Speaking as an overworked T.A. at a state university, I can
definitely say that it is hard to catch cheaters sometimes. When
you have your own papers to write, several full length novels to
read, weeks of research to do in the library, and the particular
idiosyncratic demands of professors who are less than comfortable
with the internet, the occasional plagiarized paper will slip
through. You can't possibly check every paper rigourously enough
for plagiarism and return them in time for the honest students to
have useful criticism for the next writing assignment.
If I could devote concentrated attention to every three page paper
for a full 30 minutes, I would catch a majority of the cheaters.
Even as it stands, I caught 3 plagiarized papers last week, and now
I am behind on my own work. It is easy to point fingers at the
graders and say they need to be more on the ball, but as a grader,
I have to say this is akin to blaming someone for having their car
stolen. Sure, there are some things you can do: always lock the
car, buy some kind of anti-theft devices, but the car thief is a
crook who knows it is wrong to steal. The true blame lies with
them. Similarly, every college student knows it is wrong to cheat.
It's about accountability and personal responsibility. This student
is trying to shift the blame to the school because of his actions,
and he shouldn't get away with it. If the administrators and the
instructors allowed him to get away with it,
they would be cheating the honest
students.
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