High School Cheating Scandal
 

Hanover, N.H., is the kind of small New England town where it seems like everyone always gets along. It was voted the second best place to live in the U.S. in a 2007 Money magazine survey. But, now, this close knit community is being ripped apart.

"It has deeply affected the town. I think the town has become divided over it. I think we were shocked by it to begin with," said local resident Aine Donovan.

They're shocked by a cheating scandal, at the local public high school, which started last June as pressure was building towards final exams.

Nine students allegedly broke into the school to steal math and chemistry exams, and share them with their friends. They've been nicknamed "the notorious nine." Instead of suspending or failing the students, school officials called the police.

"It's very scary, because you try to protect them, but when the police come along and won't listen to reason, you don't know where to go," said Jim Kenyon, whose son Nicholas is one of the students now facing criminal charges — a punishment Kenyon calls draconian.



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http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=3639406&page=1

How can you not understand - cheating - not a crime.
- breaking and entering - a crime.
- theft - a crime.

These parents need to get a grip - instead of worrying about the school "overreacting", how about being concerned that you have raised a bunch of kids with a sense of entitlement that allows them to think they are above the law???

Is it just me, or does it seem like more work to break in, steal exams and then run from police than to just STUDY FOR THE FREAKING EXAM?!

I really don't mind if they are made an example of - in fact, I think they should be. And the idea that the police want to make sure everyone gets the message that you are not above the law, even if you are rich? Not a bad lesson to put out there.

It amazes me the extremes that some parents will go for the sake of protecting their children. I teach middle school and last year I had a little boy in my class who got caught cheating twice. The first time I caught him, I gave him a zero, his mother called and left a nasty message about me picking on her child and dropped the issue after the student still got a "B" on his report card at about Christmas.

Then, he got caught cheating again, the parent called and cursed me out. I hung up on her because there was no reasoning with her and she told the principal she was so disturbed she could barely carry on. The principal gave in and moved the child to another class....No sweat off my back!

Sounds like you got lucky.

When did parents as a group lose their minds? When i was a kid if there was a problem between me and a teacher (not that there ever was- I was trained) it would have been MY fault until proven otherwise. There would have been no debate. I have never cheated on a test. I have never plagiarised a paper. It would have been unthinkable. If I HAD and she found out my Mom would have marched me into the head of school's office herself!

What happened to integrity in academia? Did competitiveness kill it?

I totally understand what you're saying. Same here... and both of my parents are in education, so they would be the first to come down on me if I ever screwed up (which of course, I never did :rolleyes:), and then deliver me to the principal.

I think it's really a sense of privilege and entitlement that some parents pass onto their kids. I don't think most parents are this way, though.

It all stems from competition though- in high school there was a girl who STOLE SOMEONE ELSE'S BOOKS before a test so that she would get a higher grade. She may not have had friends, but she got into Harvard....

How about people with notes from their psychiatrists saying they had ADD so they could take the SAT untimed? I've seen parents sending admissions officials gifts- expensive gifts- to facilitate their kids getting into a top school. A PRE-SCHOOL. Or how about parents outright buying their kids a place in the ivies?

Unethical. All about getting their kid into the right schools. Not uncommon, not new. I think it's an attitude that has been accepted and has trickled down- parents as a group want kids to get good grades whether the little darlings deserve them or not, tricking their way into an A if that's what it takes.