Sure, professors could blame ethically-challenged students or the dread effects of the Internet for the recent rise in campus plagiarism. But if those professors really want to know who is responsible for rampant cheating, they ought to look in the mirror, says Ruth Lynn Deech, director of Britain’s Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education.
Speaking at a conference about plagiarism, collusion, and cheating in higher education, Ms. Deech argued that professors have created "a culture of expectation" in which students "take whatever is put in their hands, be it a handout or a PowerPoint presentation," according to The Times of London. Today’s students are especially prone to cut-and-paste plagiarism, she said, because "indulgent lecturers" have let high-tech tools dilute the collegiate values of academic inquiry and rigorous research.
Should professors shoulder some of the blame for their students’ plagiarism? Or is Ms. Deech downplaying students’ personal choice in the matter? —Brock Read
Um, no profs aren't to blame. At some point the individual has to be held accountable for their own actions. Plain and simple.
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4 comments:
I'm sorry I just don't get how a professor's use of technology or even indulgent lecturing has to do with someone cheating. We are all adults who know right and wrong--and copying and pasting a paper is WRONG.
Now if a professor is modeling to students that it is okay to be unethical, that is a different issue.
Bull.
Ohio University's engineering recently went through a scandal where they located 40 incidents of plagiarism going back up to 20 years in Masters theses.
Before Powerpoint and the internet, lazy students just copied out of books.
The problem is our culture of instant gratification where grades are given like doggie treats as a reward. The process of learning is not itself a reward, and I think most students don't care what the class is about, only if they are getting an A, B, etc.
Plus, anyone who looks back to the *good, old days* and pretends no plagiarism existed then is fooling themselves.
I think part of the problem nowadays is we let anyone into an academic degree program (be it public university, community college,or even for profit college) where many students are unprepared, but more importantly, they don't really want an education, but a degree as the club card to higher job success. Student who are only there for the piece of paper (be it just a class or college) have no incentive to learn and will take the easiest path to a grade. With the internet, that's the easiest way to minimize work while maximizing potential reward.
On the other hand, it wasn't much better 100 years ago. Sure, elite colleges was only for society types, but the original class rankings at Harvard were based on social standing not academic achievement. You could be a walking monkey, but finish at the top of your class if you had the right last name.
Very good point JTN. I remember reading about that story at Ohio University.
"lazy students just copied out of books"...meanwhile nowadays I'm not sure they know what books are!
I agree that plagarism isn't our fault, at the same time, I do strongly dislike the spoon-feeding/ppt style that's been going on in a lot of classrooms. That's more of a disservice to the students on a different level--they never learn to think. But that's a whole other post probably.
At some schools the path to correct and monitor plagarism is such a pain that profs don't bother--or they don't get support form admin and then don't bother. That's where the blame should lie. If anywhere
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