Letter
Winning Obsession Yields Cheating in School, Life
To the Editor:
America is obsessed with winning. We are obsessed with glamour. We consistently reward our imagined superstars with glory, unreasonable financial perks, and far too many headlines and cover stories.
Regular folks, on the other hand, get pink slips, high property taxes, and paltry savings for their golden years. Inevitably, then, with such high stakes in the game of winning, there's been rampant doping in the Olympics, steroids in baseball, and grand theft and fraud in our banking and financial institutions. The problem? Everyone wants to be a winner.
How do our government officials address this issue? They give us Race to the Top, and suddenly our great and historic system of public education is turned into a second-rate reality show. Educators are promised glory and money for winning. Losers get run off the island.
How on earth could anyone in America be taken aback by the cheating scandal in Atlanta ("Atlanta Cheating Scandal's Tentacles Said To Reach Far," April 17, 2013)? As Capt. Louis Renault famously exclaimed as he entered the casino in "Casablanca": "I'm shocked—shocked—to find that gambling is going on in here!"
Vol. 32, Issue 29, Page 25
Access selected articles, e-newsletters and more!
Viewed
Emailed
Recommended
Commented
Sponsored Whitepapers
• Best Practices in Information Management, Reporting and Analytics for Education
- Chief Innovation Officer
- The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE®), Washington, DC
- Senior Advisor, English Language Arts/Literacy Assessment
- Achieve, Washington DC, DC
- Chief Financial Officer
- Hernando County School Board, Brooksville, FL
- Principal - Chicago Metro Area West
- The Menta Group, Hillside, IL
- Common Core Literacy Assessment Developer - Part Time
- The Equity Project (TEP) Charter School, New York, NY



We encourage lively debate, but please be respectful of others. Profanity and personal attacks are prohibited. By commenting, you are agreeing to abide by our user agreement.
All comments are public.