The school year was drawing to a close. All exams had been completed and marked. Now it was simply a matter of printing up the reports and getting rid of the students.
As the manager of the IT section I was always aware of the possibility of cheating and attempts to finesse the system. That's why I kept a copy of the exam results offline. I'd do a check each morning to make sure nothing had changed. If something had then I'd be down on the relevant person like a ton of bricks.
Ninety nine times out of a hundred there would be no problem. Today was the hundredth time. It seemed someone had managed to hack in and improve their marks. I checked to see who it was and what marks they'd changed. As soon as I saw what had happened I had a real conundrum.
Susan was an excellent all-round student. She was also top of the grade in IT. I had been very disappointed in her when she handed on a poor practical exam, only scoring a C. She was way better than that. Her grasp of theory was top notch and her assignments had all been excellent. She was still going to pass the subject very easily, but with a mark that didn't reflect her true potential.
I had no idea why she handed in such a poor (for her) practical exam. Maybe she'd been ill or something, but I could only go on what she passed in. If she'd been in danger of failing I'd have had her doing a make-up test to make sure she passed, but she was going to pass anyway so I let it go.
Now her practical exam mark had jumped from a C to an A. It was the only mark she'd changed. It seemed I had three choices. Fail her for trying to fiddle the system. Reset the mark to a C and speak very firmly to her. Let the A stand, because if she was able to change the mark with our security then she'd demonstrated a practical experience worthy of the A.
I invited Susan to come and see me after the final bell. The look on her face told me she guessed why. She finally dragged herself to my office while everyone else was clearing out as fast as possible. I kept her waiting on my convenience.
Eventually I called her into my office.
"Susan, can you please tell me why you did so poorly on the IT Practical exam. We both know you should have skinned that exam alive and walked home with its pelt. Instead of which you butchered the poor thing with a blunt instrument. You passed, but with a C?"
"It wasn't my fault," she said, and sounded as though she was nearly crying. "I was developing the flu. I told Mrs Owens I was sick and wouldn't be able to do the exam properly but she wasn't interested. I wanted to go home or to the first aid centre but she wouldn't let me. I had to sit and do the exam and I could barely hold a pen, I felt that rotten. I was lucky it was my last exam because I was sick in bed for the next three days."
I already had her records up on the screen and it showed that she had been missing for the three days immediately following the exam. I made a note to speak to Mrs Owens. If students request permission to go to the first aid centre they must be permitted to go. I'd have to check attendance records and see how many people she contaminated. It could be useful ammunition to fire at Mrs Owens, who could be a proper bitch at times.
"OK. Now can you explain to me why your C miraculously transformed into an A?"
"I hacked the system," she muttered, not looking at me.
"You hacked the system," I said flatly. "Did you personally hack it or did you get someone else to do it for you?"
"I did it myself," she said, sounding irritated. "I wouldn't need help for that sort of thing. I'm good at IT, and you know it. I deserved an A. If Mrs Owens hadn't been so nasty I'd have been able to sit the exam the next week and I'd have aced it. It just wasn't fair that I should suffer because Mrs Owens was a, um, too strict."
I felt sure that she'd been going to give a more descriptive word, one a little more accurate than strict, but I let it go.
"The question now is what do I do about it?" I gave her a nasty smile.
"I suppose you're going to fail me now," she muttered.
"I considered it," I admitted, "but I decided that would have been totally unfair. You're really quite brilliant at IT. By rights, at the very least, I should change the mark back to a C. I've decided to leave it as an A."
"What? Why?"
"You showed practical skills worthy of an A when you managed to hack the system," I said dryly. "Mind you, if you'd changed any other mark I'd have been down on you like a ton of bricks, but you didn't. Even the subjects where you were genuinely only average weren't upgraded in the slightest, which show a certain amount of integrity. You only adjusted the mark where you felt cheated."
"Oh. I, ah, don't know what to say."
"An apology wouldn't go amiss. And acceptance of an appropriate penalty."
Susan blushed and mumbled an apology. She hesitated a moment and then asked, "Punishment?"
"Well, I can't really let you get off scot free, especially as you have the improved mark. Some sort of penalty is certainly in order. It's just a case of what the penalty should be."
I put a bit of a glower on my face to let her know I was displeased.
"The problem with a penalty was that I couldn't really apply any standard punishment as someone would want to know why. If they found out some sticklers would demand you be failed for that subject. A couple might even insist that you be failed for the full year. That meant I'd have to come up with a punishment that we could keep reasonably private.
At one stage I was wishing you were still a kid so I could just put you over my knee and paddle you. Then I thought well, why not? You're eighteen and able to decide for yourself. I'll just get you to accept a spanking for idiocy above and beyond that normal for a teenager."
I shut up and waited. Susan sat and waited for me to continue. When she realised I had nothing more to say she finally spoke up.
"You want to spank me?" she asked, scandalised.
"Not particularly. I'm open to suggestions if you have an alternative you can propose."
I could see her thinking hard and coming up blank.
