How Bad Is Plagiarism At Universities?
from the how-big-a-deal-is-it? dept
When you have students suing universities when caught plagiarizing you know that plagiarism isn't always frowned upon by students. However, despite the scary language used in this article, the numbers really don't seem that ridiculous. About twenty-five percent of students admit to plagiarizing at some point or another (though, the article describes this as "cheating his or her way through degrees"). Meanwhile, 97% say they know its cheating, but 17% still think it's okay anyway. Now, it's obviously cheating, but to be honest, these numbers don't see all that high or surprising. There are always going to be students who cheat at one point or another. While the article includes anecdotal stories about students who have copied material repeatedly, the study doesn't actually address how many students chronically cheat, and how many have just done it on occasion. I'm not defending those who do it, but the article uses language that would make you think that no one ever writes their own work any more, and the numbers in the study simply don't support that.
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There has been a cultural shit in the past 5-10 years, where not only has cheating become acceptable, but open and expected. According to the article below, 79% of Australian students cheat, the figures are probably similar everywhere.
http://www.education.theage.com.au/pagedetail.asp?intpageid=1076&strsection=students&ints ectionid=0
It's to easy to blame the Internet for the rise of cheating. The real cause is the shift in emphasis from education to vocational training and the defacto requirement of a degree for virtually any job worth having. For most unimaginative people, this makes a degree an absolutely necessity for leading a worthwhile life. If you're an ignorant youth that believes your entire future rests on obtaining that degree, would you cheat to get it, or meekly accept you spent tens of thousands of dollars for nothing and will lead a miserable life for ever more?
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