Today has been a rough day.  I had two students that I have a tremendous amount of faith in cheat on an exam.  What do I do?  Previously, I would have chosen to simply report them so that this is recorded in their academic transcripts.  However, I do not want to tarnish their records for life.  Thus, I am put into a moral dillema.  I have decided to split their grade evenly between the two of them.  With half the effort, you get half the grade.  I don’t want them to fail my class or to withdraw.  So, they will also be required to write a 500-word essay on why cheating is bad.  I am hoping from this experience they will have learned their lesson.  Afterall, this is the place where we allow them to make mistakes, right?  I learned this lesson in first grade.  I wrote words on a piece of paper before my first spelling test, and I used it to cheat.  The funny thing is, I wrote the words down without looking how to spell them.  Well, my first grade teacher busted me.  I never forgot that.  I hope my students will not forget this.