Five students from the high-performing Saratoga High School are under investigation for cheating:
At least five Saratoga High School students have been suspended, three of them facing possible expulsion, for allegedly stealing English department tests, grades and curriculum and giving or selling them to other students. Three other students also are being investigated, one for allegedly trying to change a math grade and the others for taking hard copies of a test.
Principal Kevin Skelly has written a letter to parents about the issue and will hold a parent meeting Thursday evening in a plea to get people to emphasize character over grades at the highly competitive school, which regularly ranks among the top schools in the state on standardized test scores.
"We harp on kids so much to do good in school, but what we really want to be is decent people," Skelly said Friday as the allegations came to light.
Something about this doesn't sit right with me, but I'm not sure what it is. Perhaps it's the assumption here that parents are, in fact, emphasizing nothing except the need for good grades. Or perhaps it's the feeling I get that Skelly believes that harping on kids to do good in school, and harping on kids to be decent people, are mutually exclusive. Perhaps I've read too many articles about cheating kids where the onlookers blame the stakes, and not the kids, for the duplicitous behavior. I suppose I should just be happy that here the behavior is resulting in an appropriate punishment.
Posted by kswygert at January 25, 2004 01:44 PM