Support NeoGAF

[Wilsongt]

About a year ago I was teaching an introductory Biology lab for college students.

I had a student who failed to properly paraphrase in her paper. She copied and pasted some sentences from the internet and maybe changed a word or two. What was worse was that not only was it flagged by a plagiarism checking program, but the font of the copy and pasted sentences was completely different from the normal font of the paper. Anyway, in that particular class, we give them two chances. If they fucked up on the first paper, they get a chance to rewrite it. She fucked up on the first paper and rewrote. However, on the second paper, if they fuck up again, they fail the paper. She fucked up again.

She knew she did something wrong because as soon as she got out of class she called her parents to let them know what was going on and went to see the instructor who was in charge of the lab courses.

What was even worse is that her parents drove down to the university and DEFENDED the girl for cheating. Her mom was apparently a teacher and stated "It's perfectly okay to copy and paste from the internet and not change any words as long as she puts a citation."

The woman was a teacher. Meaning she had to go to college at some point and actually write papers. She defended her daughter who cheated...

What. The. Flying. Fuck.

 

[WedgeX]

Hahaha no way?

NO way. Since the parents sued, there's gotta be a news story online about this? Please share. That's insane if you aren't lying haha.

Her family had LOTS of money, were donors to the school, etc. and its a private school so never made it to the news. It was so freaking stupid.

 

[SUPREME1]

Self-entitled asshole has the nerve to sue?

What a dick.

 

[Deified Data]

Self-entitled asshole has the nerve to sue?

What a dick.

Kid might have been content to accept the punishment and escape the shame of publicity. His parents are the entitled ones.

 

[staticneuron]

Hmm......

The boy's father, Jack Berghouse, does not dispute that his son copied his English homework from another student, who also was kicked out of the honors class for the offense. But Berghouse said he believes the punishment is disproportionate to the offense and will jeopardize his son's academic future.

The next day, Sequoia Principal Hansen informed the family that the punishment had been reduced due to a "loophole," according to the lawsuit, and that the student would be allowed to participate in the International Baccalaureate program after all, with no mention of the cheating on his record. But he would still be left out of the advanced studies sophomore English class.

The family rejected the offer.

I feel no pity for the family especially since a good way out was offered.

 

[Amir0x]

Cheating should have a severe punishment, considering how fundamental that is to ones performance. If a kid is not going off their own mind, their foundation will crumble all around and it'll have ripple effects that will serve no one in the end. Better to stop it immediately with a severe punishment than to let that behavior fester.

That said, the initial punishment did seem a little over-the-top... immediate removal from the entire advanced-level program is like "daaaaaayamn," Everyone makes mistakes once or twice, don't crush a kids future over it. But it seems they reduced it and that's the right thing to do. So no problems with the school, only with the parents. Dumbasses.

 

[Devolution]

About a year ago I was teaching an introductory Biology lab for college students.

I had a student who failed to properly paraphrase in her paper. She copied and pasted some sentences from the internet and maybe changed a word or two. What was worse was that not only was it flagged by a plagiarism checking program, but the font of the copy and pasted sentences was completely different from the normal font of the paper. Anyway, in that particular class, we give them two chances. If they fucked up on the first paper, they get a chance to rewrite it. She fucked up on the first paper and rewrote. However, on the second paper, if they fuck up again, they fail the paper. She fucked up again.

She knew she did something wrong because as soon as she got out of class she called her parents to let them know what was going on and went to see the instructor who was in charge of the lab courses.

What was even worse is that her parents drove down to the university and DEFENDED the girl for cheating. Her mom was apparently a teacher and stated "It's perfectly okay to copy and paste from the internet and not change any words as long as she puts a citation."

The woman was a teacher. Meaning she had to go to college at some point and actually write papers. She defended her daughter who cheated...

What. The. Flying. Fuck.

What do you expect from the people who raised her? That they'd have integrity ?

 

[SouthernDragon]

The fact that he's offered to stay in an IB program is a damn miracle in and of itself.

 

[butimnotarapper]

if you ain't cheating, you ain't trying

 

[Wilsongt]

What do you expect from the people who raised her? That they'd have integrity ?

According to the coordinator, after a while the father stepped in and started yelling at the girl. She eventually had to go to academic integrity. I don't think they really did much to her, though.

 

[Devolution]

According to the coordinator, after a while the father stepped in and started yelling at the girl. She eventually had to go to academic integrity. I don't think they really did much to her, though.

Yelled at her because she got caught and put them to shame probably. I imagine if they really instilled the proper work/honor ethic in her she wouldn't have cheated.

 

[Slayven]

In my high school algebra one class they use to pay this kid in Gamepros, and other video game magazines to copy off of him.

 

[Bladenic]

So wait a second... they could have had him able to earn the diploma and enter the advanced program for jr./sr. and they REFUSED? Ugh. I hope the review tells them to fuck off.

 

[SUPREME1]

Kid might have been content to accept the punishment and escape the shame of publicity. His parents are the entitled ones.

That's who I am talking about, the dad!

 

[Droplet]

Yeah...I'm on the side of the parents for this one. Our school actually put in a new cheating policy because they realized that the initial policy basically meant that every cheating violation had the same punishment. If it was just a homework assignment as opposed to plagiarizing an essay, it's really not that big of a deal. A 0 and a detention should suffice.

 

[DominoKid]

lol i wish the kids that cheated (plagiarized term paper) in my honors english class got kicked out just to see the absolute hell their parents would've raised. of course this teacher probably knew better than to give them more than a slap on the wrist* because those kids parents are big in our city

*all they had to do was write another paper and stay for detention for a few days. they didnt even get docked any points.

 

[Omega]

I can tell.

Sorry I don't use perfect grammar on the internet. Being educated in real life means nothing, I know. It's all about using perfect grammar on GAF.

 

[abusori]

I cheated sooooo much in high school, but copying homework was normal. Everybody did that shit. Teachers either didn't care or were so oblivious they didn't notice.

 

[Irish]

So... you guys don't believe you can learn anything by looking off someone else's examples, especially for just general homework?

 

[SUPREME1]

Yeah...I'm on the side of the parents for this one. Our school actually put in a new cheating policy because they realized that the initial policy basically meant that every cheating violation had the same punishment. If it was just a homework assignment as opposed to plagiarizing an essay, it's really not that big of a deal. A 0 and a detention should suffice.

SMHLOLWATGTFOPLS

 

[smurfx]

i don't know about kicking the kid out for good. maybe give him a long test and see if he passes. if he does then let him stay but put him on probation until he graduates.

 

[Surface of Me]

In my high school algebra one class they use to pay this kid in Gamepros, and other video game magazines to copy off of him.

Getting paid to be cheated off of/do homework for someone is a good feel. Most of the time I can't even be bothered to copy homework, though.

 

[Jangocube]

I have lots of respect for teachers, but I had to fight a claim of plagiarism in high school because I used two words to describe the main character of a book that the book also used. They were generic words, but since I didn't cite it, I got a zero and I got written up.

Long story short I got my grade reversed and got an A, but had to switch classes because the teacher was a tard.

 

[TheSeks]

Wait, the kid gets to go to IB despite cheating. WTF is wrong with this school and WTF is that loophole.

 

[ReturnOfTheRAT]

That document sounds outrageous.

 

[cashman]

IB kids are all dirty cheaters. At least it was that way at my school

 

[Rentahamster]

He should be punished, but expulsion is a tad harsh. It would have to depend on his academic and behavioral history to provide context.

 

[Count Dookkake]

The parents should be executed for this.

Fuck that whole family.

 

[Zizbuka]

So many parents want others to do their job for them. A kid at my son's school wrecked his car on a snowy day. His mom actually tried to blame the school for not closing. Never mind the inexperienced kid could've rode the bus that day.

Kid cheated, kid was wrong, kid gets punished. Parents make sure the kid understands how he screwed up. I have a feeling an apology from the kid, begging to redo the paper personally may have been better.

 

[Zoramon089]

Lol, he didn't learn the material and the class and he didn't learn how to cheat well. What exactly has he learned from school?!

 

[lethial]

My parents would have whooped my ass if I was caught cheating.

 

[Sophia]

So... you guys don't believe you can learn anything by looking off someone else's examples, especially for just general homework?

Looking off someone's examples to learn is one thing. Copying them nearly word for word and not learning anything is a whole another subject. And there is a pretty fine line between the two of them.

 

[Rentahamster]

Oh wait, he's just getting kicked out of the class, not the school. Reading fail. Punishment is appropriate.

 

[Taco_Human]

If you ain't cheating you ain't trying.

 

[XiaNaphryz]

If you get caught cheating you ain't trying.

Fixed.

 

[teiresias]

If they (the parents) lose the lawsuit, the kid should be forced to cite this lawsuit on every application he sends to a university.

 

[Acerac]

If you ain't cheating you ain't trying.

And people ask me why I don't try enough in life.

 

[meijiko]

He signed a thing saying that he wouldn't cheat, and would get kicked out of the program if he was caught cheating. Kid got caught cheating, and gets kicked out.

So the parents sue the school? What kind of logic is that? I mean, yeah, it's kind of shitty that it was over a homework assignment, but it's still no grounds for a lawsuit. I hate how lawyer-happy some people are these days. Not to mention the school has to go through all the trouble to deal with this just because they enforced a rule they clearly stated.

The parents are basically teaching "It's okay if you break some rules, son. Just file a lawsuit to get out of the consequences."

 

[Ripclawe]

"Win if you can, lose if you must, but always cheat!"

But yeah, no sympathy for him. You cheated you got caught, you pay a price for being stupid

 

[Raxus]

I don't see why you are jumping on the kids back. He cheated, sure but he should just get a 0 and a warning to never do it again. If it was a repeat offense then he should get kicked out of the program. Everyone cheats once in high school.

 

[les papillons sexuels]

in school it's called cheating, in the real world its called collaboration.

theres no such thing as cheating in the real world, you either get the job done or you didn't, the school can go fuck itself.

 

[LCGeek]

I learned cheating since the third grade, in a christian school of all places, since then I've seen how schools both with students and faculties can game the system of education we have. I don't care about stats cheating is a bomb and the real damage it causes both seen and unseen really encourage the worst parts of our culture.

 

[Stet]

There were notorious cheaters in my year's IB class, but the teachers wouldn't do anything about it. Don't know why they didn't do anything, but it pissed me off >:|

Unfortunately IB classes are notorious for cheating, because every person's paper would be marked by a different invigilator halfway across the world. It's the huge flaw in an otherwise impeccable education system, and even though the onus should be on the internal teacher to notice and flag the cheating before it even gets sent out, IB schools take pride in the marks of their students. Who's to say the teachers would rather people not cheat and get worse marks?

What's the solution? The only thing I can imagine is that everything be submitted electronically to one of those plagiarism detecting software packages, but I've never found those to be that accurate.

in school it's called cheating, in the real world its called collaboration.

theres no such thing as cheating in the real world, you either get the job done or you didn't, the school can go fuck itself.

What? In real life it's called plagiarism and it ruins careers.

 

[AtomskEater]

I really hope whatever they spend in legal fees turns out to be a waste.

 

[Acerac]

I don't see why you are jumping on the kids back. He cheated, sure but he should just get a 0 and a warning to never do it again. If it was a repeat offense then he should get kicked out of the program. Everyone cheats once in high school.

If you say so.

 

[Zaptruder]

Ah disproportionate punishments. So effective.

They should bring back the death penalty for stealing.

 

[kylej]

Kid's got balls. I respect that.

 

[RevoDS]

Am I the only one who thought sex and extremely religious school upon reading the title?

 

[CrazyDude]

Ah disproportionate punishments. So effective.

They should bring back the death penalty for stealing.

Stealing and cheating are two different things.

 

[Gallbaro]

This sounds bizarrely hardcore, like what I'd expect from college. I was an honors and AP student in one of the better public schools in my state, and it was still pretty laid back overall.

If you copy the homework of someone else in your class, you probably did not belong in a gifted program to begin with.