Cheating . . . Don’t Do the Crime If You Can’t Do the Time!
An article from a Florida newspaper is an absolutely classic example of students working as hard as they can to not get accepted at a top tier college. It’s an even better example of what parents shouldn’t do in such a situation. Finally, it’s a pretty good example of what high school teachers and their administration shouldn’t say during such an outbreak of complete stupidity.
Alright, what happened? The students in a sophomore Honors English class at a local high school were given a summer reading and homework assignment. They were asked to read the classic poem, “The Epic of Gilgamesh” and complete a writing assignment. It seems that several of them completed the writing assignment . . . it just wasn’t their writing!
It’s important to back up for just a moment at this point. C’mon, we all know when we do something wrong. That little voice inside your head that says, “Uh, uh . . . this is not good” is called a conscience. It’s a reasonably accurate monitor of what’s right and what’s wrong. It starts working in most people by the age of five but in nearly all people by the time they’re taking sophomore Honors English. But these students didn’t even have to rely on their own sense of right and wrong. As freshmen they had actually been taught what the school considered cheating with a special emphasis on plagiarism! As if that wasn’t enough, the school’s honor code actually states that students “shall be honor bound to refrain from cheating of any kind, including plagiarism.”
The story progresses a little bit like a Three Stooges episode. For honors students, these kids apparently weren’t very smart. Some simply copied and pasted the work they cheated from without even trying to reword the material. The protests that they didn’t realize they had done anything wrong seemed even worse when it was revealed that some of the students had plagiarized material from the website www.CheatHouse.com ! Let’s stop chuckling and forget about the adventures of Moe, Larry and Curly in English class for a minute. Look at what went wrong after they were caught.
In a generous gesture, the school didn’t immediately expel or suspend the students but simply gave them failing grades on the assignment. For some parents that was apparently much too harsh a penalty for cheating! These parents were outraged that their children should receive an “F” on a paper that was copied from someone else. Unsatisfied that their children’s GPA might suffer simply because they were caught cheating, they took their protest to the school district administration. Remarkably, the school had agreed not to put the incident on the permanent record of the students involved but even that was not enough for these parents. They wanted the failing grades for the assignment removed.
Okay, let’s take a look at everything that was done wrong in this process. If someone had written this story as fiction it’s hard to imagine that it could have been a better illustration of exactly how not to handle a similar situation. Everyone involved came out badly in this one and the consequences aren’t likely finished.
First the obvious point. If you’re a student, don’t cheat. Don’t do it. The risk just isn’t worth it. There’s always a better solution. If you haven’t done your summer assignment on the first day of class then ask the teacher for an extension. Take a lower grade if you have to. It’s a long term; you can always build the grade back up. Ask for extra credit opportunities to speed up the process.
Next, once these kids were caught cheating, they should have quickly stepped up, taken responsibility, and moved on with as little attention as possible. The first hit in a situation like this is almost always the easiest to endure. Cops and crooks have a saying for just this kind of situation, “Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time”. By taking responsibility and “doing the time” the students might have moved past this situation with relatively little notice. Now, they’re literally front page news. Taking the “F” for the assignment and working hard for the rest of the school year might have meant a “B” for one term in one subject as a sophomore. That’s not a deal breaker at any college. On the other hand, being labeled as a cheater is a deal breaker at almost every college!
Of course these kids didn’t manage to trash their high school careers alone, some of their parents managed to help quite a bit. If your kid is caught cheating, simply help them to rebuild. Don’t, and I repeat, don’t make matters much worse by trying to weasel out of the situation. I understand that all parents want the very best for their kids and these parents probably thought that they were trying to help. They weren’t. They only succeeded in making the problem much worse for the students. They forced the school and district administration to address the matter in a well publicized forum. This greatly increases the chance that some reference or disciplinary action will now appear on their transcript.
A college application isn’t just a GPA. Some of the most important factors are teacher recommendations and the recommendation of the college counselor. When these sophomores become seniors and ask a teacher to write a personal recommendation, it will be affected by this incident. It may not be stated directly but no teacher will, or should, offer a wonderful character reference for anyone who was caught cheating and then tried to weasel out of it.
Finally, the school and district administration didn’t mishandle this as badly as the students and parents but they don’t exactly get an “A” for their response either. This is a serious offense. If the students stand up and take responsibility then the lesson has value and a moderate response is appropriate. If the students attempt to weasel then the school should take firm and appropriate action. While I was at Harvard, a student in my dorm was forced to withdraw for a plagiarism incident. He was allowed to return the following year but sacrificed some earlier tuition payments and course work. He learned from the incident and is now a highly respected and successful neurosurgeon. So . . . students can learn from such an incident and mature to a higher standard.
A soon as this recent incident went beyond the classroom the school should have imposed meaningful consequences. This incident will now follow these students and there’s no reason it shouldn’t. The district superintendent’s comment, “The students will probably lose points but the fear of being labeled as a cheater in the eyes of a college recruiter is probably unfounded” is both incorrect and inappropriate. These students did cheat and should be held responsible for their actions. It is now up to them to earn back the trust of their teachers. There is no reason why this incident should not appear on their transcripts and it is virtually impossible that it will not affect future recommendations.
The school should be honest, up front and unapologetic. The school has a responsibility not only to these students but to all of their classmates who didn’t cheat. One reason the parents’ protest didn’t gain widespread community support is that most other families understood their own children would suffer if the standards were reduced for the cheaters. If a student who cheats can eventually receive the same grade as a student who makes the effort to earn it, how is that fair? Moreover, college admissions officers make judgment calls every day. It’s a necessary part of their job. If cheating is tolerated at a particular high school, it’s only reasonable that the college admissions officers will adjust their opinion of students form that school. Suddenly the legitimate effort of a student who worked hard to earn good grades is worth a little less because the admissions officer can’t be sure that an overly tolerant cheating policy didn’t help. As cold as it sounds, the colleges need to know who the cheaters are. It needs to go on transcripts. If not, everyone else at the school suffers.
This is a very sad situation. It’s awful to think that a single misstep might have an effect on the rest of your life . . . but that’s what happens. For better or for worse, that’s exactly what happens every day. Work hard enough to earn the “A” and you might get an acceptance to Duke. Go out with your friends the night before the SAT’s and your lower scores might mean you’re rejected at Princeton. That’s life and there’s nowhere that it’s more evident than in the college admissions process.
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