High school student takes the high road after learning valedictorian 'always cheats'

Being a top-performing student takes dedication and hard work. But some students get so focused on success that they turn to cheating. The consequences, however, can be severe, undoing all their efforts if they’re caught. Reddit user u/blankspace_69 shared a story about how they once wrote a note to their class valedictorian, who had been cheating on exams.

The former high school student explained that the top student in their class was named Mei. Describing her, they said, "Mei was quiet, timid, and often anxious and antisocial. She had long, bushy hair that nearly reached her back, and she always carried a messy stack of books and papers to class, even though she didn’t need them." The class often felt bad for Mei due to her struggles with anxiety.

On a particular day, she happened to be in a class with Mei and noticed that she was writing answers for a test on the desk and using her hair to cover them. The desks at the school were built in a way that the answers could easily be wiped away using one's hand, which is what Mei did after the exam ended. Basically, Mei cheated on an exam, which shocked the student. She checked with another student, James, in their class and it turned out that Mei always cheated and everybody knew about it.

People were scared to call her out on it and just let it slide. However, the student was upset as they were just outside of being the top five in the class. It also was unfair to other students as it made a big difference in scholarships. They also share, "She was also an officer in the National Honor Society, and while I know that means nothing now, at the time, I thought, 'Wow, she has no honor; this is ridiculous.'"

Another day, the student happened to be in another class with Mei. They had a substitute teacher who didn't really care what they did, so she decided to write a note to Mei, saying, "Hey, everyone knows you cheat and if you don't knock it off, we'll be forced to tell the National Honor Society what you did." She made sure to change her handwriting a bit so it could not be traced back to her. She did not actually intend to give Mei the note, but her friend Kevin said he would.

The student did not take Kevin too seriously, but he gave it to Mei by putting the note on her messy desk. Mei obviously read it and was crying at lunch the next day. She writes, "The friends she sat with all encouraged her to go to the office about whatever happened and she eventually did." The student began to freak out on seeing this because they never expected her to react like this. They weren’t someone who usually got in trouble, and the note was only meant to get Mei to stop cheating—not cause drama.

During the next class, the student was called into the principal's office for something. On going there, she found that it was for something completely unrelated and false. The principal did ask about what happened with Mei, but she said she had no idea. The principal let her go and she went back to class. The same day, the student noticed that many people at Mei's lunch table appeared to be angry with her.

The student got so anxious about the entire thing that they went to the office and confessed to their vice principal that they had written the note and had lied to the principal earlier: "I straight up said, 'I wrote the note to Mei, it was me, I lied to the principal earlier'." The vice principal told her they would pass it on to the principal the next day. The post concluded with the student sharing that they had never heard about it again but ended up graduating. Mei, however, was no longer the valedictorian but still managed to get a diploma. In the comment section, people supported the individual's choice to prevent Mei from cheating again.

u/tionYArT said, "In my opinion, getting away with cheating—especially if you cheat heavily—will eventually hurt you more. It's not a good life path to follow. While some people do succeed as adult cheaters, many others are exposed and suffer consequences to their reputation in the workplace, in school or in personal life."

Editor's note: This article was originally published on December 22, 2023. It has since been updated.