The Oakland school district claims it caught three high school teachers helping students cheat on the California state exit exam, and all three have agreed to resign their positions. What’s downright disturbing about the matter is that, in defending the teachers, the Oakland Education Association is treating teacher cheating as if it weren’t anything important. The real culprit, the union warns, is standardized testing. Who cares if a teacher helps a student bubble A, B, or C — it’s the bubbling that’s the real problem!

The Argus reports:

“It’s an open secret that teachers sometimes walk around and say, ‘Are you sure about that one?'” [Oakland Education Association President Betty] Olson-Jones said. “I’m not condoning cheating, but I understand the context. A lot of it is driven by the fear of the sanctions from kids testing low.”

Of course, leave it to the lawyer to deliver a line worthy of Pontius Pilate:

Dale Brodsky, the attorney hired by the Oakland Education Association in this case, said low pass rates on the exit exam are a more important concern to address than how an exam is administered. She called cheating “a non-issue in this whole debate about testing,” saying that it “allows people to overlook the bigger issues.”

Brodsky also questioned the term itself. “What is cheating?” she asked.