Look, you’ve all missed the point completely.
A girl said, in her confession about writing fanfic:
Honey, you’ll never ever be a good writer if you’re writing while you’re stoned. Trus me on this. Even such stoner greats as Hunter Thompson, Edgar Allen Poe, and Cal Thomas learned the basics while sober. Well, maybe a beer or two, but mostly straight.
Just trying to be helpful.
-andros-
I don’t blame Spiritus for calling A Girl to the mat on this one. It was an unethical thing to do, and she should have been chastised for it.
I’m glad she has seen the light, though, and did not resort to cheating.
I would like to say that, having had my OWN very “special” thread here in the Pit was rather unnerving and I can relate to A Girl’s distress. So I’d like to caution everyone to use this method of public humiliation very sparingly unless: a) the poster is truly deserving (a la Michael Masterson); and/or b) the poster has the ego to handle such flames.
Uke
Back to the actual topic at hand: cheating.
I’m really glad I didn’t cheat in school, because I actually learned the stuff and most of it sticks with me today. In the end, I graduated with honors (she said with amazement), and I’m proud that I earned every grade-point myself. (I also repaid every penny of my student loans.)
There’s a great deal to be said for being able to face yourself in the mirror every morning.
Lacey
“Casey got hit with a bucket o’ ****
and the baaannnnddd plaaayyed onnnnnnn…”
What I don’t get is I was severely castigated for my wanting to have my thesis written for me, but the guy who wanted to go back and get the extra TV that he didn’t pay for had a lot of people telling him to go for it!! 
To me, that thesis thing wasn’t really stealing, just getting out of something I didn’t really feel I needed to do. It would only hurt me. Taking stuff from stores eventually hurts everybody. BUT I am going to do my work myself, because if not doing it myself is wrong, it’s wrong. The End.
A girl
Also a Girl wrote:
This claim is easy to make, but can you back it up with, say, a 5-7 page paper using at least 5 sources?
Lightren up everyone. Dont we all paraphrase the dictionary?
lesson over. Stop flogging the dead horse here.
BTW “A Girl” and Also a girl" is this not multiple handles?
well, at least one person wants to meet me…
http://fathom.org/polldata/pollcheck.adp?poll=dope-page5&question=62
Cheers!!
Dead horse or not, I cannot let this go by. A Girl, yes, it does hurt us, something that you appeantly still do not understand. The reason this pissed off this particlar board so bad is that many, if not most, of us here are people whose achievements in school are important to them. We work/worked hard in school to get grades that we take a lot of pride in, and (as Melin pointed out at the top of the thread) we tell our children to do the same. When people come along and cheat on their assignments, and take the easy way out to get a high grade, it dilutes the sacrifices the rest of us made. Don’t you see that if I work my ass of on a paper, and you buy one, and the teacher publicly praises yours in class and ignores mine, I am going to be angry? Or that when I go to a job interview and flash the 3.5 GPA I struggled for, and some persistient cheater beats me out of a job with his 3.8, that it hurts me a lot more than driving up the price of TVs ever would? I know that in your mind this is just one little class and school is not something you take seriously enough to think this is a big deal, but for a lot of us school and our education is the most important thing in the world, and your attitude that it dosen’t really matter grates at our nerves.
He also phrased his OP as an ethical dilemna: should I . . .
Even so, he had several people taking him to task for contemplating theft as an ethical option.
Your OP expressed no realization that your request was in any way unethical; it just asked for help in finding a paper to plagiarize. You not only did not want to do the work asked of you, you did not want to do the work of finding a way to cheat by yourself. I found your position unimpressive on multiple levels.
I see that you still are unable to view a class as anything except a mechanism for your own ends. Other people are afected by your actions. If the class is graded on a curve, then other students would have suffered from your dishonesty. The instructor would suffer by wasting time evaluating work that was not yours and offering guidance that would not be appropriate. Other students would receive less attention to their work because of your plagiarism. And, on a more esoteric level, attitudes of casual cheating erode confidence in and respect for education as a whole. This afects all of us.
I am glad that you decided not to cheat. I wish that you had more fully understood the reasons why cheating is wrong.
The best lack all conviction
The worst are full of passionate intensity.
*
I’m not going for any GPA stuff or degree or anything. I can see how faked papers would piss people off in the situation you stated, but it doesn’t apply to me.
And as far as wasting the teacher’s time, her time is already wasted on the crap I turn in now. I mean, my last thesis sample thingy was (topic: family) “Human families are destroying the Earth and I think all human babies should be sterilized at birth.” Of course I don’t believe it, but it was way more interesting to write than the usual family BS people do. I did come up with some brilliant arguements, if I do say so myself, but it’s all BS and Teacher knows it. She keeps saying I’m great at doing the creative stuff, but to try and focus on the assignment. I’m telling you, trying to focus my brain on reality is torture. Teacher will be glad when I’m gone! She’d be happy if I turned in a nice essay, so I could argue that by cheating I’d actually be doing Teacher a favor!!!
Sigh… but I guess since I am going to do it myself I better start thinking of a topic. Something with dragons or monsters in it would be nice…“Why the Loch Ness Monster doesn’t kill” no, no, no…“Science should be used to bring back dinosaurs, as well as other extinct species, because dinosaurs can be put to work squashing smog-spewing cars.” Imagine what fun it would be to think up jobs for dinosaurs! And researching other extinct species to see what they can do, and then blaming their demise on the lousy humans?? We owe these creatures, people!! Bring them back to life and give them something useful to do so they won’t be exterminated again!
Now, you see the problem here? Do you see the difficulty I am having?? That’s something I could write about, maybe even happily, but it’s not what she wants. She wants, you know, gun control, abortion, blah, blah, blah. BOR-ING!
A girl
StoryTyler
“Not everybody does it, but everybody should.”
StoryTyler
“Not everybody does it, but everybody should.”
I do. I see more than one, in fact. Lack of maturity prevents you from embracing a short-term discomfort as a path to long-term satisfaction. Self-centeredness prevents you from finding empathy for either your classmates or your instructor. Lack of imagination keeps you from finding excitement in any topic that is not painted broadly with fantastical creatures or situations.
The best lack all conviction
The worst are full of passionate intensity.
*
Story, what makes you think your tax dollars are paying for MY education?? I’m working full-time here!
And no, I won’t drop out of school. I’m going to be the best fan-fic writer ever, hahahahah!
A girl
“Story, what makes you think your tax dollars are paying for MY education??”
Stop, just stop now. You’re making it worse. Please stay away from Great Debates.
“And no, I won’t drop out of school. I’m going to be the best fan-fic writer ever”
I’ll look for you in the children’s section.
StoryTyler - don’t even bother. From someone going to college (supposedly) and can’t spell “arguments?”
You’re wasting your breath. And to think - I would have given anything to go to college…and I sure as hell wouldn’t have wasted it like she apparently is.
Oh and Tyler, “I’m gonna be the best blah blah blah blah blah ever” nyah nyah nyah.
“Insert stupid smiley face here”
Oops - sorry - couldn’t let THIS little gem pass me by. Yep - gun control, abortion, all those BOR-ING issues that affect each and every one of us - BOR-ING issues that affect FAMILY, CHILDREN, all those other little BOR-ING issues. For crying out loud. “A girl” (oh god - I’m female - please don’t let ANYone think I’m this shallow) wants to grow up and be famous - but let’s not let any real “issues” get in the way. God no, we wouldn’t want to have to actually stand up for anything. Yes, I see her difficulty - someone is asking her to act, think and behave like an adult with some values, morals and maybe, yes maybe, a fucking grown up OPINION. YIKES!
Someone give her a “Backstreet Boys” CD and send her back to Jr. High.
Like I said before, I would’ve killed to go to college. And now I see education wasted on this…sad.
I guess I’ll tackle this one.
Girl, colleges and universities - especially public ones - do not operate on the revenue generated by tuition and fees alone. That revenue usually covers only a fraction of the costs it takes to run a school. The rest is paid for by the government - state and city - and ultimately by the taxpayers. That means that while you’re whining and moaning about your class, people like me and StoryTyler are forking over dough so that you can have the privilege of attending.
Now, I don’t have a problem with my taxes going towards higher education. I certainly benefitted from it when I went to college, and (fnord willing) will again when I return for my teaching certification. As a society, we benefit by encouraging and helping others pursue an enriching education.
However, you’ve made it plain that you’re just a warm body taking up space in a classroom. The money - money that’s being taken from my pocketbook and the pocketbooks of others - used to maintain the classroom, pay the teacher, get supplies, and otherwise provide the environment you’re in, is being completely wasted in your case.
You show no interest in actually applying anything the teacher is trying to teach you. You have little initiative or motivation to actually take advantage of the benefits you’re being offered at a very, very steep discount. You’ve made it plain that you are only marking time.
That waste of resources is offensive enough. But stop and think for a moment, Girl. The resources of any one school are limited. They cannot take everyone who applies. They cannot teach every promising student who comes to them. Somewhere out there is a person who would be glad of the chance to sit where you are, who would actually attempt to learn what the teacher is teaching, who would actually put to use the resources the rest of us are donating. And your presence - your wasting, bloated, whining, lazy ass, couldn’t give a damn presence - is keeping that student out.
What a shame.
As for fan fiction. I have no quarrel with fan fiction per se. It’s a distracting and amusing past time. I’ve even posted fan fiction on my site. However, for someone who prides herself on being a writer or storyteller, writing only fan fiction is ultimately an exercise in sloth and laziness.
You’re playing in other people’s gardens, Girl. You’re making it plain that you lack the discipline, creativity, or even the intelligence to put together a cohesive storyline, characters, conflict, or environment on your own.
And hey, if that’s all you ever want to do, that’s fine. Who am I to say that your goals are miniscule and your effort pathetic? But do it on your own time. Don’t waste precious resources that others would put to use so much better. Don’t kid yourself that you’re actually a writer if you can’t approach the craft with a willingness to work. And please don’t try to kid us.
When he said that bit about tax dollars, I thought he meant I was using PELL grants and getting a free ride. I’m not. That’s all.
As far as my spelling, I can spell
G-E-T B-E-N-T. 
Just kidding… But really… You never misspell stuff in your posts?? Even by accident?
As far as wasting resources and “not everyone who applies gets in” sure they do!! It’s a community college!! If I’m wasting resources, they’re mine. My presence, wasteful or not, is not keeping anyone out of a class. Everyone who petitioned the first day of class got in, and by now more than half of the people have dropped out. So there’s plenty of room.
And last but not least, I got back my sample thesis about having babies sterilized, and Teacher’s comments are “Interesting. A paper I’d like to read. Nice opening.” So there. All is not lost.
A girl