Sims is a moron

Those entitled pukes deserved to be punished, but we dont live in black and white society. Telling on them could be considered the right thing, and would have guaranteed his shot in Harvard. But he would have been given a label and stigma as being a snitch, it wouldve followed him around like a raincloud at the school and maybe Harvard as well. He's already the outcast for being a poor kid at the nice school, that extra stigma would be more a burden. Also those rich entitled kids would have made it a point to get back at Charlie and he didnt need that crap in his life. Also wealthy families are often connected and friends with other wealthy families so the damage from telling on those rich brats could have branched out further. Theres a Machiavellian saying of "When you wrong someone in a sleight kind of way, those that are sleighted never forget and often seek revenge for it". So telling was the right thing to do, and yet a wrong thing to do when living his social life among his peers.

And the ultimate reason he didnt snitch was delivered in Colonel Slades speech. "He will not rat out his friends to pay for his future". Charlie wanted to earn his place in Harvard, not be hand delivered to him on a platter because he snitched out some punks with nasty attitudes. It takes integrity to stand by your convictions and not take the easy way out.

Real life is about having good relationships with people. Successful people look for loyalty, honesty and competence. University degrees are worth shit these days, in fact they’re a red warning light because the institutions have become corrupt ‘rat-ships’. Employers want someone they can trust and depend on, not spineless weasels with a fancy piece of paper.

Charlie did the right thing.