Let's all be completely honest and practical.

Northstarmom
Fri, 09 Mar 2007 09:22:33 +0000

"My teacher didn’t want to get the kid in trouble, it wasn’t really his fault his dad was a jerk, "

Big mistake from teacher. The teacher could have let Duke know what had happened, and the teacher could have sent a recc truly written by the teacher. Duke wouldn’t have hurt the kid because the dad was a forger, but still could have evaluated the kid based on the truth.

Also, it does sound to me like the kid was OK with the forgery or the kid wouldn’t have brought the letter in for the teacher to sign. The kid easily could have thrown away Dad’s letter and asked the teacher to write his own letter.

That kid didn’t deserve to go to Duke or any college that believed in integrity and the teacher should be ashamed for passively helping the kid get in. In addition, since the kid admitted to breaking into the school office, the kid should have faced legal charges, which would have happened if the teacher (apparently a gutless wonder) had turned the kid in.