soapbox
Sometimes I wonder about the Internet.
Don’t you think it all just seems a little too convenient?
Example 1:
A year or so ago, my mother-in-law gave me a 1940s knitting machine. A big old iron thing; and if you swish it back and forth it will knit a row. It was great. But I was stuffed if I could work out how to use it. In fact, she couldn’t even remember herself.
Enter the Internet -
I managed to trace a copy of the manual from an obscure craft company in Somewhere, Canada.
Example 2:
At least ten years ago, my husband watched an obscure 1980s Russian film on late night television. For some reason, he remembered it as the best film he ever saw. All he could recall was that in one gruelling scene, a small child is forced to watch a dying horse (sounds pleasant doesn’t it?)
Enter the Internet -
Googling various configurations of the terms Russian, film, horse, death, war, child, and swamp allowed him to trace himself a copy from Dodgyville, Singapore.
So you see.
I love the Internet as much as the next person.
But something’s not right.
Because yesterday, marking middle school assignments, I realised I was experiencing my annual dose of Mass Plagiarism.
It usually happens about once a year, when my vigilance from the last episode has worn off. I find myself giving the kids a little bit of credit, and setting them an assignment that doesn’t build in all sorts of plagiarism safeguards. Usually it is something uninventive and innocuous, such as a poetry anthology or chapter summaries. (I know, I wouldn’t particularly want to do those assignments either, but it can’t all be whizz-bang, can it?)
And when I get it back, I realise there’s no point even looking at most of them.
So today I sent an email to the level co-ordinator, explaining to her that several students would be getting a zero for their most recent assignment.
And what happened?
She informed me that they would not be getting a zero, but would be given, instead, an opportunity to resubmit the work.
Free of penalty, presumably.
Because Lord knows, plagiarism is not a serious issue.
No.
Not at all.
In fact, who cares about giving credit to the people who really produced anything, when their work is so freely and wantonly being flashed all over the Internet?
Hmm.
There’s something wrong here, folks.
Does knowledge become less valuable when it is so freely available?
Perhaps it does.
After all, think of the pirate market. Think of all those games, mp3s, programs, movies that are downloaded every day by people all over the world.
And I’m as guilty as the next person: I was on a P2P network just yesterday, downloading those meditation tracks I promised myself. Do any of them credit anyone for their hard work?
Of course not.
No, they were titled things like: Guardian Angle Meditationn, nostressmeditation4 and deep relaxation by anonymous male.
How I wish I was joking.
Is it any surprise that kids think plagiarism is ok when the Internet values so little; makes so many things free?
It’s all just a little too easy.
A little too convenient.
11 Comments:
Smart-arsed question time:
If we buy into the whole "death of the author" theory (which I both do and don't, because I'm just that postmodern don't you know); then does that mean that information is unquestionably de-valued when an ignorant person co-opts it?
Which is simply to say: If stupid highschool plagiarists steal intellectual property, then they should get a zero for it, because they have entirely devalued it with their worthless incapacity to think for themselves.
It really pisses me off that you don't get introdused to the concept of plagiarism until university. Even TAFE students get away with it...
Think about it this way.
The internet is convenient in both directions. When I went to school in the late 60's, early 70's, there was no internet, but there was definitely plagiarism. The difference was that the teacher was not able to easily detect it because s/he was not going to sit in the library for weeks re-researching each paper. Now, all you have to do it type in a few chosen phrases and you can find a source of plagiarism.
Also, I don't consider kids who plagiarize off the internet to be stupid, only lazy. I think having them redo the assignment, and perhaps adding to it in the process, making it longer, requiring more references, and in fact, requiring the printed pages of their references if they are from the internet, would be an appropriate punishment. Maybe take off points for it being late also. But turn it into a learning experience, not into a punishment and an opportunity to call your students "stupid highschool plagiarists" or the like.
Maybe you could even assign a paper, on what constitutes plagiarism, the penalties thereof, etc. If I remember right, out rule of thumb in college was that stealing from one source was plagiarism, stealing from three was research. <-;
Sorry that your students succumbed to tempatation. I like Victoria's idea - make them BOTH resubmit AND write about plagiarism.
Never really thought of how things have changed thanks to the internet.
Take care and I hope your students learn something.
Victoria,
1, 3 or 30 resources; it is a matter of synthesis, interpretation and citation. Not how many resources a student utilises when formulating a work.
I do agree with you though, that being forced to resubmit is a better lesson than simply failing the task.
I just get so annoyed that the education system in this country does not teach students about citation methods at an earlier age. It is simply not good enough for final year students to cut and past information from the web without declaring their sources.
Plagiarism is such a huge problem. It has just gotten so easy for people not to think anymore and just rely on the internet!
I know I'm being highly unfashionable and probably a little *gasp* traditional, but...Why is resubmitting a better lesson? We may think it is as sensitive thoughtful adults, but in a fifteen-year-old's mind, being allowed to resubmit would be considered getting away with it. They would brag to their friends about how easy it was to get away with cheating. Kids have even said as much to me, even if it is just bravado. I wish that wasn't the case, but I do think it is.
But I do have to concede - it is a sad system where kids are so used to the punishment mentality that they find it difficult to respond maturely to other approaches.
Tell me it takes more than three years to become a cycnical teacher!!
I've got a good one for you, Meg.
Make them resubmit with an annotated bibliography that explains what each resource contributed to the final piece. And definitely take marks off for late submission on account of the fact that they will effectively have had longer than the other students to do the task.
Man things have changed, a guy got kicked out of my college class for plagiarism and that was only 8 years ago. I agree about the bibliography - nothing like having to do one of those to teach a kid, they suck!
What about giving them a zero for the assignment and giving them an opportunity to make up a little of the credit by writing something on plaigarism (complete with footnotes, works cited, etc etc)?
I used to teach middle school. I know exactly what you mean. I had students plagiarize, vandalize, break rules and cuss me out, all without punishment. And sometimes, believe it or not, with support from their parents. The administration always caved. Sad, sad education system. Sadly, it forced me to stop teaching.
Post a Comment
<< Home