

Irony of the day: Student honor code turns out to be plagiarized. - GavinB
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-ODD-Plagiarized-Honor-Code.html?ex=1207540800&en=60fc5ced261e8297&ei=5070&emc=eta1

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swombat
I think the problem is the professors and pundits who don't realise that the
entire cathedral of human knowledge is built on a foundation of permanent,
ruthless copying.

That "intellectual property" does not suffer from the laws of scarcity is one
of the great gifts of the universe to Man.

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alex_c
"The student currently in charge of the honor code project said it was an
oversight, but cheating experts say it illustrates a sloppiness among
Internet-era students who don't know how to cite sources properly and think of
their computers as cut-and-paste machines."

I have two things to say about this paragraph:

1) "Cheating experts say"... Cheating experts? Really?? Is this kind of
phrasing any better than "They say that..." or "Everyone knows that..."?

2) If "cheating experts" see things one way, while "Internet-era students" see
things another way, which point of view is more likely to survive in the long
term?

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GavinB
Could it be that the "cheating experts" are actually the students who get away
with cheating? They're the ones who are doing the cheating, after all.

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nonrecursive
It seems strange to me that anyone should care about having their honor code
plagiarized (and in this case I'm not sure that the author(s) do care). If the
point of an honor code is to get people to act better, shouldn't you be happy
that your honor meme is spreading, even if you don't get credit for it?

In fact, to me, insisting on being credited seems to go against the spirit of
creating an honor code.

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GavinB
I believe most honor codes have the prevention of cheating and plagiarism as
their prime function -- which is why this is the perfect example of irony for
your high school freshmen.

That said, you're addressing broader issues of intellectual property which
certainly merit discussion. Giving credit, to me, is essential when basing
work on a previous source.

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TheTarquin
Integrity. You're doing it wrong.

