The mail on the Centerburg high school cheating scandal went much like this:
You know, we all bitch and moan about the state of American education. But by the time my students reach me, they're already fucked.What annoys me no end about the Centerburg cheating scandal you posted a couple of days ago is that it teaches ALL of the students terrible lessons.
For the half of the kids who were involved or who knew about the cheating - and then had the happy fete-ing by the deluded parents - they saw that cheating is okay. One kid got caught. Poor bugger. He was a hacker, so probably a bit of a dweeb anyway. But the rest had their little party and that was it. They even got SUPPORT from the parents and the townsfolk for it.
And of course for those kids who didn't know about it, or who refused the help, they learned that cheaters win. In fact they do the balloons in town square for you to celebrate your unique specialness.
They end up in my class, and I have to beat that preciousness out of them. Cheating is a failure. At least until someone's mom calls the dean. But that's a DIFFERENT fight than this one.
I'd be willing to take a big group of those Centerburg kids in my freshman class next term. Send them on. Let's see how the poor babies do.
