’s hard see that when you see situations like the one I mentioned. A friend of mine dreamed of going to one school for her entire life, then got rejected, when the cheater in her class was accepted. Of course, I doubt the minuscule difference in their GPA was why the cheater was accepted over her, but things like that are still hard to swallow.
Anyway, yes, I imagine that having cheaters in the top percentage of classes is fairly common.
Im not good friends with a lot of the top kids but I would just say let them be, karma’s a bitch, plus u probably shouldn’t even care unless u were in the top 10
They’ll get what’s coming to them in college.
I was a high-achieving high school student; I didn’t cheat, did all my work myself, and studied to learn rather than to just cram. I found that this approach helped me in college, as college emphasizes understanding concepts and material rather than simply grinding out formulas for example. The cheating students will most likely struggle if they continue to get by with copying others; this might work on homeworks and in group projects, but during the midterms and finals (which always count for a significant portion of the grade–usually 30-40% instead of the typical 10% high schools make it), the grade will really reflect what they know.
If these students manage to cheat their way through college, guess what? They can’t cheat at being a good employee. One way or another, the real world is not as forgiving as high school.
@DaedricSaiyan I love this answer, and I find it really helpful.
Have a good day!