Students Accused of Cheating Are Expected to Turn Themselves In

[alp227]

Source: NYT

At least seven people are expected to turn themselves in to the authorities next week on allegations of cheating on college admissions exams, according to a person briefed on the matter, as part of a scandal on Long Island in which students are accused of paying people to take the SAT reasoning test and the ACT test for them.

According to the person with knowledge of the situation, who lacked the authorization to speak publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, at least three accused test-takers and four people accused of paying for stand-ins were expected to surrender on Tuesday, though the total number of people could be as high as 13.

Students at five schools, two public and three private, are believed to have been involved in this scandal, which has set off a sharp debate about the security measures on college admissions tests.

In an e-mail late Friday, Madeline Singas, the chief assistant district attorney in Nassau County, declined to comment.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/19/education/long-island-students-accused-of-cheating-expected-to-turn-themselves-in.html

[tblue]

1. We live in a culture where cheating is 'in.' Wall Street cheats. Republicans cheat.

Law enforcement cheats. Food and drug manufacturers cheat. They don't only cheat. They are rewarded for cheating!

The people who work hard and play by the rules? HAHA! They are SUCKAS no one respects.

What happened to the days when you took the SAT and the score you got was the score you got? No one took prep classes or even the PSAT. You just took the SAT.

I don't even know if I got my scores or what they were. I didn't worry about it. It was just something you did when you were applying to college.

My kid is going through that process now, and there is so much pressure and competition. I hate it! See, if you tell your kids that getting into certain universities is the ONLY goal, of course you end up with some students cheating. Can you blame them?

A girl at my kid's school just committed suicide. Brilliant over-achiever. But she did not want to live. What is the point?

[ashling]

2. I agree with your premise

but when I was in HS we all took the PSAT (1969)

[surrealAmerican]

6. Agreed.

The PSAT is not a "prep" test. It's the test used to qualify for National Merit Scholarships. It's been that for quite a long time.

[eppur_se_muova]

10. Unfortunately, no one told me that. nt

[russspeakeasy]

3. if you know the right people, you can do whatever you want.

lie, cheat, steal.

[freshwest]

4. +1,000. The kids have lost the joy of learning and being alive. They're taught that life...

Is a game of numbers, of winners and losers, and then 'game over.' I feel bad for the kids who never learned the natural rhythms, the awe of camping out in a forest or enjoying a day at the beach. There is a sense of time and purpose that they don't get to enjoy.

It's as if they are all horses in a chute until the starter pistol goes off and if they don't win, they believe they should go to the glue factory. What a terrible waste of consciousness and life with that youngster who committed suicide. I agree with your assessment.

And it's why I support the OWS movement for enlightenment.

[tblue37]

8. An eleventh grade boy I know is under pressure from his parents to score a 35

composite on the ACT. That is super high. Even the most brilliant students I know, valedictorians who got full scholarships to college, scored only 33 and 34!

And although this boy has a 3.5 GPA, that is only because of the easy grading standards that are so common these days--and because he never takes AP or honors classes, so the work in the classes is never very hard. If his work were being graded according to actual standards of competence, his grades would range from C- to F in most courses.

Yet his parents insist he should be able to manage a 35 on the ACT, because they actually believe that he can get into MIT that way, since his grades, even with grade inflation, won't get him into such a school.

I have worked with some of the best high school students in our area, ones who took ALL the most advanced courses in high school, including the most advanced science and math courses, and who have gotten an "A" in such courses, yet even those kids did not get 35 on their ACT tests, and none of them got into MIT, though they all did get into excellent, highly competitive universities, and they also won generous, sometimes even full, scholarships. But these super students couldn’t manage a 35, so obviously this kid is not going to do so!

I try to tell the parents that (1) he won't get into MIT, and (2) even if he could, he would flunk out immediately, because he just isn't that good a student! He's bright enough--but not unusually so--and he is totally unmotivated and uninterested as a student.

Parents like this are one of the reasons why students cheat. Sometimes the parents even encourage and facilitate the cheating, but even when they don't, insisting that their kids do what is simply impossible drives the kids to do whatever they can--including cheating--to meet those impossible demands.

[alp227]

11. Thing is, many kids feel pressure to go to college and get a degree

since the job market for people with only a high school diploma is weak and then the families feel that the only choice for their kids is either a real degree (in anything NOT liberal arts) from a big university or abject poverty.

[Lionessa]

9. How is it that you manage to forget that Democrats cheat too.

It's a human condition, without un-corrupted oversight, humans cheat.

[Chakab]

5. I thought that they cracked down on this stuff years ago.

When I took the LSAT last year, they took my thumbprint. I believe that the LSAC has amassed a database of prints so that they can catch "ringers" who are paid to take the test under another person's name.

[3waygeek]

7. Yeah, right....

someone dishonest enough to cheat on an admissions test is going to be honest enough to admit it.