TOLERATING STUDENTS WHO CHEAT DAMAGES THEIR FUTURE AND OURS

DEAR READERS: Today's column is a continuation of the one I printed yesterday regarding cheating and ethics -- a topic that clearly touched a nerve with many readers.

DEAR ABBY: I'm a retired teacher. Your response regarding high school honor students cheating shows that you do not understand the current school system. Administration is too busy with REAL problems and chooses to ignore this one. In fact, I had "good" students caught using drugs at lunch and nothing was done because "these students are not causing problems in school." -- LARRY IN TEXAS

DEAR LARRY: I disagree with school administrators who pretend that students getting stoned on campus isn't a problem. Those "honor" students may not have been openly disruptive, but they were breaking the law, and that is a serious problem. If there is no accountability, then no solution to a problem is possible.

DEAR ABBY: You're right ...