Read the following excerpt from a news story. Then, using appropriate support, write an editorial for your school or local newspaper in which you develop a position on the issues raised in this news story.
PIPER, Kansas (AP) - High school teacher Christine Pelton wasted no time after discovering that nearly a fifth of her biology students had plagiarized their semester projects from the Internet. She had received her rural Kansas district's backing before when she accused students of cheating, and she expected it again this time after failing the 28 sophomores. Her principal and superintendent agreed:It was plagiarism and the students should get a zero for the assignment.
But after parents complained, the Piper School Board ordered her to go easier on the guilty.Pelton resigned in protest in an episode that some say reflects a national decline in integrity."This kind of thing is happening every day around the country, where people with integrity are not being backed by their organization," said Michael Josephson,founder and president of the Josephson Institute of Ethics in Marina del Rey, California.