Teacher's kiddy excuse reveals cheating mindset
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Dallas Morning News

"But everybody's doing it!"

"If everybody jumped off a bridge, would you jump, too?"

Parents are all too familiar with this tortured argument. They can take solace in the fact that most kids eventually develop more refined decisionmaking skills.

Unfortunately, an Amarillo teacher seemed to rely on similar logic when he leaked part of the TAKS writing test to colleagues.

Caught red-handed, David Tamez boldly told investigators: Hey, everybody does it.

Whether that has basis in fact is unanswered, as the Texas Education Agency remains committed to its seeno evil strategy for rooting out cheaters, willfully looking the other way as evidence of rampant wrongdoing emerges.

Still, there's little doubt Mr. Tamez broke the rules in a deplorable attempt to help his students get ahead. And whether he's the exception or the rule, his sad defense of cheating sends two messages to parents and kids:

First, it's OK to cheat. No one plays fair; you shouldn't bother. Second, his actions signal disinterest in whether students actually learn the materials. Rather than worry about students' knowledge and skills, Mr. Tamez focused on shortcuts and self-preservation.

Amazingly, Mr. Tamez will retain his teaching certificate in exchange for cooperating with the state's investigation.

We're uncertain how his conflicting accounts of what transpired and bizarre tales of exchanging sex for test questions amount to cooperation.

And we can't help but wonder: What's a teacher got to do to lose his certificate?

At a minimum, state officials should yank Mr. Tamez's credentials. They also have an obligation to investigate his claims that other teachers on state committees are smuggling out secret test information.

If everybody does it - or even if only a few teachers do it - we deserve to know.