What I'm currently in a mess about is this. For
Chemistry we were spposed to write a protest
letter to some high ranking official(s) in our
area about a certain toxin based on groups. I was
in Costa Rica the day that my group discussed who
to write to and what to write about, and I didn't
know about the project, much less the subject,
until the class before the rough draft was due. I
just woulnd up BSing up a letter from the vague
hints dropped by one of my groupmates. I still
didn't know what the hell to write about when it
came time to write the final, so I got one of my
groupmates, and friends, to e-mail me his letter,
and I was then going to see what he was writing
and do a letter off of that. I was flooded with
homework that night, and I didn't have a whole lot
of time to work, so I did what most people would
do, that being taking his letter, making minor
alterations, and turning it in as my own.

I thought I was fine, until today when my chem
teacher told me his concern, and reffered me to
the class dean about it. I told her exactly what
I said above, and she told me that there would be
no disciplinary action taken, only because I was
honest, and under the circumstances it wasn't a
huge offence. So Thank God that I'm out of that
mess, not suspended, that is.

A friend of mine got into a similar problem in 8th
grade, for bringing a knife to school, just for
show. When he got into trouble, he honestly and
completely explained what had happened, and he got
off, but only because he was totally truthful in
his explanation, as was I.

The moral of this story is to be perfectly honest
when something like this is on the line, when your
integrity is in question. People trust you more
if you tell the truth, even if you the truth is
against you.

Finchplucker