Two events today have me thinking about my future as a teacher and education more generally.
First, I received a letter from a recently graduated high school student who wants to jump into my class mid-semester. He is trying to complete his Associates degree by the end of summer (a noble goal) and mistakenly thought that the course would be covered by his AP credits. He stated in his generally well-written letter: “I do not need an A, but just to pass the class.” While the student is clearly ambitious and probably quite bright, the request really rankled me.
Secondly (and perhaps more importantly) I gave my classes a mini-lecture on plagiarism; I even passed out copies of the relevant sections of the college’s Student Code of Conduct. The process made me ill, partly because I hate confrontation of any kind, but mainly because I was angry that I found the lecture necessary. In recent weeks, I have faced several cases of blatant plagiarism. Usually in these cases, I try to trust the students’ good intentions (ignorance of citation conventions, etc.), but this semester folks are handing in texts that were written word for word by someone else. (And beyond the basic dishonesty of the act, what bothers me is that they think I won’t know—that I can’t distinguish their writing from someone else’s, that they don’t think I can do a Google search).
I feel sometimes as though I should stop worrying about what I’m teaching my students or what they are learning and just give them all a gentleman’s C (or is that a B now?); sometimes, it seems like that’s all they want anyway. Teaching required courses, I am used to having some students primarily focused on the hoop they are jumping through, and sometimes I even enjoy the challenge of convincing them that it is worth their time to learn how to write well, but the attitude seems to be increasing. I don’t always feel so cynical; I generally find my students to be smart and engaging and committed to their education. And I should acknowledge that I did a fair bit of hoop jumping in my undergrad years.
But, I can’t help wondering whether students’ occasional bad habits are becoming institutionalized—the norm rather than the exception. Or maybe it’s always been this way and we are just more aware of it because of the abundance of online papermills, policing tools like Turnitin.com, etc. I know I’m not the only one asking these questions, and I’m not sure what I can add to the discussion, but today it feels personal.
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4 comments:
I am not cynical. But I now have a hard-line policy for plagiarists. One problem with liberal pedagogy sometimes is that it idealizes the student subject. Students are often wonderful, hard working, etc. and this is why I love teaching. But woe unto the cheater in my class. Report their asses to the man in charge of enforcing the student code. I think it's Gordon Wilson. Also, let me email you a couple names, because they might be students that I have failed. I catch at least four every semester.
Re education as a commodity: they may be trying to buy it, but at least you don't have to sell it to 'em. That's pretty much our sole power in this situation, isn't it.
Yes, I think am going to have to have a hardline policy. The first day of grad TA training, they told us we have to be hard-asses. I tried for about 30 seconds and realized it was just not me. But the more I teach, the more I think it's the way to go. So next semester, day one, I'm going to give the pesky plagiarism lecture.
Yes, I think am going to have to have a hardline policy. The first day of grad TA training, they told us we have to be hard-asses. I tried for about 30 seconds and realized it was just not me. But the more I teach, the more I think it's the way to go. So next semester, day one, I'm going to give the pesky plagiarism lecture.
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