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Sample Student Essay—Summary-and-Response Example #1

A summary of, and a response to, Leonard Pitts’ essay “Your Kid’s Going to Pay for Cheating—Eventually”

Leonard Pitts Jr., in his essay “Your Kid’s Going to Pay for Cheating—Eventually” describes a recent situation where a school board fired a teacher for trying to enforce sensible rules against cheating. According to Pitts, when the school board ordered Christine Pelton to soften her punishment, it went against the integrity and moral character she was trying to instill in her students. When teachers have policies stating cheating will not be tolerated, then it is the student’s responsibility to follow those instructions and rules. If they are caught cheating or plagiarizing then they should have to pay the consequences. Ms. Pelton stated in the syllabus, signed by the students and their parents, that cheating would not be tolerated. Therefore, handing out 28 zeros to the students who did not do the assignment was an acceptable punishment. 

The school board should have stood behind their teacher and told the outraged parents that their children were given the opportunity to make up the assignment or take the zero. When the children opted to not take the makeup assignment, the school board should have firmly stood behind Ms. Pelton in handing out those 28 zeros. Instead, they made it look as though they did not agree with Ms. Pelton’s decisions and in doing so they taught the students nothing except that they can get away with plagiarizing or cheating.

Teaching young minds undoubtedly begins in the home where the parents are the teachers.  Home is where children are given the foundation of morals that will mold them into what type of person they will become. When a child cheats it doesn’t mean the parents have failed, but when they rally to defend their cheating they have failed. It should be used as an educational opportunity where the students could learn they will have to pay for the consequences of their own actions, and this was not the case in Piper, Kansas.

Helping our youth to build good character is essential to moral development.  Pitts says it perfectly: “Reputation is about who you are when people are watching. Character is about who you are when nobody’s in the room but you. Both matter, but of the two, character is far and away the most important” (109). This is a great message.   What we teach our children whether at home or in our schools will determine what kind of person they will become and what kind of morals they will posses. 

 Christine Pelton resigned after being forced to soften her punishment which showed her true character. I see her as a person with high morals who is not afraid to stand up for what she believes in. I believe we need more teachers like Ms. Pelton who are actually interested in teaching our children valuable life lessons. We do our best at giving our children the foundation they will need out in the world, and when we send them off to school parents and teachers should share the same vision.