I have seen some of the examples given in the article "The Child Trap" played out in real life. A girl in my high school class - we'll call her "Kelly" - had never been the brightest girl in the class. I believe it was in our junior year when one day, after having not studied at all for a big AP History test, Kelly leans over to get a better look at the test of the girl sitting next to her so that she can cheat. Not being able to get a good enough look, she starts whispering to the girl, "Hey! What's the answer to questions 3 through 17?" Kelly, completely misses the most important aspect of cheating - trying to not get caught. She does nothing to hide her attempts at cheating from the teacher, who quickly catches her and takes her test, giving Kelly an automatic zero percent. The teacher also reports her to the vice-principal who gives her an in-school-suspension.
This is where the story starts paralleling the examples in the article. You see, Kelly's parents are both lawyers. Furthermore, there is no way they're going to let this teacher and this vice-principal get away with punishing their precious child with such unspeakable horrors. They've gotten Kelly out of messes like this before (no, this is not the first time Kelly has done this) and they're not afraid to do it again. Kelly's parents threaten the school with a lawsuit, and whaddaya know! The school backs down. Kelly doesn't get an in-school-suspension; she doesn't even get a detention. In fact, the only thing she gets is the opportunity to take a make up exam to replace the one she cheated on! Thanks to Kelly's lawyer parents, she can get away scot free with all kinds of untold academic mischief. It's ridiculous, but that's life, I suppose.
DISCLAIMER: Names have been changed to protect the guilty.
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