SAT Fraud

          An unsettlingly complex system of cheating on SAT tests has been exposed to daylight. A student with near-perfest grades was revealed to be the center of a sophisticated fraud operation involving real money and real consequences. The student in question seemed to be a perfect example to follow- smart, athletic, and spirited. However, he was taking bribes from other students to do their SAT test for them. To accomplish this, he forged a cheap ID for each of his "clients", thus proving the lax security measures in the test. Then he would simply sit down and do the test perfectly, before recieving the money from his client, up to $2500 each. He was arrested and was relieved with the burden of community service on his shoulders. He knew by all means that what he was doing was dishonest, but he justified it to himself after hearing that there had previously been people doing this at his high school. He regrets what he did and is now trying to make up for it by teaching the kids he would previously had accepted bribes from how to do SATs well on their own.

          How do I feel about all this? Well, I think it is in some ways a noble cause- he was trying to give kids a chance to have brighter futures than they otherwise would. However, it is also foolish- it is against the point of education, as the kids are not getting any better at their subjects and the test did not gather any data about them at all. What happens to them once their false perfect score gets them into the advanced classes they would otherwise not be taking? They won't be prepared for it. Also, there is the money- if what the perfect scorer wants is to give kids a chance, why didn't he simply set up a class to teach them how SATs work?