Now, Nassau County is prosecuting many of the students under charges of scheming to defraud, falsifying business records, and criminal impersonation. I think this brings up a good discussion about the jurisdiction of the government.
Is this issue an issue of the Educational Testing Service alone? Does the government have jurisdiction over cheating? According to the New York Times article (Click on title for the link), a lawyer defending one the 20 accused students say that:
"While no one condones cheating, we have a school system that is separate and apart from the criminal justice system, and we have that for good reason."Meanwhile, according to the article, Kathleen M. Rice argues that:
"This is a crime. Make no mistake that, as the system stands now hard working students are taking a back seat to the cheaters."
I guess my overall question is whether or not cheating is an actual crime. I certainly do not believe that cheating is in any way fair; however, we do not have any law against it. Do the charges placed upon these students have legitimacy? And even if these charges do have legitimacy, does that mean that all cheating is illegal? Or are only cases in which impersonation takes place illegal? There are certainly other ways to cheat on the SAT. Is regulating cheating within the jurisdiction of the government and is it a responsibility of the government?
20 comments:
I Don't really think this is a government issue at a national level but it is a problem. The government does have jursidicition over cheating. I think the students should be accused because they went against rules and gave them an unfair advantage that makes it so that it is easier for them. I think the idea of using an impersonation makes this whole problem worse because it is using someone else to do the crime for you. On an national level, when someone impersonates or deceives through trickery than they are arrested and charged with the crime.
I agree with Rebecca; I also don't think cheating is an issue at the national government level, (and the national government certainly shouldn't be wasting its time on a small-scale cheating scandal like this one), but I do think this is an issue that should be dealt with. (I'm not sure if dealing with cheating in general falls under the responsibilities of the government, but I do believe that things like fraud/cons should be left to the government.) Maybe Collegeboard itself should deal with this scandal (and future cheating scandals). The government should definitely penalize those caught participating in fraudulent acts, SAT or not, but in terms of other methods of cheating, I think the local governments should deal with the culprits--NOT the national government.
Obviously these cheaters should not be let free without consequences, but I doubt juvenile hall is an appropriate punishment for them. Maybe a steep fine, community service, and a marred track record would set these frauds straight. Gaining an unfair advantage over the thousands that DO work hard to achieve good scores gives standardized testing a bad image, possibly degrading the credibility of SAT scores in general. I mean, how much can one objective score really tell you about a person? When instances of cheating ARE caught, it makes people wonder how many instances of cheating have gone on under the radar.
I agree with Rebecca and Keaton. Having the national government deal with cheating incidents is unnecessary; it should be dealt with by College Board and the schools. However, for this particular scenario, I do think that the government should get involved; impersonation and fraud are crimes that are punishable by the judical system. In terms of other forms of cheating on standardized tests, I agree with Keaton that the consequences should be some sort of fine, community service and permanent mark on their record. While this does only punish the cheaters who are caught, not truly the act of cheating itself, I think that it provides a bit more incentive for students not to cheat.
This article also goes to show that many cheating incidents will go unnoticed. The first incident of cheating that was caught in the same district occurred two months ago when a college student was caught taking the SAT for seven students. Considering it took another two months to reveal thirteen more students, how many incidents of cheating and impersonation have occurred throughout the country? I think that in addition to implementing concrete consequences for cheating, there needs to be more action taken to prevent cheating, especially with this increasingly competitive academic environment. Relating this back to the Cheating Culture reading we had a while back, if cheating is left unchecked, then soon it will become the academic norm and those academically honest students will be at a disadvantage.
I agree with the above comments that this definitely should not be an issue to the national government for, as Keaton said, it is a waste of time. However, according the the article, "If cheating is uncovered, the score is canceled and the student is permitted to get a refund and take the test again. Neither the student’s high school nor any college is notified." In my opinion, that's not any punishment at all. There should be harsher punishment for cheating rather than just a slap on the wrist.
However, just because this shouldn't be a problem for the national government doesn't mean it isn't a problem. I feel that the bigger issue is how this reflects upon out society and economy. Why is the cheating scandal growing? Looking at our economy, perhaps more and more students are feeling the pressure to climb to the top in order to avoid being subject to unemployment. However, when the economy gets better, perhaps the cheating scandal will decline.
I definitely agree with the previous comments. This scandal is something that the government shoud not be wasting it's time on but in a way is a good thing because it sheds some light on the issue of cheating and where the line needs to be drawn. Cheating in general is typically an unnoticed issue, as Ari said, it should be thought of as a more serious issue and maybe then cheating crimes will decrease. As for now, I feel if less pressure was put on the students, then they would not have come stooped down to a level as such where they hire an impersonator to take the SAT's for them.
Going off of what Ari said, I do think that cheating is a problem. Also, the punishment that the students receive for cheating is just ridiculous. Every time we take the SAT, we sign our names and fill out that statement saying that we will not be academically dishonest. That statement is pretty much a contract. By breaking that contract, it would allow Collegeboard to notify anybody they so choose. When you legally break a contract, there are punishments. Because they broke a legal contract, the government would be allowed to charge them.
While I don't believe that the national government itself should get involved in this scandal, something more serious than a warning or a dropped score should be implemented. If one is found guilty of identity theft, he or she is punished with a prison sentence and hefty fine. While identity theft and this SAT scandal are not exact correlations, they both involve cheating, corruption and personal gain through false identification, and both deserve serious punishment.
A strong message needs to be sent to all students that cheating is NOT okay, that it hurts more than helps, and that it sets one up for failure later in life. This scandal is a good opportunity for College Board and others to address cheating and hopefully dissuade many from participating in the act.
I agree with Sophia's comment that having the government deal with general cheating in schools isn't appropriate, but that in this situation, government involvement is warranted. Like Sophia said, impersonation, fraud, and bribery are crimes. And, like Jenny said, students sign a legal document when they take standardized tests establishing that they are who they say they are. By the time a student is sixteen, they should know better than to pay someone to take their test for them. The students who agreed to take the test, though, who are nineteen, should definitely know better. They have no excuses for their behavior, and they need to know now, if they didn't already, that cheating, especially cheating that involves violating contracts, impersonation, and fraud, is not acceptable.
On a little side note, cheating on the SAT or ACT is really not in the best interest of the student, even if they're not caught. If they end up getting into a university that they're not qualified for, they won't be able to do the work when they get there. Flunking out of a more selective college looks a lot worse on a job application than graduating from a less selective college.
All cheating is wrong, plain and simple. However, in this case it becomes a more complicated situation to find a solution to. All the time on the SAT, ACT, and other very important standardized tests those taking it are warned that if one is caught cheating, they're going to be serious consequences, but what kind and on what level. In one of the previous comments, the author suggested that this is an issue that the College Board should handle and I completely agree. Yes, those who take the test sign a contract, but on what section of the test does it provide a warning saying that any cheaters who are caught could possibly go to jail?
Anyway, my thought is that whomever issues the test should also establish the consequences. This is an important test for many young adults looking to make it into certain colleges. Therefore, if the company who issues the test out isn't going to clearly state and list the consequences for those who try and find an easy way out then a lot more cheating will occur.
What Jennifer said above is an interesting point. When we signed our names on the test sheets we signed a contract binding ourselves to its terms. Though I think that the national government doesn't need to get involved with a small issue like this, the state should have jurisdiction over this. However, I think that the ones in charge should be the College Board. They are the ones who made the contract and thus should determine the punishment of the students.
Wow, this is very telling of the increasing competition of college acceptance and the pressures students face as they go through their high school career. Yes, this is very telling of the economy as jobs are harder to find and education is becoming increasingly important. Is this really such a surprise? In terms of what is to be done, persecution all the way. Definitely not on a national level though.
I think Andrew raises a very interesting question about whether or not this should be in the government's jurisdiction, and I largely agree with the previous comments. Academic dishonestly hardly seems like an issue that warrants government involvement; however, turning academic dishonestly into an issue of legal contracts (as Jenny mentioned with the test booklet signatures) creates a different scenario, even if it's still the same issue at the root of things. And while I don't think legal contracts vs. honor code matter at all in terms of the morality of cheating, if it's an issue of legal/government action, violation of a legal contract comes down a lot harder than breaking a code of honor.
Still, even just talk of legal/govt repercussions sets a good example in this case. Like Sophia mentioned with reference to the "Cheating Culture," action of some form needs to be taken to prevent this problem from becoming any more widespread and gaining any kind of cultural acceptance/normalcy.
I'm pretty sure I'd be stepping on a dead bird if I said that the national government shouldn't be involved. So instead of hammering in a nail that is already nailed, I'll try and pry the nail out. While I personally agree and say this is probably something the collage board should handle, why might someone want to officially prosecute these kids? A reason I think is for students to shell out $3,500, to pay a person to impersonate them and take a test and to have 20 people do this doesn't seem very small.The scale in which these kids went to, paying someone that much money to impersonate them and take a test for them, is something similar to credit fraud or any other kind of illegal act similar to such found outside of school.
Another reason that I could possibly see for prosecuting these kids would be to stop cheating in general. If these kids are prosecuted in a legal way then maybe this could lead to an investigation into why these kids would cheat. This could lead to an investigation of how these kids were taught, how they were taught, and why they resorted to cheating, and that could lead to a possible look at our education system in general. Back to what was said from the Cheating Culture by Sophia, we need to keep cheating in check, but a better way to do so is to look at the source of this cheating. Maybe if students were taught better then they wouldn't need to cheat. Instead of just smacking down your problems as they rise, why not address the source of the problem. When the founding fathers gathered in philidelphia for the constitutional convention to "edit the Articles of Confederation" they addressed the source of the problems with the Articles. Instead of making edits to all the problems that came up, they looked at the source of the problems (the Articles of Confederation) and got rid of it and replaced it with something that worked better. I believe that we have to do something similar to what the founding fathers did and get rid of our 100+ year old education system and reform it to something more up to date.
Although I do believe that the government has jurisdiction over this case of cheating because of the points brought up in previous comments, it is important for us to recognize the other side of the argument. When students are caught cheating on a test, or a homework assignment, their behavior is not reported to the government. Obviously. Why then is this case so important that it needs to be brought to National attention? The students still broke the same moral code. I realize that this case is slightly more extreme because of the methods used, and other charges against the students, but the truth of the matter is that it could have been handled at the school level and not ruined these students lives. Maybe I am being overly sympathetic, but I think expulsion would have been an adequate punishment. I do not personally know anyone who has cheated on such a large scale. Why? Because it is not something that happens everyday! If the government really wants to involve itself in an issue, start at the root of the problem: everyday cheating that happens everywhere. Because the government having moral jurisdiction on an undetectable, common anomaly like this is so ridiculous, it makes no sense to involve itself in bigger instances of a common issue.
Upon reading this post I began to think back to the first week of school when Mr. Silton had us all take an annonymous survey regarding cheating. As you may recall over half of each class admitted to cheating in school in one way or another. Therefore I do not question the motives of the students because many people have cheated for their own reasons, but I question the national government for not taking a firm stand on this issue. While this is one of the largest scandals published recently, cheating happens everyday and should be acted upon by the national government by making it clear that it will not allow any kind of cheating.
While I think prosecuting the presumed cheaters is slightly overdoing it, I think that the national government is getting involved to set an example, to discourage students from cheating on the SAT. Since College Board is administrating the test, it seems more suitable that College Board should administer the consequences. I think that it's unfair because most students who take the SAT spend anywhere from one to four months preparing in advance, if not more. For those who do not study for SATs, and still get into college, chances are they won't study in college either, so they basically set themselves up for failure.
It seems to me that since most of the accused are still considered minors in the eyes of the law, perhaps they should be shown a certain level of leniency. This generation has grown up seeing wealthy people getting away with cheating people (ex. Bernie Madoff, Enron, Worldcom)
One of the videos we watched in class and for homework last month, the Meltdown, showed how financial markets were damaged by people cheating through telling people to invest in something that was already failing. While this is on a much larger scale than cheating on the SATs, it shows that if you cheat now, chances are you'll cheat later, only the consequences are much more severe in the future.
How could these students even think they could cheat and not get caught? It's saddening to hear that people are willing to do nearly anything to do well on the SAT. I agree with the posts above on how this was an act of academic dishonesty and should in some way punish the students. Jennifer and Mitchell come up with a good point. Signing that contract on the back of the answer sheet states that you are who you signed to be. The students broke that contract and LIED about their identity. I think that government involvement is going a little overboard but it should interfere anyways. This way, the students will know not to cheat again and it'll set an example for future cheaters. I'm sure if the government gets involved, it'll bring awareness around the world and students will learn not to cheat.
In addition to this in New Jersey, I recently read an article about how the copious amounts of chinese students are making up their resumes and paying lots of money to actual companies, up to 10k us dollars, to create their fibs, from grades to essays. Colleges are also having problems finding these students and getting their applications. It is a growing problem because students will come over without knowing as much english as they said and have to learn the language as well, thus lowering college education levels. I think that the entire system has major problems that need to be looked at, from the apps to the tests.
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