MattH+notes+on+When+Did+Cheating+Become+an+Epidemic?

Know

Before it was the internet, it was books from the library. Professors are beginning to have a preference for tests over papers due to the difficulty of cheating on a test as opposed to how easy it is to plagarize a paper. Plagarizing is both easy to do and easy to catch. Alfie Kohn is an idiot.

Want to know

What percentage of papers are plagarized? Why do schools allow or make excuses for this sort of activity? What does Alfie Kohn have against competition? What is the difference between reading a book and reading online?

Learn

Based on Molly Pease's experience, out of 1000 student papers only 5-10 are completely plagerized. There was a similar level of plagarism 15 years ago. Students plagiarize because: According to Andrew Daines we need to teach an "Ethics Class" Arguments for students' innocence based on their ignorance of the rules of the road.
 * they do not understand the material
 * lack confidence in their own work.
 * don’t understand how to cite a source properly
 * cant summarize words into their own ideas

Alfie Kohn: (1) instructors have no real relationship with their students, (2) students experience academic tasks as pointless or overwhelming, (3) //how well// students are doing (e.g., grades and test scores) matters more than //what// they’re doing, or (4) achievement is construed competitively such that the goal is to outperform others Cheating is less common in classrooms where the teacher and students are engaged.

Benenson Strategy Group surveyed 7th-12th graders, 35 percent admitted to cheating by cell phone during a test Because of the web, knowledge isn't absorbed and interpreted. It is retrieved and passed along.