Great Neck, New York is an upscale community. Not only are most students expected to go to college, they are expected to attend a top flight school.

Some students allegedly took a short cut. They paid a former student to take their SAT exam. Now, they are all facing charges. However, because the high school students are underage, only the young man they hired is facing a felony charge. Read more here.

It should go without saying that cheating is wrong. So, why do so many high school students do it? A study of 25,000 high school students conducted by a professor at Rutgers University between 2001 and 2008 found that 90 percent admitted they had cheated.

A New York State senator has scheduled a committee hearing on student cheating. Undoubtedly, the question that will be asked is “who is to blame?”

• So, who is to blame? Is cheating something we naturally do or is it something that has to be learned?
• Did you ever cheat in school? Was it worth it?
• How could parents and schools do a better job of making sure that honesty is the best policy?
• Was it necessary in this case to bring charges against these students? Could it have been handled in another way?
• What would you do if you were aware that a friend was paying someone to take an exam? What if it weren’t a friend, but just some other classmate?