Breaking & Entering & Cheating
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Joanne Jacobs
Joanne Jacobs is the author of Our School: The Inspiring Story of Two Teachers, One Big Idea and the Charter School That Beat the Odds. After many years as a syndicated op-ed columnist and a San Jose Mercury News editorial writer, she left newspapers to write her book, start an education blog at joannejacobs.com and freelance for newspapers, magazines, web sites and policy groups.
Read the Review Our School: The Inspiring Story of Two Teachers, One Big Idea and the Charter School That Beat the Odds.
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At ultra-competitive Hanover High in New Hampshire, students charged with breaking into school to steal tests face more than suspension and an F on the final: The “Notorious Nine” face criminal charges. So far, they’re accused of Class B misdemeanors, which bring a fine but no chance of jail time. But the prosecutor has warned the charges could be raised to felonies if the students take the matter to court instead of pleading guilty. The Boston Globe reports:
While some stood sentry in hallways, others entered a classroom and used stolen keys to break into a teacher’s filing cabinet and steal exams for advanced math honors, advanced math, Algebra II, and calculus. Five days later, another group stole chemistry finals. In total, some 50 students are suspected of participating in the thefts, either helping to plan them or receiving answers from stolen exams.
The school will apply traditional academic penalties against everyone involved, but thinks b&e is a police matter.
The Notorious Nine’s well-connected parents — including a Dartmouth professor, physician, hospital president and local newspaper columnist — are furious, reports the Globe. They think the Nine should be charged with “violations that carry no criminal penalties, penalties they say could harm their children’s chances of attending college or securing employment.”
Because why should theft or breaking and entering affect a kid’s future?
Some Hanoverians “have questioned whether the intense competitiveness of 750-student Hanover High forced students into positions of having to cheat.”
Those poor little dears. They just wanted to get higher grades than their classmates without doing the work. They had to cheat.
My daughter knew two boys at her ultra-competitive high school who stole a key, broke into a school building and copied two finals for their own use and that of their friends. They got away with it. Teachers knew they’d done it, but couldn’t prove it. She competed against cheaters for spots at elite colleges. And she ended up with a Stanford degree, so it’s no tragedy. But I’m a little bitter about it.
