Pierce – Zuhrić 1

Ellen Pierce and Selma Zuhrić

AP English Lang. and Comp.

26 November 2018

A Historic Proposal

For preventing the students of Cozen High School from violating the principles of the Bunco

Township School District and for making their actions beneficial to the public.

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One does not have to be a teacher to understand the grim reality surrounding the lack of

students’ academic integrity at Cozen High School. They would merely have to look around a

classroom during an assessment to witness the crimes of the students. Heads turning, eyes

wandering, faint whispers, a glance at a half-hidden sheet of paper​—​all evidence of the cheating.

The amount of the school’s youth who have committed this atrocious crime is astounding. The

staff is partly to blame, for they have become more relaxed throughout the years, gradually

allowing for this disease to grow and spread. The current disciplinary methods are clearly

ineffective in regulating this issue that negatively affects the entire district. Therefore, if anyone

were to suggest a just, easy, and inexpensive solution, they must be provided with the full

support of the community and the undivided attention of the respected members of the Township

who have the power to implement such an idea.

Our proposal aims to remedy the problem. With just three simple steps, the currently

common practice of cheating among the student body will, without a doubt, be eradicated. This

however, is only the beginning to the beneficial results of our proposal.

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It is not just the school​—​which will become more diverse, gain improved statistics

involving standardized testing, and see an influx of money from the government​—​that will reap

the benefits of this proposal. The students themselves will acquire additional incentive to

complete their school work and truly learn the material. Even the community will prosper

through great economic growth. This proposal will not only prevent cheating, but solve problems

we didn’t even know we had.

As teachers, it is in our nature to think of improved methods of instruction to best aid our

students. Years ago, we began to deliberate on this issue of cheating that has plagued our school

in the hopes of finding a system to cleanse the student body. As a result, our most perfect

proposal, the solution to all the school’s problems, emerged from the past.

The prevailing issue of cheating within our school must be remedied by a series of more

harsh punishments. The current methods of discipline in place such as providing zeros on

assessments, detentions, referrals, or suspensions are futile. In a survey of public and private high

school students conducted by the Josephson Institute Center for Youth Ethics, 59% admitted to

cheating on a test during the previous year (“Plagiarism: Facts & Stats.”). As history teachers, it

is clear to see that methods employed throughout early history were truly effective in

maintaining order during those eras. Our simple, three-step proposal stems from the

consideration of bringing these methods back into practice.

To begin, students have discovered, and continue to invent, new ways to cheat on

assessments. They use their cell phone, a cheat sheet, or glance at another’s paper. In most

early-level classrooms, teachers will insist upon putting up folders to prevent the latter. This

practice usually does not carry on into the high schools, however. It is from this that we have
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devised the consequence for a student’s first offense. After being caught cheating, the delinquent

will immediately be placed into a small, closet-like room with minimal furnishings besides a

bucket of water and a pail for waste. No visitors will be allowed to enter the room, as the student

will be left in the darkness to reflect on his or her actions for the following seven days. Craig

Haney, professor of psychology at the University of California Santa Cruz has stated that

circumstances of isolation such as these are “especially frightening, traumatizing, and stressful

for juveniles” (Dimon). An experience of solitary confinement such as this would leave a mark

on the child, teaching them a lesson that stays with them for life.

Those which, yet again, despite the former attempt of confinement to deter their behavior,

decide to participate in the abhorrent practice of cheating should be subject to a more serious

penalty. This shows that there is a clear flaw within the student’s character, as their time

reflecting has been all for naught. It is known that one of the most common practices of

academic dishonesty while taking assessments is not necessarily a solitary act. Most teachers can

vouch for the fact that there are a variety of manners in which multiple students conspire to

benefit their scores on assessments. Papers may be passed around underneath desks, answers

whispered or mouthed out in hopes of not being caught, answer sheets slyly left exposed for

eager eyes to look towards. Students who provide their own intellect for others to copy are

ethically entirely as guilty as those copying off of them. Therefore, those caught in the act should

be punished appropriately. If the mental torment of being confined is not enough for the student

to understand the depravity of their actions, they should be left with a more physical reminder of

their wrongdoing. If caught copying, the most beneficial course of action would be to send them

to have one of their eyes enucleated​—permanently ​removed​—in order to allow them to truly
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“see” the degeneracy of their act. Second-time cheaters on the terms that they have provided

their work to be copied off of shall face a similar fate in which they have their non-dominant

hands amputated, representing the work they have freely “given” for the other student’s benefit.

Specific rooms will be constructed for both actions, and professionals employed in order to

conduct said procedures in a reliable, effective manner. Once done, these appendages and

eyeballs may be donated to nearby hospitals for use in research and cornea, finger, and hand

transplants to those in need—those more worthy.

Now, if a student decides to defy the system a third time, he or she clearly is in need of a

more efficacious penalty. A third offense reveals that the student cannot learn from past mistakes

and has no sense of discipline. This will not be tolerated at Cozen High School. These students

would be of more use if they weren’t here at all. Therefore, we propose to hold an assembly

during the lunch period every other Friday. The school will have built a platform on stage for the

student body to gather around. Every third-time cheater caught during the previous two weeks

will be brought up onto the platform where the principal awaits, along with the method of

punishment: a guillotine. All the delinquents’ heads will be severed, one at a time, for the

purpose of preserving the population of hard-working individuals at Cozen.

Following this three-step system will provide a variety of benefits to both the state of

Cozen High School and the region of Bunco Township at large. For one, consider the sheer

improvement of the school’s various statistics. As stated, those students who actively care about

their educations will work even harder to improve their scores, as they know they cannot fall

upon the crutch of cheating to do so. Furthermore, students will be motivated by fear of
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retribution to perform well, utilizing their own knowledge, on assessments. This will

subsequently improve our building and district’s overall standardized testing scores.

Our school, already fairly diverse as is, could provide an even more worldly experience

to the children. Again, at the second-level of this proposed system, students will have one of

their eyes removed, making them half blind, while others shall have one of their hands

amputated. This increases rates of disability within the district, allowing for our students to get

exposed to an even wider variety of people and viewpoints. Those facing this level of

punishment shall also provide an impact greater than thought at first glance, as the effect of their

transgressions could change the lives of others though the donation of body parts. Therefore, the

students not only learn to halt their damaging behavior, but learn to understand and give.

Additionally, the amount of monetary support provided by the State would increase with the

number of disabled members of the student body. This would balance out the funding lost

through the potential decrease in the student population as a result of the third level of

punishment.

Thirdly, the employment of a staff dedicated in ensuring the most safe, effective

punishment of our students could create for a variety of amazing job opportunities throughout the

district. This, along with the improvements in school statistics, shall drive up nearby property

values, bringing wealth into our community and improving the status of the general economy.

Lastly, a quite touching set of benefits arises from the final level of punishment. These

routine assemblies would become something for the students of Cozen High School to look

forward to, a common event for the student body bond over and participate in together. Various

clubs, classes, and organizations within the school can participate, with Leadership learning new
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skills in creating themes to keep it fresh, and Media and Communications learning how to use

their platforms to advertise the assembly in a unique way.

As can be seen, implementing a more strict system of punishment for those who cheat

would be beneficial in decreasing the rates of cheating throughout our building. Any others who

would dare to suggest a more perfect solution are mistaken. We simply cannot entertain even the

thought of additional methods: of training students to adopt a growth mindset: of offering more

study and review sessions after school to prepare for a test: of individualizing learning through

developing means of ensuring that each student is taught all of the material they need to know

and given enough time to learn it in order to avoid frantic studying. Simply think of the sheer

volume of time teachers would have to spend attaining this! Curriculum would have to be

rewritten, countless hours would have to be spent helping students out. We are grossly

overworked already. Thinking of the current political climate as well, paying us more is clearly

out of the question. Again, our proposed solution is far superior to the severely flawed

aforementioned propositions, as it is a true long-term investment in the growth of our children’s

futures.

This three-stage proposal, suggesting a staggered approach to cheating-related

punishment, has the potential to be valuable in a variety of ways. The stages, with the first stating

that the cheater be placed in solitary confinement for seven days, the next getting one of their

eyes or hands removed, and the final involving public execution in a school-wide event every

other Friday, shall surely terminate the appalling action of cheating in our building. If properly

implemented, this proposal could change the state of our school district as we know it. Do you

want the children of Bunco Township Schools to be sent out with the disadvantage that dealing
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with the burden of habitual cheating has imposed on them? Or would you rather produce

students strong and ready for the “real world” whilst providing an innumerable amount of other

advantages? The choice is yours.

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Works Cited

Dimon, Laura. “How Solitary Confinement Hurts the Teenage Brain.” ​The Atlantic​, Atlantic

Media Company, 30 June 2014,

www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/06/how-solitary-confinement-hurts-the-teenage

-brain/373002/.

“Plagiarism: Facts & Stats.” ​Plagiarismorg RSS,​ Turnitin, 7 June 2017,

www.plagiarism.org/article/plagiarism-facts-and-stats.