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Wow.
Reminds me of an experience I had while at a large, well-known university. During one class exam, I ended up sitting among the football players group and witnessed the blatant swapping of notes and answers among the guys. They were also trying to see what I had put down on my paperwork - pretty sad, since the class really wasn't too difficult overall. Afterward, I approached the professor and asked if he had noticed. He shook his head and answered yes, but indicated his hands were tied. Since these guys were part of the football team, and the game was (and still is, I suppose) a huge part of town politics and entertainment - not to mention financial support for the university - he had to let them pass no matter what.
I suppose at the time, I should have spoken up, but, I also recognized there were some serious individuals involved, more than just simple football players - a lot of power and money behind the scenes. Truthfully, at the time, I just wasn't strong enough to take that on. Ahhh, innocence lost. I used to believe studying hard and working hard - you know - applying yourself diligently and honestly - was the answer to getting ahead. Then again, there are some, apparently successful, who prefer the 'short cut' and those who enable this behavior - as I did by looking the other way so many years ago. I won't look away again.
Cheating, whether by breaking into the high school file cabinet or via the school coach, or diploma mill, whatever - should never be condoned. These people are the ones in whom we may place our trust today or in the future - as spouses, teachers, friends, co-workers or leaders ... What does this say about us as a productive, respectable and viable society? We're so busy arguing about the type of punishment that we've lost the very point - we need to teach our youth (and each other) integrity and common sense, respect and responsibility from the day they are born - not how to place the blame for a personal mistake on someone or something else or how to make someone else pay for a poor personal choice or decision.
Please tell me that you just forgot the /sarc tag at the end of your post....
I was not being sarcastic. Our society is being run in a corrupt manner with all sorts of insider trading, backroom deals, fraudulent elections and general cheating. So long as money is made there are no questions. The kids were only practicing, in a crude manner, what their elders have taught them. Unfortunately for them they did not have the experience to not get caught.
What I want to know is if the faculty/staff is aware that 50+ students were involved, why aren't all 50+ students being held accountable? I do not feel that is "fair" for 9 students to take the wrap for all involved.
Also, I personally feel that the punishment does not fit the crime. In the US, we have drug dealers and more severe criminals that are not being charged w/felonies and certainly are not getting as long a sentence as what these students are facing.
I agree that the students should be held accountable for their actions, however, I do not feel that they should be charged with felonies.
I think you're cherry picking.
Burglary is a felony. If they plead it down (as happens in many cases), that's one thing.
So what do you suggest? A "time out"? Send them to dinner with no dessert?
These kids have never encountered REAL stress or the possibility of failure. It's going to happen to us all. Period. There's no avoiding it. Cheating doesn't dodge the bullet, it merely enhances the failure.
Actions have consequences. If their parents had taught them that, maybe they wouldn't have been so tempted to lie, cheat, and steal their way into college.
I agree that they shouldn't have involved police, the kids should have been expelled... that alone would have put enough of a mark on their record that the would "feel it" later on.
That said, the rumor around here is that there have been a number of other cheating "scandals" in the past at HHS that the school has swept under the rug and the reason they involved the police this time was that dealing with it internally clearly wasn't having the right effect. Again, that is just the scuttlebut around town.
Maybe if they HAD "dealt with it" HARSHLY the first time, it wouldn't have escelated to this point.
I was not being sarcastic. Our society is being run in a corrupt manner with all sorts of insider trading, backroom deals, fraudulent elections and general cheating. So long as money is made there are no questions. The kids were only practicing, in a crude manner, what their elders have taught them. Unfortunately for them they did not have the experience to not get caught.
Methinks you're a bit cynical. There is some cheating and malfaesance, to be sure, but it's not as prevalent as you might expect.
Maybe if we nipped this kind of stuff in the bud, people wouldn't grow up to expect this kind of behavior as the norm.
Maybe if we nipped this kind of stuff in the bud, people wouldn't grow up to expect this kind of behavior as the norm.
Agreed. The enabling of today's youth is just an extension of a "it's not my fault and I don't give a crap" society. These kids all need a dope slap. What the hell were they thinking? It's not a video game! It's real life and the reality is it that they broke the law and performed a morally reprehensible act.
Every kid does something dumb once in a while, but these kids knew right from wrong and they tried it anyway. The parents are blind and spoiled just like their kids. "Not my Johnny! He won't be able to get into Princeton if he has a criminal record!" Too bad!! He'll have to earn his way by making ammends and paying for his stupidity. If it were my kid, they would be grounded until they were 18, the phone and the car would be gone, and they would be doing community service at my church every Sunday afternoon with the old folks. Sports? Forget it. You wanna play? You gotta pay. End of story.
My point is that there is actually one set of rules for the privileged and another, harsher, set for the rest of us. The HHS scandal is only a simple illustration of this observation. The failure to prosecute Rush Limbaugh for his abuse of the prescription drug control system to feed his addiction is another.
These kids will get a scolding at worst and will continue their lives as members of the privileged elite with all the exclusivity and freedom that entails.
I am not being cynical. I am being very disappointed by this blatant violation of our founding principal of equality under the law.
The failure to prosecute Rush Limbaugh
...continue their lives as members of the privileged elite
...blatant violation of our founding principal of equality under the law.
What about Ted Kennedy and his dopey son Patches? Why are you singling out the conservatives on this, in a couple of your posts. The "elite", as you put it, are liberals, not conservatives.
What about Ted Kennedy and his dopey son Patches? Why are you singling out the conservatives on this, in a couple of your posts. The "elite", as you put it, are liberals, not conservatives.
I agree with you in theory, but not in content.
I agree. What about Ted Kennedy- he has killed two women and has not gone to jail. The Kennedy family is about as elitist as they come.
Rush Limbaugh is not the only "famous person" to be prosecuted. There are many many people on all ranges of the political spectrum who get away and avoid jail or punishment due to their status in life. Sorry, but loud conservative talk show hosts do not have the monopoly on that.
And just because people in public life commit crimes and "get away with it" that should never be used as justification for children or adults to not be punished for their wrong-doings.
But wait! For ancedotal evidence, one can argue that 56% of these children have parents that voted for John Kerry in the last presidential election. I submit to you the following about Grafton County:
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Hanover High
