DURHAM, N.C. � Like
most other college students, Eric Rogers knows that submitting a term paper
taken off the Internet is outright plagiarism, cause for suspension or a failing
grade.
What about using a paragraph?
“Just a paragraph?” he said. Beneath a Duke cap worn
backward, he pondered. “A big paragraph or a small paragraph?”
“Taking a paragraph and changing words, I’ve done that
before; it wasn’t a big deal,” he decided finally. “As long as I can manipulate
it to be my words, change a few, it’s not cheating.”
…Given research that shows less cheating at colleges
with strong honor codes than at those without them, some campuses are adopting
codes for the first time
…”It’s a psychological effect: if people expect you to
be honorable, you are more likely to respond with honorable behavior,” said
Nannerl O. Keohane, the president of Duke. “We have to build a culture where
people are genuinely offended by cheating.”
[Full
story]
What a concept in modern society, expecting people to be honorable and they
most will likely be. I thought prevailing thought was that behavior can’t be
changed and that they are going to do it anyway. If they treated term paper
cheating like sex then they would be handing out pre-written papers. Old
Oligarch had an excellent post on this topic before.
