"Cheating Upwards"

I am somewhat amazed when I read this paper. It just seems incredible to me that so many people would get together and cheat. It's somewhat shocking, not that they cheated, but that it was so wide spread. It seems stupid to me personally and it makes me rather angry. I agree with those students who are angry that they had to take a test while others cheated. Nayeem was obviously an intelligent student, and as he realized at the end of the ordeal, he could have studied his way out of it. I just can't agree that what he did was alright. I find it interesting that he is still trying to justify his actions even though he seems to know they are wrong. The author did a wonderful job telling the story. While I didn't want to read the article again, by page two I was into it. He has a very smooth writing technique that connects everything and leads the reader through the article. Until

the end Nayeem is portayed as a sort of Robin Hood character, helping out the poor uneducated masses of Stuyvesant. But when you think about it, non of them are uneducated and they didn't need his help, they needed to study. Sometimes you get bad grades and you just have to live with it. Half of the exam rigmarole is freaking out with the rest of the student body and bemoaning you fate afterwards.

Something I noticed when reading this the first time was the principle often told the students that they would have to choose two options out of sleep, friends, or grades. I took it seriously, thinking the work load at Michigan would be brutal. Now reading through it, I know I can handle it. I think my reaction overall is the same, but also, this being the second time I've read it, I was not as shocked.