Letters: The lessons of cheating in school
Re “Errors could hurt college bound,” Feb. 10
Such a simple word as “errors” diminishes the severity of purposely concealing grave misconduct by college applicants. The 11 Orange County students recently expelled from their high school over the cheating scandal in which they took part likely knew that what they were doing was wrong.
Any college or university that wishes to keep the public’s respect must have a standard policy of discarding any application deemed dishonest. Merely urging students who have cheated to “come clean quickly” is hardly enough.
Elizabeth Watson
Ridgecrest, Calif.
Clearly, the Orange County high school students who were expelled after getting caught cheating need to learn from their experience.
Look at Jamie Dimon, the chief executive of JPMorgan Chase. His company was fined $20 billion last year, and he got a raise of $8.5 million.
The lesson is that cheating is OK if you don’t personally get caught, and that fines are just a cost of doing business. You may even be rewarded if the wrongdoing is so large that no one understands its true scope.
Mark Smith
Bakersfield
As an educator for more than 40 years, I believe a student who has been expelled for cheating has paid the ultimate price. Those students should be able to continue their lives without further embarrassment.
John Klink
Dana Point
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