New York State’s Kenneth LaValle, chairman of the New York Senate Higher Education Committee is proposing legislation that would make any kind of fraud on the SAT’s a felony. The action comes after impostors allegedly posed as students and took the SAT’s in 20 different cases. The scheme was said to be providing the service for $3600 per student.

Jumping on the bandwagon and attempting to make some cash is president and CEO of Long Island-based Applied DNA Sciences, Inc, Dr. James Hayward. He proposes a DNA-based identification system that could prevent these types of identity fraud in educational testing. Regarding cost he claims:

“This is a very affordable approach and it’s one we think will become widespread as a consequence …..and the beauty of DNA is that it would elevate any rapid screening to a forensic-level identification method that would [be upheld] in court.”

Hayward explained further to FoxNews.com:

“We start with the whole genome of a plant and it doesn’t matter which one. Plants are a great choice because they have quite complex DNA, in some cases as complex or more complex than humans and they also have systems that enable them to endure stressors we don’t normally expose humans to.”

Doesn’t sound like it will be cheap to me. Why is this guy is even involved? I think this is another case of seizing an opportunity to get rich. The school system has really changed over the past decade since I graduated.

What happened to the days of teachers and administration handling matters in the school system. Do we need the police and DNA experts handling the mischief of minors? I don’t think so! Why don’t we just send our kids into the prison system to learn and we can all be protected from ourselves like inmates?

A seamingly more sensible man, ETS spokesman Tom Ewing made this statement to FoxNews.com regarding the testing issues:

“ETS and The College Board have heard from a number of organizations offering unique technological solutions to address the test impersonation issue…While many of these solutions have been interesting, none have managed to eliminate impersonations without unduly disrupting test day, raising privacy concerns, or unduly adding to the operational burden of cost of the SAT Program. While we remain open to all ideas, we are focused on designing a solution utilizing technologies readily available to us to address this issue.”

I don’t think a big production is necessary to address this issue. If people are committing fraud, report it, and let it be dealt with in a manner appropriate for the crime. The school system doesn’t need to spend thousands of dollars on high-tech solutions or disrupt everybody else’s learning to dig deeper into the issue. Waste of time!

Here’s what another overpaid official, Tom Rudin, The College Board’s senior vice president for advocacy, government relations and development, had to say:

“In the end, it is the responsibility of local enforcement to take action…again, we are deeply committed to working with local law enforcement.”

Sounds like he’s really committed to learning and the students education. How can 20 cases of fraud even take place right under the nose’s of those administering the tests?
Who proctors these tests, robots?