Part of the problem

My wife teaches a class at the High School level. Her class is computer based, and the students are given files to complete as part of the coursework. Unbeknownst to the students, those files have electronic tokens embedded in them as a digital watermark. Those tokens are unique to each student and to each electronic file.

Upon review, there were 200 instances of cheating committed by 20 different students, as evidenced by students turning in files that were watermarked with another student's token. Since her class is a dual enrollment class that also gives college credit, the college demanded that action be taken.

Several of the students involved are members of the National Honor Society. As a result of the cheating incident, they are being expelled from the NHS. The parents are livid. Not with the students, as you might expect, but with the schools and teachers involved. Why? Because they are "ruining my child's chance at a good college by putting this on their permanent record."

Several parents have requested parent conferences, and are claiming that this isn't cheating, but instead is delegating and "wisely using available resources."

How can teachers correct 16 years of bad parenting in the 135 hours that we have them as students in a typical school year?