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Metal Detector Wands Used to Thwart Stuyvesant HS Cheaters
By
John Del Signore
Published May 13, 2009
Modified May 13, 2009
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By
John Del Signore
Published May 13, 2009
Modified May 13, 2009
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Administrators at Stuyvesant High School have been using handheld metal detectors on students—not to detect weapons but to disarm cheaters who might use their mobile devices during a test. Teens at the elite public school in lower Manhattan were outraged when the wands were introduced recently during two weeks of AP testing. One student tells the Post, "To wand students is absurd. If they can't tell kids are using a cellphone to cheat, it's their own fault. Next thing, we're going to have to take our shoes off like we're going through the airport." And then they'll be forced to take tests naked like they're cutting coke for some paranoid drug lord! Another student also argues that "wanding is pointless. You can cheat in so many other ways." Principal Stanley Teitel declined to comment, but Dr. Teddi Fishman, director of the Center for Academic Integrity, says the tactic is counterproductive, because it creates "an adversarial relationship where students try to get away with [cheating] and we try to stop them... Anything that can be cheated on easily is usually too simplistic a test."
Tagged
cheating
metal detector
students
stuyvesant high school
wands
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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