Oh yeah? Well, plagiarists get major fists.
Seriously, “snitches get stitches” is along the lines of “finders keepers, losers weepers” in terms of an idiotic criminal’s code designed to screw over good people. It’s no way to run a society. Its only redeeming feature is the fact that it rhymes.
It is not trivial… It’s a matter of integrity. Encouraging honor and discouraging lying is a good thing.
I think I’d contact the fellow student first and urge them to withdraw the paper and submit a new one. Remind her that you’re honor bound to report ethical violations. Let her do the right thing.
Yes.
If she doesn’t get caught, then yes, she’ll have gotten away with it and received a grade she didn’t earn. As to the inflation of the grading curve, I’m not sure how this figures in the lives of the other students when it comes time for final grades. So what if a certain student is not in the top 10% but the top 20% as a result? An “A-” remains an “A-” no matter where it falls on the distribution curve for that class. Who actually looks at that stuff in that level of detail anyway?
If the 20 year old does not want to snitch, then be a mentor:
Contact the fellow student and tell them that it was obviously copied from wiki. A 40 year old student returning to school might need both help and reminders. I dealt with this when teaching students returning to school - the temptation of online materials when they were late on an assignment was huge, and they also did not realize just how easy it is to catch them. The younger student pointing that out might help an older student before they get into real trouble.
In a class that grades on a curve she’s stealing someone else’s grade. I’d turn her in - IMO it’s actual harm right now.
I’m guessing you don’t understand what a grading curve is?
Employers and graduate programs. This student bumping herself up to an A is likely enough to affect the program’s final class rankings. That could mean another student fails to finish in the percentile required for a job or a degree program or whatever. Hell, it may be the difference in a student qualifying for a particular major next semester.
Sure, the chances are small, but why should we give the cheater the benefit of the doubt?
I don’t see how you can be responsible for the integrity of yourself and others but hold yourself on a different integrity standard. If it’s worse for me to plagiarize than to tattle, it is worse for me to not report a plagiarizer than to tattle.
Furthermore, said agreement appears to be a specific requirement to tattle. How else am I supposed to be responsible for others’ lack of integrity?
(I use tattle here as you use it. I wouldn’t see reporting plagiarism as tattling at all. Not in an academic setting. Tattling is about unimportant things without much punishment. And it’s usually a form of brown nosing. There’s a reason it’s connected with both idle chat and gossip. It’s unimportant talk that makes you look good.)
Personally, I would never tattle. I mean, seriously? Tattling?
I guess I don’t appreciate the importance of it.
This is so deep in the margins of possible but unlikely outcomes that I simply don’t care enough to worry about it. Unfair things happen in life all the time. I simply can’t bring myself to snitch in a case like this OP. It seems petty to me.
It’s fine to think that personally you’d not uphold the honor code. I get that. But “snitches get stitches” is some serious bullshit: people who uphold the honor code are not despicable for it.
In a course graded on a curve, the students’ grades are assigned based on their performance relative to each other. So one student inflating her own grade is harming others.
“I don’t care enough to worry about it” is a pretty far cry from “snitches get stitches.” Ultimately, what you’re saying is that academic dishonesty is unimportant. And that’s kind of fucked up.
It can be as simple as 10% of the students can get A’s. If the plagiarizer takes one of those slots, someone else doesn’t get it.
In an academic environment I don’t see the divide as between the students and the teachers. The idea that snitches get stitches is Neanderthal - let it die away.
I agree. This kind of stupid rule simply encourages students to ignore the other rules too.
I was being somewhat flippant. I simply don’t hold people who snitch about trivial things in high regard. I personally would not do it in this circumstance.
I’m not saying that at all. Academic dishonesty should be discouraged through various means but not with me having to pledge to snitch on my fellow students.
So you are backing off your original position?
Which position is that…? My “Snitches get stitches” comment?
Basically, yes. At first you seemed to be saying that *nobody *should ever even think about reporting fellow students for plagiarism. Now you seem to be saying, “whatever, just don’t make *me *do it.”
Oooh, I’m changing my answer. This idea fills my inner smartass with glee.
I’m still saying that; A pledge of honour should not include an obligation for students to rat each other out. I do not and would not encourage my son or daughter to snitch under the OP’s circumstances. I would not have a high opinion of a classmate who cheats, nor would I have a high opinion of a classmate who tattled on the cheater. Now, if your personal moral code prohibits you from turning a blind eye, go ahead and confront the cheater directly.