Poison Ivy aspirations
THINGS ARE getting ugly in the scenic Upper Connecticut River Valley town of Hanover, N.H., where as many as 50 high school students are suspected of playing some role in a cheating scandal that began with the theft of math and chemistry tests shortly before June final exams. Residents of the affluent town, which is also the host community of Dartmouth College, are now searching for answers of their own about the students' motives and what consequences they should face.
The stakes are highest for four students charged with criminal trespass and five others charged with being accessories to the crime based on their alleged role as lookouts. If convicted of the misdemeanor charges, students could be assessed a maximum fine of $1,200. Some parents and supporters of the accused students are stunned that the incidents led to criminal charges. Others suspect that parental pressure on high school students to attend selective, top-tier colleges may be at the root of the scandal.
It's bad enough that, in a recent survey by the nonprofit Josephson Institute of Ethics, 60 percent of high school students report they have cheated on an exam. It's the job of the schools, not the police, to deal with crib notes and the like. But 17-year-old students who break into a school for the purpose of cheating or any other reason must expect that police will respond and investigate. Stealing a test may be different from stealing a computer. But the initial breach looks the same.
This case would be especially pathetic if the motive indeed turns out to be an effort to cheat one's way into a prestigious college. Big names aren't everything. A PhD glut that began in the late 1960s means that professors with extraordinary commitments to scholarship might turn up anywhere. Perhaps families are really paying $45,000 a year for the quality of the student body at top-ranked colleges? An Ivy-worthy combined SAT score of 1450 may be impressive, but it's not a character reference - especially when wealthy parents are laying out $160 per hour for private test-prep tutors.
The accused students and their families have choices to make. In New Hampshire, misdemeanor convictions can be annulled three years after a person fulfills all of the conditions of a sentence. That beneficent provision could give these students an opportunity to wipe the slate clean before they enter the workforce. A guilty plea, therefore, could make a lot more sense than sparring with prosecutor Christopher O'Connor, who could elevate the charges to felonies.
O'Connor holds the cards. And he, incidentally, attended Southern Vermont College, where students are admitted with an average SAT score of 970. That's a lesson in itself for students at Hanover High.
