Suspicion of cheating leads to paranoid teachers

I agreed with many of the points made by Daniel Cucher in his April 12 column, "Distrust begets cheating." I am aware of cheating on campus, so it isn't hard for me to understand why many teachers would adopt the "cheat and I'll kill you" approach. Unfortunately, I have been on the receiving end of a teacher's paranoid suspicion. No, the teacher did not kill me, but I was nevertheless hurt and offended by his accusation that I changed an answer on a test and turned it in for a re-grade. Why would I change the answer to a test I got a 96 on? I wouldn't change the answer even if I got a two on it.

His clever organic chemistry grader marked my answer wrong when the structure that I drew was correct, but upside down (orientation didn't matter for this test). In fact, the grader's red mark was placed in such a strategic way that it looked as if I really did change the answer. C-O-N-spiracy, maybe? Months later I found out that this teacher's paranoia was unleashed on another innocent student.

After that incident with my teacher, I hated going to class and sitting through his lecture and jokes knowing that he thought I was a cheater. I made an effort to continue as I did before with my learning, but my mind was just not on o-chem. So, obviously, my learning was negatively affected by a teacher passionately trying to prevent cheating in his class. Paranoid teachers are wary of the inevitable cheating. However, they must also consider the repercussions of their actions in the event they catch the wrong person. Perhaps, with this in mind, they can invent a different, less dictatorial way of curbing cheating.

Ada Dieke
general biology senior

'Stop giving to panhandlers' an important campaign

I'm writing in response to Erik Salcido's letter in the April 12 paper about giving money to panhandlers. I think it's great that he'll give a dollar to a homeless person so that they can buy a taco or a hamburger. But, since Mr. Salcido is most likely paying only $2,490 for his in-state tuition, shouldn't he be able to give the homeless at least $5 a day? I would naturally guess that his parents are paying all of his costs as well. It certainly has never hurt me to give someone less fortunate than myself a buck or two, but I think the old adage goes something like this: "Give a man a dollar, and he can buy a taco for lunch; give a man an opportunity to earn a dollar, and he can buy all the tacos he wants for the rest of his life."

I would like to see a world where no one is hungry and no one lives on the street. I think the importance of the signs and flyers seen on Fourth Avenue is that it shows people that they can reclaim the "lost" pride they once had by seeking help from an organization geared toward getting them off the street. Rather than a handout, let's give these people a helping hand in reestablishing themselves; the only way we can do this is to donate our money to organizations that help feed, clothe, house and train the disadvantaged.

Kimberly M. Terpe
senior majoring in English and creative writing

Can't force students to stay in school

Quote from Adam Sollers' April 15 letter: "Kids can't be leaving school early ... and laws need to be set to regulate that." Either I've missed the announcement of our transformation into a totalitarian state, or Adam Sollers has lost his goddamn mind.

First, "kids"? The unfortunate choice of terminology isn't unique to Mr. Sollers. Anyone who has a beef with the behavior of college students stoops first to "kids." Old people do it. Republicans do it. And sometimes, even other students do it. Adam, are you a kid? Not if you're older than 18. Which means, and get ready for this, it could be life changing - you don't have to go to school if you don't want to. You are an adult. If you want to leave to pursue a $5 million career, you can. If you want to leave to go live in a sewer, well, you can do that, too.

Second, unsettling laws? We should make laws against "kids" (meaning, of course, autonomous adults) leaving college? It took me a minute to read Mr. Sollers' letter, but about 10 to recover from the shock. So, Mr. Sollers, since you don't like "kids" leaving school until they're all done, college should be mandatory. Fine. But, you know, I don't like you leaving the table until you're done eating your meatloaf. Somebody should make a law! Yeah!

Come on, Mr. Sollers. Grow up. This is the real world.

Melanie Wilke
pre-computer science sophomore