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Chapter 9: Jake Finds a Way
The next day in math class, Manuel looked across the room at Jake. His friend still looked troubled. He didn’t even seem to be paying attention to what Mr. Duncan was explaining to the class. A few minutes later, the bell rang signaling the end of class. Manuel called across the room to Jake. “Hey, Jake. Want to walk home with me?” When Jake didn’t answer, Manuel repeated the question. “Jake?”
Jake looked over at Manuel. “What’s that? Uh, no. I have to talk to Mr. Duncan about something.”
After the room cleared, he approached Mr. Duncan’s desk. “Mr. Duncan? I wonder if I could talk with you for a minute. There’s something we need to discuss.”
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“Sure, Jake,” Mr. Duncan replied. “Have a seat here in the front row. Mr. Duncan sat down at his desk to face him. “What can I do for you? By the way, congratulations on your quiz. You got every question right!” Jake felt his face getting red. “Well, uh, Mr. Duncan, that’s what I wanted to talk to you about. You see,” he began. He fidgeted in his desk, and then the whole story tumbled out. “Mr. Duncan, I cheated. I never intended to, but I’ve thought about it. I think that even though I learned the answer accidentally, I’m still responsible because I could have chosen not to use the answer I saw. But I did. So there we are.” He said all of this without taking a breath. Mr. Duncan aimed a serious look at Jake. “Jake, I am very disappointed in you. You are a real leader here in our school. As you said, you could have chosen to ignore the answer you saw, or you could have come up and told me what happened, and we could have discussed a solution. But you went ahead, and that was the wrong thing to do. So what do we do now?” he asked. Page 3 of 6 © RCL Benziger
Jake looked dejected. “I know the rule, Mr. Duncan. If you get caught cheating on a quiz, the whole quiz gets thrown out and you get no grade. So of course that’s what you have to do.”
“Well, let’s see if we can find a better solution, Jake,” said Mr. Duncan. “Actually, my rule was made for students who don’t show as much courage as you just showed. You did cheat, but you realized that you had done the wrong thing, and you have now been honest with me. I do think that deserves some consideration.” Jake looked down at his hands. He wasn’t sure where Mr. Duncan was going with this.
“So here’s the best solution, I believe. I‘m going to deduct your score on the question that you cheated on and lower your grade accordingly. I’m also going to ask you to write a two-page paper for me describing why your choice yesterday was not a good one. Are you willing to do that?” Jake quickly responded, “Of course, Mr. Duncan. Of course I will. I am really sorry for what I did. I’ll bring you that paper tomorrow.” Page 4 of 6 © RCL Benziger
“I will give you until Friday on that assignment, Jake. I want you to think carefully about what you are going to write. By the way, did you discuss this matter with your parents?” “Actually, no I didn’t,” said Jake.
“Well that is admirable, Jake, because it shows you can think things through for yourself. But your parents should know about this, and they can offer you good advice for the future. Will you tell them?” asked his teacher. Jake thought about it a minute, then replied, “Yes I will, Mr. Duncan.” And that is what Jake did.
Two days later, Jake met with the Highland Ridge Explorers. While his mood had improved since he resolved the issue of the math test, he felt that there was still an issue left unfinished.
After he called the meeting to order, he explained to the group what had happened. “So,” he concluded, “Unfortunately, I need to resign as the leader of the Explorers.”
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His friends all looked up to him in shock. “Jake!” said Ellie. “That’s not necessary! After all, you did go to Mr. Duncan and set things right.” Jake smiled, but still looked sad. “Thanks, Ellie. I appreciate that. But my mind is made up. The leader of the group has to be the best kind of example. But I wasn’t, so I’m going to leave now, so that the rest of you can decide what to do. I’ll see you around.”
As he left the room and walked out the front door, the Explorers looked at one another, bewildered. They had no idea what to do next. --------------TIME TO VOTE
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