Teachers Can Stop Internet Cheaters By Asking For Opinions
from the one-way... dept
An Op-Ed piece in the NY Times takes on the issue of internet plagiarism (after first pointing out that you can buy a term paper on internet plagiarism from one site for only $19.95), by suggesting that a better way to beat student cheaters is for professors (specifically humanities professors) to change the way they teach. The writer (an English professor himself) argues that too many professors are simply teaching students how to "read" but not how to take that information and do something useful with it. His suggestion is that more assignment be tied to personal experiences and personal opinions that will let a student get more out of the piece in understanding themselves, while also making it more difficult to cheat. Personal opinions and personal experiences can often be faked as well - but it's not a bad idea to suggest professors look for more creative ways to force students to come up with their own words for assignments.
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No Subject Given
I used to think the "well, I dunno" response was just a reaction to embarrassment. Now I recognize it as deeper: they often have no opinion, because they often don't understand context, because nobody has really engaged them to think critically or to form opinion models at a young age.
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No Subject Given
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Re: No Subject Given
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Re: class of 100
A quote from "Those Young Americans" in this week's issue of the Economist hits it on the head:
"Most [American] children lack access to public education until they are six. Schools have not woken up to the fact that America is no longer an agricultural society: they finish at 3pm and close down for almost 3 months in the summer. Day care is expensive and uneven. It is harder to qualify as a manicurist than as a child-mainder. After-school services are patch. One if five 6-12-year-olds with working mothers comes home to an empty house."
And it's too much for me to ask you to ask my kid for her opinion? For shame.
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Analysis Just Another Type of Opinion
Doing this analysis requires having an understanding of Oedipus Rex, perhaps some psychology, and a grasp of the play at hand.
There is no "right" answer - it's an opinion. The grader doesn't grade on the opinion, but on how the writer backs up his/her case. No memorization of "facts" are required to do this, but an informed opinion arrived at by critical analysis is certainly required.
By asking them to compare Hamlet to their private life, you are essentially dumbing down the entire effort.
If you want to avoid plaigarism, have them do the essay in-class. With a blue book. Do they even still use those?
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Re: No Subject Given
Think about it...people who aren't taught to think critically means a general population who can no longer critize 1) The government, 2) big companies who market you to death every second of every day so they can get your money.
Joe Sixpack can barely form an opinion beyond a sheeplike belief in every trend force fed on them by TV, let alone work to form an INFORMED opinion about anything.
The best sound people in charge can hear from the general population is "baaaaaa baaaaaaa"
Sure some of us snap out of it and learn ourselves but if it was institutionalized....imagine.
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Re: No Subject Given
So, for example, I disagree with your opinion that "Opinions only count if they agree with Mike" and I'm telling you why. It's not that your opinion doesn't count, it's just that stating that (as if it's a *fact* instead of your own opinion) does little to further the conversation. Give me reasons!
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