Here's a true story.

[Firespirit]

I was planning on posting this later this week, but with the general mood tonight being what it is (i.e., Drama Queen Central--no offense to anyone in particular), I decided that tonight is as good a time as any.

------

The following is a true, unembellished account of something that happened at my former high school in 2002. Lately I've been thinking a lot about it, and you will understand why. I wanted to share this in the hope that it will be inspirational.

The story requires a little background. In 2000, my good friend, my second cousin, and I were the top three in our class. The consensus was that one of us would be valedictorian when our class graduated. However, I never graduated. By May of 2000 I had realized that there was serious corruption in my high school, had had several personal disputes with the administration over abuse of power and deliberate misapplication of rules, and had even witnessed my parents singled out and called liars by the superintendent of education in a nasty (and unsuccessful) campaign to unseat him in which we were involved. I could not stomach the thought of staying on, so I applied for admission to college under a special policy, got admitted, and got the heck out of that place. It turned out that my class rank had been 1st, but it didn't matter to me anymore. I worked on my friend to take the same steps, but she wouldn't.

Flash forward two years. My friend and my relative were neck in neck for the top spot. The way the school determines ranking is, the one with the highest grade point average is valedictorian. If there is a tie, it is to be broken by comparing the numerical averages (e.g., an average of 98%).

I had firsthand accounts, from the person herself, of my relative obtaining "bonus points" (and thus inflating her numerical average) through acts that bordered on bribing the teachers. She was proud of it and would boast of it in instant messages, which I saved. I was disgusted with what she was doing and hoped that my friend would beat her and take her down a notch, but I didn't let her know that. I figured that she was doing this stuff because she was afraid that she wasn't going to get the top spot otherwise. I didn't sweat it, because I thought that there was simply no way that she could get everyone to inflate her grades, and it would all end up being wasted effort.

I expect most people here can guess the ending of this, but here goes...

Spring 2002, and my relative is announced to be the valedictorian. Nope, not on the basis of a fraudulent tiebreaking numerical average, but on her grade point average.

In talking with my friend and her mother, I passed on the incriminating conversations to them both. They were going to go before the administration and complain. I gave them the stuff in the hope not of getting the result changed, but in exposing the despicable things that had been happening and casting a cloud over my cousin's "triumph."

Then I found out that they had better goods than I. My cousin had been working in the office and it was well known that she had access to the computer records of everyone's grades, although she could not change them herself. (And I believe that; she has never been even marginally computer literate, much less a hacker.) Apparently, my cousin told my friend that she had asked the office staff to change a grade of B to an A, and that they did it. That little alteration put her over the top with the grade point average, and the numerous instances of padding her legitimate A's resulted in her numerical average being every bit as fraudulent.

Needless to say, the office staff denied it all, and of course my cousin wouldn't own up to her earlier statements in front of everyone. My friend and her mother had no written proof of their main assertion.

However, my friend's mother DID bring the instant messages with my cousin bragging of sweet-talking and bribing teachers into giving her extra points. The teachers involved owned up to it. So, with that much confirmed, it wasn't a great leap of faith for anyone to believe the office staff to be liars. But again... it was all denial, and they had the power of decision as well.

My friend didn't press the matter. The only appeal would have been to the school board, and it was common knowledge that they would not undermine the decision of a principal. So, my cousin was "crowned."

The whole protest was done during the middle of a busy day. It was public and spread around the school--and thus the community--within days. The result was that my cousin's "honor" was tarnished with the suspicion--or, among some, the knowledge--of its having been illegitimately obtained. At graduation, it was known that she was the valedictorian because the administration and teachers had WANTED her to be the valedictorian.

To this day my friend and her mother are glad that they stood up and went public, even if it didn't accomplish everything they would have liked.

It's always better to bring such deeds to light. Whatever comes of it--in any such situation--it's guaranteed to make you feel better. If you don't do it, you will spend a very long time wondering, "Could I have changed this? Did I do all that I could? What if I'd..." And that's far worse than seeing your actions fail to bring about your best-case scenario.

[Left coast liberal]

1. Wow! Some story. Where do you live? Sheesh...

[liberalhistorian]

2. That's very true,

I really wish Kerry had done that instead of caving in so quickly. The reason that people like your cousin (and Bush and his ilk) get away with their bullshit is because the nice people ALLOW them to; they don't want to "cause any trouble" and shit like that. TO HELL WITH THAT!

[Der Blaue Engel]

4. I'm not sure you got the message of the story

Or maybe I inferred my own out of wishful thinking. :)

[Firespirit]

5. The story wasn't meant to be a Kerry hit piece

Or a hit piece on anybody. I'm sorry if it is being taken that way. It was intended to be a little bit of inspiration tonight, with the rollercoaster going on.

Kind of like in Two Towers. "If this is to be our end, then I would have them make SUCH an end as to be worthy of remembrance."

That said, I'm not sure it is at all. The Boxer tidbit is great if true.

I will not do a Kerry hit piece; after reading the notorious Newsweek "article," I felt so sorry for him that I'm quite ready to forgive just about anything he does. If the author's intent was to provoke contempt for him, it didn't work. I realized how depressed he must be and all I could think of was that I wished I could comfort him. :hug:

BTW, my cousin is a rabid right-wing Republican and * supporter. The neocon ideology does attract a certain type of person. As far as I'm aware, she has not learned to write computer programs, nor has she been in the vicinity of Ohio, Florida, or New Mexico lately.

I'd disown her, except that we are not first cousins and therefore have little forced contact. Fortunately.

[Der Blaue Engel]

7. Not to meander away from the forum topic, but I had a similar experience

I was in the top three in my school as well, and was accused of padding to get there, because I had dropped out of school and done correspondence for a year due to severe agoraphobia after my mom died. Correspondence courses were VERY easy to get A's in, and I acknowledged that I hadn't taken some of the more challenging courses the other two had taken. I hadn't "skated by" intentionally, but it still rankled them.

Meanwhile number one also kept me from getting a few "points" by discouraging me from joining the Honor Society (she was the President) because I asked her if I really had to do a lot of volunteering to be a member, and it pissed her off. (I didn't realize at the time that either of us were even in the running for Valedictorian, but she certainly did.)

Lucky for us all, I was actually way too afraid of public speaking to deal with being either Valedictorian or Salutatorian, so I deliberately fucked off one class my last semester to get a B. :)

It was rumored that the Salutatorian slept her way to number two, and hadn't a brain in her head.

:shrug:

I frankly couldn't have cared less about ranking. Funny how people get so embroiled in such stuff.

[me b zola]

14. There is a lot to be said for doing the right thing,

regardless of the outcome or potential costs. Perhaps the Senate needs to be reminded of this.;)

And you are correct,imo, that the right-wing attracts a certain personality--win at any cost. My brother is right-wing and is unfeeling a bastid as you would never want to come across.

Anyway, thank-you for sharing.

[satya]

3. Thanks--I needed that!

And one of the reasons I volunteered for the Kerry campaign was because I wanted to know that I'd done everything I could to try to stop this madness. Thanks for the uplifting post.

[Acryliccalico]

6. Nice Hypothetical,

but I don't like to let lier's or cheaters or thieves get away with things because that is like telling them that it is OK and they can do anything they please. Hey..........it's OK. Then they go on to do worse things. (I would not have let her get away with it because it's not good for you or HER). This is taken from counseling substance abusers.

[Der Blaue Engel]

8. Point is, though, that even if you can't prove fraud...

...you can make sure everyone knows about it, and little miss ethics-less loses all pretense of legitimacy. The little house of card around her tumbles ever faster from that point.

(Am I close?)

[Acryliccalico]

10. Yes

They can't be alowed to hide their deceptions. You have to call them on it every time.

[Firespirit]

9. It seems that I was obtuse....

I'm not sure that folks are taking this in the way I'd hoped. That's probably the fault of my writing.

Some clarifications are in order.

1. It's not hypothetical, nor exaggerated. This happened. I've been thinking about it because the parallels are amazing.

2. The point of it, at least what I'm trying to get across, is that there are some fights where we ARE disadvantaged, sometimes outright whipped from the start. My friend's experience was one of them. The 6th will show whether the fight for an investigation is another. But we must fight anyway, because we can't live with ourselves if we don't. No matter how this turns out, I can live with myself and my own actions.

I'm just saying that IF the worst happens, and we don't get a Senator, we can all say -- "Well, we did our best." We won't be tormented by "What if we'd done X thing."

I don't know about anyone else, but that's worth something to me, to be able to say that.

[Der Blaue Engel]

11. Actually, you were abstruse

WE'RE being obtuse. ;)

[Firespirit]

13. Ohhh.. I plead caffeine.

6 cups of coffee and three glasses of tea.

:donut:

Plus, the usual: It was a DUDQ night.

And yes, you are definitely being obtuse. But you made me laugh, and that's good.

[Acryliccalico]

12. It is worth something

but you have to keep calling them on their lies. Lying is what they do the most because they have something to hide. ( addiction, theft, nefarious acting out,) The best thing about calling them out every chance you get is that it starts to open their eyes and their family's eyes and they are finally able to see the right road ahead. If they are left to their lying they believe the lies and so does everyone around them and eventually they fall very very hard. Their family is torn apart and everyone around them is in confusion. They lose the ability to determine reality.

[RevCheesehead]

15. I'm glad I stayed up long enough to read your post.

I agree, the DUDQ is in full force - and probably will be until next week. (I've decided to watch w/humor and/or sarcasm.)

What strikes me is that your friend and her mother not only DID the right thing, but they were glad they spoke out. They could have just remained silent, knowing they were robbed; but they spoke out, and now your relative will always have that "little secret" about her, which will be remembered at class reunions, etc., for years to come.

We also need to remember that the truth will ALWAYS get out - eventually. However, I believe that the sooner we deal with problems, the easier they are to solve. Letting little problems grow into bigger problems is often disastrous.

I think this is your best part:
"It's always better to bring such deeds to light. Whatever comes of it--in any such situation--it's guaranteed to make you feel better. If you don't do it, you will spend a very long time wondering, "Could I have changed this? Did I do all that I could? What if I'd..." And that's far worse than seeing your actions fail to bring about your best-case scenario."

Peace to you, Firespirit! :)