Shouldn't the kids in our nation's most competitive magnets (ages 14-18) use the latest technology to disrupt norms? Haven't they a social duty that other kids don't?

When the Stuyvesant cheating scandal broke out last year, the aim to *just* cheat was the distasteful bit. Barring a case of lazy reporting, the offenders had neglected to invent a cleverer, more ground-breaking, tongue-in-cheek way than texting to comment upon the broken system.

Systems mature as people figure them out time and again. Pranks on and tweaks of the bleeding edge technological environment and outsmarting the faculty used to be celebrated and even encouraged as a sort of arch entertainment, as long as the aim was commentary and not personal gain. Is that wrong?

It's not about having a bunch of kids who think that they are above the rules. They must feel invited to help improve flawed systems and social realities.

It's about creating a culture of transparency and honesty that acknowledges the imperfection of social spaces or constructs (e.g. schools), in which breaking the rules must specifically have a larger agenda for the social good that transcends personal gain.

These examples are too simplistic, but If you're going to steal, it'd better be because you're playing Robin Hood. If you're going to lie, it'd better be because you are investigating a deeper truth. If you are going to cheat, it'd better be because you are trying to expose the weak spots in an important social system (education).