Anonymous wrote:The benefit of forgiving them and letting them off the hook so to speak is the school and everyone involved would equally be freed from the curse of this event.

Many years have passed. Every time it comes up all parties are hurt all over again. It's time to let the school and everyone involved to heal.

The prudent thing to do would be to stop standing on ceremony and to let the healing begin. It would be great if Mr. Armstrong could facilitate this healing process during the last year of his tenure.

Well, you sound like a kind and compassionate person. But to the extent you are asking for what would amount to the school saying it made a mistake in expelling the two students for a serious honor violation, I just can't imagine that happening. If nothing else because they might worry about the message to current students. If the resolution you contemplate is something more private like inviting the two alums to feel welcome at alumni events and consider themselves part of the greater Landon family, perhaps something like that is possible. (Although I'd really assume the actually students have emotionally moved on -- it's been 11 years at this point.)

The benefit of forgiving them and letting them off the hook so to speak is the school and everyone involved would equally be freed from the curse of this event.

Many years have passed. Every time it comes up all parties are hurt all over again. It's time to let the school and everyone involved to heal.

The prudent thing to do would be to stop standing on ceremony and to let the healing begin. It would be great if Mr. Armstrong could facilitate this healing process during the last year of his tenure.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fact, ETS cancelled scores for many students at the Holton test site in areas of the Holton Test site where there were no Landon students. Landon found out who cheated from ETS and went after the perpetrators. Other schools were informed about irregular test scores, and chose to ignore the cheating of their students. These are irrefutable facts. Landon went after the cheaters and punished them. Other schools knew some of their students cheated and chose to ignore the events.

.

I am not a Landon basher but it wasn't as clean or clear-cut as you make it sound. In fact, it was the way Landon handled the situation that hurt its reputation and made the situation so much worse, as if the cheating wasn't bad enough.

I've always hoped Landon would make it right for the boys (today men) they punished. It must have been like having their hearts cut out. Hopefully, they have since graduated them and welcomed them back as alumni.

Inappropriate awarding of the victim mantle. I'm sure it was painful for the students who cheated and especially those who were expelled. It could not have happened had they not cheated. Hopefully they learned from it and it motivated them to do well honestly at the next phase of their education. I read the big Washingtonian article years ago and of course it was written from the point of view of the cooperating source -- one of the students who was expelled. Maybe it was 100% accurate, but every school I've ever heard of is more lenient on students who forthrightly admit what they did instead of continuing to lie. As I recall, the families with kids who were expelled were aggrieved that nobody helped counsel them that their kids would fare better if they came forward and admitted the cheating. That may reflect what turned out to be an unfortunate ignorance of unwritten "rules" of old school honor code type environments, that sort of outcome is actually fairly standard (significantly harsher punishment for additional lying).

You need not use the word victim.

Sure, your right on other points, but in the annals of history it goes down in the fine print in which no one reads or feels. The bottom line is that the offenses were the same but the punishments were not. That makes people recoil with revulsion. Then if not for the boys, then do it for the school. This is the one open-festering wound that no one ever forgets. As of today anytime a Landon kid gets a speeding ticket the haters come out en masse to run through a litany of real or imagined offenses. Call the boys whatever you wish, but you well know the offenses were the same, but the punishments were different.

For the boys, do the magnanimous thing and for the school do the prudent thing, make it right and heal this one festering scar.

I don't have anything to do with Landon, but I worked at a boarding school that certainly expelled students over the years for cheating or drug use. Mostly if they were fairly advanced students it was made known to them that they were welcome to participate in alumni events, reunions, etc. The school did not retroactively rescind the punishments or confer diplomas on them (after all, they'd graduated from other places) but I think they were considered members of their class for alumni purposes. Maybe the 2003 students from Landon have had something similar. Or perhaps it was a bad memory and they went on to make better memories elsewhere, and don't need that kind of gesture -- I don't know, because I don't know them. I can say, having read the article, that although it probably felt good in the short term dumping all over what they saw as Landon's unfairness, if they had to do it all over again they might not have wanted their son's name -- no pseudonym there -- there for the Googling in an article about the Landon cheating scandal. (On the other hand, the son's name was so very very common -- the equivalent of "John Smith" -- that it might not be a problem.)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fact, ETS cancelled scores for many students at the Holton test site in areas of the Holton Test site where there were no Landon students. Landon found out who cheated from ETS and went after the perpetrators. Other schools were informed about irregular test scores, and chose to ignore the cheating of their students. These are irrefutable facts. Landon went after the cheaters and punished them. Other schools knew some of their students cheated and chose to ignore the events.

.

I am not a Landon basher but it wasn't as clean or clear-cut as you make it sound. In fact, it was the way Landon handled the situation that hurt its reputation and made the situation so much worse, as if the cheating wasn't bad enough.

I've always hoped Landon would make it right for the boys (today men) they punished. It must have been like having their hearts cut out. Hopefully, they have since graduated them and welcomed them back as alumni.

Inappropriate awarding of the victim mantle. I'm sure it was painful for the students who cheated and especially those who were expelled. It could not have happened had they not cheated. Hopefully they learned from it and it motivated them to do well honestly at the next phase of their education. I read the big Washingtonian article years ago and of course it was written from the point of view of the cooperating source -- one of the students who was expelled. Maybe it was 100% accurate, but every school I've ever heard of is more lenient on students who forthrightly admit what they did instead of continuing to lie. As I recall, the families with kids who were expelled were aggrieved that nobody helped counsel them that their kids would fare better if they came forward and admitted the cheating. That may reflect what turned out to be an unfortunate ignorance of unwritten "rules" of old school honor code type environments, that sort of outcome is actually fairly standard (significantly harsher punishment for additional lying).

You need not use the word victim.

Sure, your right on other points, but in the annals of history it goes down in the fine print in which no one reads or feels. The bottom line is that the offenses were the same but the punishments were not. That makes people recoil with revulsion. Then if not for the boys, then do it for the school. This is the one open-festering wound that no one ever forgets. As of today anytime a Landon kid gets a speeding ticket the haters come out en masse to run through a litany of real or imagined offenses. Call the boys whatever you wish, but you well know the offenses were the same, but the punishments were different.

For the boys, do the magnanimous thing and for the school do the prudent thing, make it right and heal this one festering scar.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fact, ETS cancelled scores for many students at the Holton test site in areas of the Holton Test site where there were no Landon students. Landon found out who cheated from ETS and went after the perpetrators. Other schools were informed about irregular test scores, and chose to ignore the cheating of their students. These are irrefutable facts. Landon went after the cheaters and punished them. Other schools knew some of their students cheated and chose to ignore the events.

.

I am not a Landon basher but it wasn't as clean or clear-cut as you make it sound. In fact, it was the way Landon handled the situation that hurt its reputation and made the situation so much worse, as if the cheating wasn't bad enough.

I've always hoped Landon would make it right for the boys (today men) they punished. It must have been like having their hearts cut out. Hopefully, they have since graduated them and welcomed them back as alumni.

Inappropriate awarding of the victim mantle. I'm sure it was painful for the students who cheated and especially those who were expelled. It could not have happened had they not cheated. Hopefully they learned from it and it motivated them to do well honestly at the next phase of their education. I read the big Washingtonian article years ago and of course it was written from the point of view of the cooperating source -- one of the students who was expelled. Maybe it was 100% accurate, but every school I've ever heard of is more lenient on students who forthrightly admit what they did instead of continuing to lie. As I recall, the families with kids who were expelled were aggrieved that nobody helped counsel them that their kids would fare better if they came forward and admitted the cheating. That may reflect what turned out to be an unfortunate ignorance of unwritten "rules" of old school honor code type environments, that sort of outcome is actually fairly standard (significantly harsher punishment for additional lying).

Many years have passed since this incident took place. Mr. Armstrong has done a pretty good job of redeeming Landon's reputation. They have also installed some more compassionate members on the board. I'm not sure but, I heard recently Mr. Armstrong will be resigning after this next school year.

It would be a gracious and magnanimous thing for him to do during the last year of his tenure to forgive and pardon those young men. It would go a long way among local people for him to heal this particular scar on Landon's reputation by embracing these former students and making them whole again.

Even if the public was never made aware of the correction, it's never too late to do the right thing!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fact, ETS cancelled scores for many students at the Holton test site in areas of the Holton Test site where there were no Landon students. Landon found out who cheated from ETS and went after the perpetrators. Other schools were informed about irregular test scores, and chose to ignore the cheating of their students. These are irrefutable facts. Landon went after the cheaters and punished them. Other schools knew some of their students cheated and chose to ignore the events.

.

I am not a Landon basher but it wasn't as clean or clear-cut as you make it sound. In fact, it was the way Landon handled the situation that hurt its reputation and made the situation so much worse, as if the cheating wasn't bad enough.

I've always hoped Landon would make it right for the boys (today men) they punished. It must have been like having their hearts cut out. Hopefully, they have since graduated them and welcomed them back as alumni.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fact, ETS cancelled scores for many students at the Holton test site in areas of the Holton Test site where there were no Landon students. Landon found out who cheated from ETS and went after the perpetrators. Other schools were informed about irregular test scores, and chose to ignore the cheating of their students. These are irrefutable facts. Landon went after the cheaters and punished them. Other schools knew some of their students cheated and chose to ignore the events.

.

I am not a Landon basher but it wasn't as clean or clear-cut as you make it sound. In fact, it was the way Landon handled the situation that hurt its reputation and made the situation so much worse, as if the cheating wasn't bad enough.

Anonymous wrote:Fact, ETS cancelled scores for many students at the Holton test site in areas of the Holton Test site where there were no Landon students. Landon found out who cheated from ETS and went after the perpetrators. Other schools were informed about irregular test scores, and chose to ignore the cheating of their students. These are irrefutable facts. Landon went after the cheaters and punished them. Other schools knew some of their students cheated and chose to ignore the events.

This is incredible. Do you know what other schools were represented that day? Besides Holton of course.

Anonymous wrote:The school fosters the pursuit of excellence in academics, athletics, and the arts in a supportive community where friendships flourish. Haters can continue hate but it gets old. I encourage interested families to go to an Open House, talk to current parents and students, and make your own decision. As a current parent, I can say without any reservation that entitlement does not rule the day at Landon.

+1

There are not nearly as many haters as you might think form this forum, but the haters on this anonymous forum on persistent. Landon is unique among the elite schools in this area - offering a secular singer gender environment for boys.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The school fosters the pursuit of excellence in academics, athletics, and the arts in a supportive community where friendships flourish. Haters can continue hate but it gets old. I encourage interested families to go to an Open House, talk to current parents and students, and make your own decision. As a current parent, I can say without any reservation that entitlement does not rule the day at Landon.

There are plenty of nice kids at Landon. Sadly, the knuckleheads keep on coming and they get the press while creating the image that the Landon promoters seek to disavow. Until Landon makes the hard choices and refuses to let the misanthropes stay at the school, there will continue to be problems caused by the same types of boys. While living here for almost 25 years, the pattern has repeated itself multiple times. Kind of sad, actually.

Nice to see that some others actually "get it".

But there's no chance that the school will get rid of the "knuckleheads". The athletic program and pursuing athletic success are the core of the school for many.

Anonymous wrote:The school fosters the pursuit of excellence in academics, athletics, and the arts in a supportive community where friendships flourish. Haters can continue hate but it gets old. I encourage interested families to go to an Open House, talk to current parents and students, and make your own decision. As a current parent, I can say without any reservation that entitlement does not rule the day at Landon.

There are plenty of nice kids at Landon. Sadly, the knuckleheads keep on coming and they get the press while creating the image that the Landon promoters seek to disavow. Until Landon makes the hard choices and refuses to let the misanthropes stay at the school, there will continue to be problems caused by the same types of boys. While living here for almost 25 years, the pattern has repeated itself multiple times. Kind of sad, actually.

Anonymous wrote:The school fosters the pursuit of excellence in academics, athletics, and the arts in a supportive community where friendships flourish. Haters can continue hate but it gets old. I encourage interested families to go to an Open House, talk to current parents and students, and make your own decision. As a current parent, I can say without any reservation that entitlement does not rule the day at Landon.

Did you see the beach party with underage drinkers partying with Gansler? LOL.

The school fosters the pursuit of excellence in academics, athletics, and the arts in a supportive community where friendships flourish. Haters can continue hate but it gets old. I encourage interested families to go to an Open House, talk to current parents and students, and make your own decision. As a current parent, I can say without any reservation that entitlement does not rule the day at Landon.

Anonymous wrote:Instead of saying there is
'something" please tell us what it is. Faculty? Administration? Students? Why do the boys matriculate to great colleges if the school is evil? Not once has anyone mentioned the family and parenting. How do parents have zero accountability? Ridiculous...

So you're saying that boys who behave poorly cannot matriculate to top ranked schools? Really?

When a school has episode after episode of embarrassing behavior, do you really think it's just a coincidence?

And yes, it is parenting. The school fosters bad behavior in that culture for sure. But it also attracts kids who are prone to such behavior, and part of the problem is the lack of accountability in those households. Entitlement rules the day at Landon.