Ask a jealous ex or a school administrator if there’s any excuse for cheating and they’ll likely say no. Ask the same question to a student or Casanova and they’ll likely respond: define cheating.

For many, cheating constitutes as an unequal advantage that rigs the fair playing field. The most recent and notable instance of cheating came last week when several teachers at an Atlanta public school were sentenced to prison on racketeering charges. They were convicted of participating in a wide-ranging conspiracy to artificially inflate students’ standardized test scores.

The trial lasted six years and resulted in three educators being sentenced to seven years in prison, a decision that left many wondering whether the teachers deserved such a harsh punishment.

A 2013 grand jury indictment said those involved in the conspiracy did so to win bonuses, protect their jobs or please their superiors. Regardless of why the faculty engaged in inflating test scores, they are not the ones to blame. Any reason for such activity speaks to the flaws of our current education system, not the educators themselves.

Violations are not exclusive to just primary education. During Syracuse University’s 2013–14 academic year the office of Academic Integrity reported 220 violations, 55 of which were upheld to hearings. Of those hearings, 82 percent of students were held accountable for the charges. This was a drop from the previous year where 272 violations were reported and 69 hearings were held.

“Students found in violation of the policy usually receive grade-related penalties. Occasionally students are suspended. Expulsion is extremely rare as the primary goal of the policy is to promote academic integrity and to educate students,” said Margaret Usdansky, director of the Office of Academic Integrity, in an email.

The number of violations is small in comparison to the student body, but in a competitive environment like this, the pressure to perform often leads to student misconduct. The competitive nature of the education system, which pressures teachers such as the ones in Atlanta to rig test scores for higher school rankings and students to cheat for their own class standings, fosters an environment where performance outweighs educational values.

In New York City, 93 percent of students in failing public schools are students of color and 82 percent of students in those schools are eligible for free or reduced price lunch, according to NewYorkState.gov. Low-income neighborhoods are prone to having more failing schools than higher income neighborhoods.

When critiquing the education system it is important to address how schools are funded. Currently, the majority of funding for schools comes from the state. The financing of local schools was altered extensively during the 1970s by a series of legal and legislative challenges to use of property taxes and as the principle funding source, according to a 1986 study conducted by the University of Rochester.

In simple terms, a school’s funding depends on the wealth of the district it is in. This can leave many schools at a disadvantage, especially schools in low-income neighborhoods. Schools’ federal funding depends on how well the school performs, and if they do not meet expectations, they can lose funding.

This creates a pressure for faculty who want their students to do well, especially if they want the school to keep running. Yet, does this excuse cheating? In short, no. But if we look at cheating as an unfair advantage, then most of the educational system cheats. Because of socio-economic factors, some students will always have an unfair advantage or disadvantage.

While money seems like a quick fix, merely giving schools money to improve their status does little to help the problem. The real solution rests in how the money gets distributed among public schools. As for millennials, the takeaway should not be to cheat, but rather to beat the system.

Laritza Salazar is a sophomore newspaper and online journalism major. Her column appears weekly. She can be reached
at lcsalaza@syr.edu.

Published on April 20, 2015 at 11:04 pm