Editorial: Cheating for our children

When the SAT and ACT test cheating scandal arose at Great Neck North High School, many of our readers wondered aloud whether the specter of dishonesty was present within the student body of our local day schools.

After all, it is no secret that day schools are facing the same challenges as public schools when it comes to confronting bullying, at-risk behavior, abusive behavior by staff and students and — it was revealed last week — standardized test cheating.

According to Nassau District Attorney Kathleen Rice, her investigation has spread to five local schools, three of them private, with 31 students accused of hiring impersonators to ace the college entrance exams. Could it be the fiercely competitive nature of the exams, or is it there a deeper problem?

Recently an Orthodox student at Touro College was caught texting during a lecture. When his teacher asked why the young man was throwing away his tuition money, the student glibly replied, “That’s fine. My father is paying the tuition, not me.”

With the semester ending in five weeks, it is difficult to imagine how this student will pass his final exam. Maybe he believes that the BS”D affixed to the top of all of his homework assignments will see him through.

Considering the $1,500 to $2,000 price that Sam Eshaghoff allegedly charged the cheaters for taking their exams, there is a strong likelihood that the parents were paying the bill.

As parents, we want our children to succeed in their lives. But do we want it so badly that we would aid and abet in their cheating? And once they do reach their next step, will we bail them out again?

Every small example provides a valuable lesson. When a child turns 14, would we lie to the amusement park operator that the child is 13, simply to benefit from a lower admission fee? That child will not be 13 forever. The same goes for tax fraud. Once the parent is caught, the child will become the class pariah, and from there, it is a quick slide into at-risk behavior.

As our columnist Rabbi Avi Billet writes, “We can steamroll as many of the obstacles facing our children as we like. But we have to remember that the more we steamroll, the more the ground they then walk upon cannot be used for growth until it is retilled and replanted.” Do we feel entitled to pass the gate by virtue of trickery, or because we have earned the honor?