COLLOQUY

THE QUESTION

RESPONSES

BACKGROUND

My daughter left the college, lacking only a few subjects getting her degree, after we were told they could not find any sign of the cheating. Three years after she left the college she ran into a lady who was attending the college the same time as my daughter was attending and she was still there (approximately 6 years at a community college) and she was very angry telling of the cheating still happening. She said she had not received her degree because she had refused to cheat although she had been offered. She said she had watched others who cheated walk down the aisle and get their degree and she had not gotten hers. She named students who had been blackballed by the college. She said there was not a teacher that didn't know because they were not blind, they could see it just like she and my daughter saw it because the students were bragging about it in the halls. She said it had made her ill and she was on medication thinking she was going to have a heart attack. She was very loud in the store and the conversation lasted for more than an hour on the same subject. After this conversation the most incredible thing happened. Only a couple of nights later the college called the lady and gave her a job and she changed her tune.

Since this incident happened, my daughter has been called a liar, harassed by former students, fired from jobs and laughed at in her face. She recorded conversations, at my suggestion, trying to prove the cheating and she has been called deceitful for recording. From the recordings it is clear that the students knew there was no one to go to and no one cared.

My daughter has not worked in almost two years and she won't leave home alone. Her life has been a nightmare since this happened and I cannot get anyone to take any interest in what happened to her. Everyone seems to be right there if it is teachers talking about students cheating, but if it is a student talking about cheating being allowed no one wants to listen.

No one should be treated like my daughter has been treated. I read about students telling about their cheating and they don't get in trouble for it. All the surveys taken and the number of students who say they cheated. My daughter, who didn't cheat, and doesn't like cheating, speaks up against it because she thinks it is wrong and she gets blacklisted for it. Instead of people speaking with her about it, they ignore her. It is not right for this to happen.

-- Concerned Mom, housewife and mom (posted 1/20, 10:29 a.m., E.S.T.)

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