Samuel Eshaghoff, a mere 19 years old, was arrested last week on charges of scheming to defraud, falsifying business records, and criminal impersonation. It seems that the Emory University freshman was paid $1,500 to $2,000 by five of his friends at Great Neck North High School in Nassau County, New York to take their SAT exams for them. A sixth student, a female, paid nothing, but Mr. Eshaghoff still took the test for her?? The Barometer is puzzled as to what consideration might have changed hands, as it were, in this transaction. One more puzzler for the Barometer: How did one Samuel Eshaghoof manage to sail by the proctors as a female high-school student? His photo shows him to be a strapping lad who has spent some time in the weight room. No wonder he was charged with criminal impersonation. Good to know that the monitoring of security on the college entrance exams is just aces these days.
How did New York authorities catch on? Well, Mr. Eshagohoff overdid it. He got the five students scores of 2200 out of 2400 possible on the exams, but the dunderheads who paid him failed to think through one problem. Their high school grades were so low that six big red flags went up. The six who employed Eshaghoff for money (and whatever in the case of the one female) were hauled in and charged as minors. They sang like canaries, Eshaghoff is out on $1,000 bail, and his attorney explains, “No one has ever had a case go to criminal court due to cheating or alleged cheating in an exam.” Perhaps we need to start.
One more disturbing thought on the matter. One New York educator noted in response to the story that the pressure on these kids is “massive.” Well, that is the very definition of character — doing the right thing despite the pressure. Perhaps the educators could relieve some of that pressure by sharing with the students the fact that many a soul has made it through life without an Ivy League SAT score or Ivy League education. Have them study Ronald Reagan, a man who changed the world with an education from a small midwestern school. Showing them a nonlinear path or two might keep them out of schemes to defraud.
