02 Jul 06 How Should Schools Deal with Internet Plagiarism?
Plagiarism has become significantly easier to both commit and, to an extent, detect with the advent of the Internet. It is not acceptable at any level of education to commit plagiarism but it is also important to TEACH what plagiarism is, why it is bad and how to avoid it, including the rules of fair use and proper citation. I think that plagiarism prevention should be taught starting with the first research or non-fiction, non-autobiographical paper a student is assigned. Once plagiarism is defined, the penalties can be laid out as well. Caught plagiarizing? Fail the assignment. Sometimes kids (myself included way in the back when) need to fail to get the message.
More than just plagiarism is at stake. This mentality, both on the part of the students that were failed and the parents that got it overturned is the basis for much of this countries woes with other copyright and intellectual property enforcement. Children are not taught that just because it is easy and there isn’t a physical item involved (like shoplifting a CD) does not mean that it is stealing and against the law.
Some people will lie and cheat to get what they want, regardless of age (Kenneth Lay, anyone?). It is important that students learn that there are real consequences for such actions before those consequences are irrevocable.
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