This is just one more example of the pervasive and infectious trend in this country to refuse to teach our children that not everybody can be first or be the winner. T-Ball started this disease, and this is the generation that first played it. T Ball is where everybody wins. How sad we have become.

Thank you for sending this newsletter each week. I look forward to it and often send the commentatries on to the staff and youth I work with.

I would like to know how many of those 14 students have gone on to engage in more illegal activity or did this one incident where they recieved consequnece, tempered with compassion and empathy, encourage them to look at themselves and their actions. I believe skills need to be taught to youth, but responding to behaviors (due to lack of skills or failure to use skills) with the ultimate or highest consequence often leaves no way out and just encourages more poor behavior. I think this is where your fixing and feeling get and give conflicting messages.

Maybe my mother should have cut our finger off because we didn't listen when told the stove was hot and we touched it and got burned. No, she ran it under cool water, kissed it and said that wasn't a good idea, was it. My brother burned his other hand, yes, but I never touched the stove again. Did I need to lose my finger the first time?

Shame on the superindendent! What has happended to the word accountability? This "one-time" infraction may have ruined their chances to go to their college of choice, but not their lives. It would have given them all something to think about when making future choices in their lives. Some of us hope to do better with our children, giving them consequences to fit their poor choices so when coming into adulthood they can be better prepared to make wiser decisions based on what they had to face in their youth. Raising the youth of today is not a difficult endeavor, it just takes backbone, perseverance and knowing the youth we shape today are the leaders of tomorrow. Quite personally, my children at times may not put me up for mother of year when I am doling out their punishments for their unfortunate choices, but they do the "time that fits the crime" and it at times is harder on me than they think is on them. But when I have a 17-year-old junior in high school that lied to a PE teacher and goes back the 2nd day to apologize for his mistake, on his own, I look back on all those times of poor choices and consequences, and as his parents telling him we don't expect you to be perfect, but do your best and be proud of who you are. Holding children accountable for poor choices even at a young age...you will see results as they grow. Yes, we were proud of him for acknowledging his poor choice. Were there still consequences..oh yeah. It's not about ruining lives...but a "five day suspension" just doesn't cut it..and the only one who loses are the students...this is unfortunate.

I get those 18 and 19 year olds in my college classes. It is the first time many of them have to take a test and cannot cheat. They are quite shocked that I don't care about their self-esteem and give them the grade they earned. Even more surprised are their parents when I inform them I cannot even acknowledge that their child is my student because of FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act), but even if I could their child is now an adult and has to accept the consequences of his or her actions on their own, and I won't change any grade. The parents are even more shocked that my superiors back me up, unlike so many K-12 administrators.

It makes it difficult to teach my children responsibility when the "real world" is always letting them off easy. They look at me like I'm crazy and wonder "what's the big deal?" How can I teach them to be responsible when basic life lessons are not being learned simply because society has become too politically correct to have a backbone? It's time our children hear the words "No, that's not okay".

There is no excuse for what the 14 students did and, sadly, I doubt that they learned their lesson. There are a lot of kids who get away with cheating their way through high school. I sometimes have trouble blaming them for their mistake (and yes, though it may be an incredibly stupid one, it is still a mistake) after seeing how much emphasis is put on college these days by parents and administrators.

Why didn't things like this happen as often and as severely in the past? Probably because colleges were not so hard to get into or so expensive! Today's generation will have to roll with the punches, but they certainly will not have as easy a time getting into college as those who criticize them. Honestly, I think that these kids believed not getting into the college of their choice (or parent's choice) WOULD ruin their lives. That mentality is something that is epidemic in the minds of 17-18 year olds, and it arises from the immense amounts of stress and pressure they are facing that are incomparable to any amounts faced by students in years past.

Again, their actions were wrong, but before before we start drawing conclusions, it might be insightful to consider things from their perspective. I'd like to know: Why do they care so much about getting into their top colleges anyway? Were they born with an inherent desire to get into college, whatever the cost, or was it motivated by something else-- perhaps something more characteristic of the times?

So after reading all the comments, I'm assuming Mercy doesn't apply here. Tell me then, what would have been a suitable punishment? Ah....armchair quarterbacks.

What a sad world we have become. Working in an academic environment where integrity is everything, I have recently been saddened to have to dismiss a staff member (breadwinner) for passing on an exam memo and script to a student. He claimed that he felt sorry for the student.
This kind of action puts all parties in an emotional dilemma. Ethics and values need to be reintroduced at schools and be part of student code of conducts!

An episode along these lines: I would like your opinion. In my granddaughter's 5th grade class at a Catholic grade school the teacher confiscated several pages of notes being passed between two students. The contents were vituperative comments about my granddaughter accusing her of being the teacher's pet and that they hated her and wanted to kill her. They had drawn pictures of knives and guns and were actually planning the deed. The students were suspended and given one hour of counseling. When my daughter and her husband were finally successful in seeing what had been written, (the principal didn't want to release the contents), they were appalled and for safety's sake for their daughter requested that the students be expelled. Given the many crazy things that have happened in schools recently and the fact that this is a religious school where this type of behavior is totally out of line with the core values of the school, Nicole's parents feel that she's entitled to a safe school experience.
The district attorney was brought in to the case and has not offered an opinion as yet, however the school and the pastor seem loath to do any more than suspend the two students for a few days who made the threats. I can understand not wanting to ruin the lives of these 2 kids who may or may not be dangerous, but by expelling them and insisting on at least 6 months of counseling, I think it would have a great impact on them and their parents that this is totally unacceptable behavior. What is your opinion, please?