# Harvard to plagiarizing valedictorian: Buh Bye **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 11, 2003, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harvard-to-plagiarizing-valedictorian-buh-bye/187783 "2003-07-11T19:29:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2003, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harvard-to-plagiarizing-valedictorian-buh-bye/187783/101 "2003-07-14T14:45:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by quietman1920 \* > \*\*I never posted when this was hot. I think the girl got what was coming to her…but that the humility she learns may make her a better person in the long run. \*\* I’d tend to agree with this, too. After all, she’s 18, and the benefit of maturity and experience might teach her a Lesson. Of course, it’ll count for naught if her suit isn’t dropped and succeeds. Can you imagine how full of herself - how vindicated - she’ll feel if she wins? ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Tiger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Mama\_Tiger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Tiger)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2003, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harvard-to-plagiarizing-valedictorian-buh-bye/187783/102 "2003-07-14T14:52:49Z")
You really have to wonder, however, that if daddy is the driving force behind this – which I think is a fairly safe assumption to make; most high school kids are not this power-driven without something behind them driving them; IOW, she had to learn it somewhere – whether he is himself immune to embarrassment to the point where he will continue to press on in order to obtain what he believes is “fair” for his daughter. I realize this is hypothetical, but if she and daddy were willing to stomp that hard on her fellow students for such a dubious honor as valedictorian, and since she’s no longer attending that school system, why should they not continue to press their suit and attempt to achieve their version of “justice”? What I’m afraid of is that the school district will settle it just to make it go away, when it gets time-consuming and expensive enough to continue to fight it. I really hope they don’t, but that’s far too often what happens even in ridiculous lawsuits these days. ---
**Author:** ![Sock\_Munkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Sock\_Munkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sock_Munkey)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2003, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harvard-to-plagiarizing-valedictorian-buh-bye/187783/103 "2003-07-14T22:59:16Z")
I think more of us would be more forgiving on a personal level if it seemed that she was being properly penalized officially. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2003, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harvard-to-plagiarizing-valedictorian-buh-bye/187783/104 "2003-07-15T14:55:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Nightime \* > \*\*Actually, she did take PhysEd… and she got an A+. > > However, an A+ in PhysEd would have brought down her GPA, so she got the grade erased by getting excused from the class. > > She used this same strategy a number of other times - take a class, then if the grade is not good enough, get the grade erased based on the disability. She also took classes that nobody else at the school could take, and if a teacher did not give A+'s, she would get the grade erased or the class dropped, and take a class from a private tutor who was willing to give an A+. > > \*\* > [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Potter_ > **If someone’s stolen an idea to get somewhere, to get a job, whatever, then the pressure is now on them to come up with the goods. I’d hate to be in that position, waiting to be found out, worried I’d wasn’t up to where I’d gotten myself but knowing there’s no way out without admitting to everything and then watching everything fall apart.** There’s a connection there. This kind of grade manipulation is despicable enough, but it’s worse when you take into account the fact that Hornstein’s grades do not necessarily reflect her abilities. I mean, really: is a GPA the only way to measure someone’s academic worth? Did the student who got a 3.9 learn less than the one who got a 4.3? I believe I’ve said before that grades are often a measure of conformity. And I have a vague, nebulous memory of some case where a student’s work-study accomplishments were called into question because he’d worked for his mom, who was suspected of having given him an automatic A…Ring a bell for anyone? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harvard-to-plagiarizing-valedictorian-buh-bye/187783.md?page=5)