Fall 2015 Edition
Should United States Public Schools Close for Muslim Holidays? JULIUS L. ?16
O Rebecca G. '16.
Cheating in School and Society: Do the Ends Justify the Means?
I
RYAN S. '17 was five years old the first time I heard the word cheat. My kindergarten teacher led me into a room separate from the rest of the class. She sat me down and told me I had cheated on my spelling test.
She explained that cheated meant I had looked at another classmate?s paper. She wanted to see that I could spell the words ?cat,? ?bat,? ?mat,? and ?chat,? and not necessarily that my classmate could. I didn?t understand why cheating was so bad; after all, it was much easier to copy my friend?s paper, and I wound up spelling all the words correctly. Wasn?t that the goal anyway? Cheating has always played a central role in society and always will. It?s ubiquitous. It?s inevitable. We see it in classrooms (while no major cheating scandals have occurred at Beth Tfiloh, we hear about them from schools nationwide), on professional sports fields, and in corporate settings. This is all for personal gain, for reaching that goal we simply can?t achieve on our own (or so we think). Some say, ?The ends justify the means.? It?s disgusting. We all know that cheating occurs frequently in the school environment. Just four years ago, Sam Eshaghoff, a student at Great North Neck High School in New York, made national news when police arrested him and charged him with fraud and criminal impersonation for taking the SAT and ACT exams for his fellow students. These students paid Eshaghoff thousands of dollars to take one of the most important tests of
their lives for them. Unfortunately, things turned out well for these students. They got accepted into colleges that otherwise would not have even considered them. Believe it or not, by Educational Testing Service rules, universities cannot be notified of any suspected or confirmed accounts of cheating by their students. So here?s a group of students who cut corners in their efforts to attend the colleges of their dreams, denying those who had actually worked for a place in those universities their opportunities. They selfishly bought their way into college. Does this end justify its means? We learn from a very young age that cheating is not only wrong in every sense of the matter, but also leaves those who cheat with blemished reputations, which, for the most part, prove irreparable. Eshaghoff previously was known as a top-of-the-class student, vice president of his school?s investment club and an elite varsity athlete. Add con man to that list. Athletes such as Mark McGwire, Alex Rodriguez, and Barry Bonds will never rid their reputations of using Performance-Enhancing Drugs (PEDs). Even without PEDs, these players were remarkably talented, but the desire for even more homeruns, more fame, and more fortune, reduced them to cheating. Now, they will live the rest of their lives pleading for places in the Hall of Fame. They will perpetually be known not for their accomplishments on the field, but rather for their role in cheating America?s
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n the major Jewish holidays of Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah, many United States public schools, located in areas with significant Jewish populations, either close or excuse observant students and faculty members. With an increasing number of Muslim children enrolled in the nation?s public school system, the debate becomes whether schools should also close for Muslim holidays, Eid al-Adha and Eid al-Fitr. As Hannah Shraim, a sophomore at Northwestern High School in Germantown, Md., questioned, ?do they really have to schedule [the PSAT] the day after Eid? They would never schedule a test after Christmas.? Legislation to close New York City public schools for the two Muslim holidays was ratified in March of 2015. Bill de Blasio, 109th mayor of New York City, even added that the decision was a ?common-sense change,? stating that Muslim families should not be forced to choose between attending school versus and religious observances. A Muslim coalition in Montgomery County, Md., where such legislation was stalled in 2014 by the county?s decision to remove all religious references to holidays on the calendar, lobbied from a different approach, arguing that by one count, there are at least 12,000 Muslims living in that county alone. There are now eight mosques in the area, demonstrating continued growth in recent years. When the school system tracked the absentee rate on Eid al-Adha two years ago, officials ruled it insufficient to merit it a holiday. However, this coalition emerged victorious when the county Board of Education voted this November to give a one-day-long holiday for Eid-al-Adha. Muslim families argue that they belong to a religious minority and it is crucial for their children to grow up celebrating as many significant holidays as possible. County boards of education maintain that the number of absences during these holidays must be significant enough to negatively affect class sizes before legislation is passed nationwide. The only solution seems to be either complete accommodation for every religion or no school closings for any religion. Rachel R. ?16 said, ?Public schools should close based on the number of absentees on religious holidays because otherwise, it is an endless debate arguable from either side.? If Muslim populations across the United States can demonstrate a substantial number of absentees on their religious holidays, then perhaps Eid al-Adha and Eid al-Fitr will join other religious holidays on public school calendars on a national scale.