Never Cheat

Early this year, I wrote something about plagiarism in my other blog. It was out of irritation and dismay of finding out that someone had the guts to copy paste the former content of the about me portion of my Friendster profile to her own profile. [See full account of the story (if you’re interested) here].

Although it’s a bit shallow as it is just Friendster Profile, but the fact that About Me is already a creative output (something I feel and own), my blood really boiled when I saw it in another person’s profile. I felt that a part of me was stolen from me – “what I write is me”. I believe we need not actually go to college or attend a class that discusses what plagiarism is. We may not be familiar with the term but we are aware that copying another person’s work and claim it as ours is bad – which is what plagiarism is all about.

Disappointed (frustrated even), that’s my current condition (well, at least whenever I’m wearing my other hat—I’ve multiple hats, btw— as a teacher). I asked my students to write a review of Ratatouille. The paper is due tomorrow. But to my surprise, there were already five (5) students who submitted their papers last meeting. Of course, I felt excited and happy as it seemed to me that they were responsible students (and very interested about the activity). Unfortunately, only two of those five students proved that assumption. The other three students submitted “works of crap” – copy pasted entries.

After our discussion on writing a review, I provided them the guidelines for the paper. I even provided them with a sample of a review article. Aside from that, I gave them an exercise (to gauge their understanding as well as capacity to write a review). I always have an open communication line with my students (I accommodated text messages even on weekends and late nights) should they want to consult (other students took that opportunity). These are the reasons why I find it hard to accept that these “three musketeers” risked to plagiarize. Notwithstanding my prior advise that plagiarism (or copying internet articles to be more precise), they still submitted plagiarized work.

I hate the feeling that they make you feel stupid. They probably thought I’d never find out. A friend asked me, “How did you know that they plagiarized?” The basic proof that these students plagiarize is, “How can they come up with a well-written review if they cannot even construct a sentence properly?” And of course, Google led me to the sites where they sourced their papers from (in fairness, mautak din kasi iba’t-ibang sources ang pinagkuhaan – pinagtagpi-tagpi sa isang paper).

I’m trying to understand why they had the courage to plagiarize. And I’ve come up with the following reasons:

> They really didn’t understand the lesson (palpak si teacher or talagang mahina ang comprehension skills dahil so far, ayos naman –not that good but they understand the idea— iyong other 2 papers na nag-submit).
> They didn’t understand the lesson and they didn’t have the courage to consult.
> They just didn’t feel like spending their time in writing a review.
> They weren’t able to watch the movie (because they didn’t have money or they were just uninterested to watch).
> Possibly, they thought that like some teachers, I will not read their papers (magbibilang lang ng bituin para malaman ang grade). Feeling nila siguro, shushunga shunga si teacher at hindi malalaman.

Regardless of their reasons, the point is, they cheated. Anyone knows that cheating is such a wicked act. My mom told me not to be too strict as these students were simply unaware that what they did was wrong. Probably, they aren’t aware of the term plagiarism (ah, but I explained it to them) but it is impossible that they are not aware copying and pasting something from the internet is already a form of cheating.

I’m firm that they deserve some sort of reprimand but I’m not sure what kind I can utilize. Their handbook doesn’t provide any provision for plagiarism. A friend suggested to apply the rules in UP (kasi dun siya galling) to automatically fail the students (I think this rule also applies in DLSU. Well, depende sa prof. kasi I’ve a batchmate who did something similar pero kasabay naming siyang nakagradweyt). This I find this too harsh. Another friend suggested to simply talk to the students personally (he said it’s improper to make a litany in front of the entire class).

I’m willing to give them a second chance to prove themselves. Well, I can probably ask them to discuss Ratatouille in class and make them realize that it’s not me whom they fooled but themselves. I’m willing to undertake anything (so long as they are diplomatic and humane) that can make them realize their fault vis-à-vis the effect of this fraud on them. But I might also do a bit of values education lecture in class so that others won’t every think of doing such terrible act.

I appreciate reading those works that are not-so-well written. Even if reading them causes headaches, it makes my heart smile. I know that my students exerted effort in coming up with their papers. And I know that they are striving hard to learn and be better.

That ends a chapter in the story of a teacher -- fun, challenging, sometimes disappointing, but nonetheless rewarding.