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Dayton Daily News education reporter Scott Elliott writes about schools, kids, teaching and learning.
Home > Blogs > Get on the Bus > Archives > 2006 > July > 16 > Entry
Letting a friend “look at” your homework
Is it ever OK for a student to borrow a friend’s homework just to “look at?” And if the borrower instead plagiarizes, how much punishment does the homework lender deserve?
And how far should the lender’s parents go to object if they believe their child’s punishment is too severe?
I’m a huge fan of Randy Cohen’s column “The Ethicist” in the Sunday New York Times Magazine. It’s an advice column in which Cohen tells letter writers his view of what the “ethical” path is for them in a sticky situation.
This week, there is a great school-based question. Here it is:
My son, a high-school junior, lent his completed homework to a friend, intending only to show him the general approach to the assignment. The friend plagiarized some of it, and their teacher found out. Although the friend backed my son’s story, the teacher put a derogatory note in my son’s file. This could prevent his getting into the National Honor Society and may discourage other teachers from writing him college recommendations. Did my son do so wrong? Name Withheld, Oregon
This is a great example of the sort of annoying issues and second-guessing teachers face every day. Let’s go through it:
—First of all, as Cohen states more politely, the lender is a either a cheater or a fool. If you want to help a friend with homework, that’s great. Sit down with them and answer their questions. If you want to help them cheat, give them you completed paper.
—The writer says the other boy backed the lender’s story that the intent was not to cheat and admits he plagiarized on his own. This sounds like a pretty obvious “oops, we got caught” cover story.
—The lender was disciplined with a note in his file. And his parents are complaining? At the college where my father taught for most of his career, involvement in plagiarism — or any kind of any cheating — was an automatic expulsion on the first offense! That was back when cheating used to be considered a serious offense. Even if you accept everything the lender is saying as true, the boy needs to learn an important lesson about cheating. Some discipline is called for.
—The parent ends with the concern that a note in the file could harm the son’s chances for National Honor Society or college. If the rest of his school career is exemplary, one reprimand is not likely to harm this boy’s chances for a good recommendation letter. As for National Honor Society, or the trust of other teachers, he’s got to earn all that back. But it can be done.
I liked all of Cohen’s answers until the end, where he addresses how the parents might respond to the reprimand:
If you disagree with its assertions, you should be given a chance to refute them. Talk to the teacher and the principal to learn your options and to determine if you are exaggerating the likely impact of this note on your son’s academic future.
I cringed at the suggestion here of involving the principal. Talk to the teacher, yes, but the parent’s posture in that conversation should not be confrontational. They should be asking the teacher what else they can do to help their son stay on the straight and narrow from now on, not arguing the reprimand, point-by-point, as the letter writer appears ready to do.
Here’s what I bet probably really happened in this case:
The kid and tried to help his friend cheat using a strategy that probably worked with other, less conscientious teachers. This careful teacher busted them and disciplined them. But the uptight parents, unwilling to see even the slightest blemish on their little darling’s record, decided to go to war over it, dragging administrators and the principal into the mix.
And what probably happened in the end? More often than not, administrators cave and the penalty is reduced or expunged. And discipline is again subtly eroded.
Permalink | Comments (4) | Categories: The Parent-Teacher Divide
Comments
By Oldprof
July 16, 2006 11:38 PM | Link to this
Thank you Andrew, that’s how I approach homework and many course assignments. Any teacher can tell you war stories about academic dishonesty—my own definition includes anything that inhibits learning, including stealing library materials!—but in my experience, at the college level, prompting students to answer in ways that connect to them personally or to other assignments in the class will reduce test-cheaters considerably. However, I can’t claim sufficient expertise to assert the same for elementary students.By Mary
July 16, 2006 9:23 PM | Link to this
I agree with some of Dave’s and Andrew’s take. I liked the columns on integrity the Dayton Daily News carried for awhile (haven’t seen them lately). However, I am struck by the inconsistencies in the education environment in how discipline is administered over something like this versus say an athlete who rapes assaults, robs, or uses drugs but gets a full ride scholarship to college anyway.By Andrew Pass
July 16, 2006 3:54 PM | Link to this
First of all, unfortunately there are numerous stories of students cheating and talking their way out of getting in trouble. I’ve heard stories of several college professors sitting together commencement exercises. One professor will comment, “that student cheated in my class.” The other professors say almost in unison, “He cheated in your class, also?” Students frequently talk themselves out of discipline. Kudos to the teacher who catches plagarism and remains consistent. The second comment that I want to make draws attention to assigning homework on which students cannot collaborate. Too many teachers assign homework in 2006, as if it was still 1976. Research demonstrates that collaboration is critical to future success. Why not assign homework that promotes collaboration and joint research? Andrew Pass http://www.Pass-Ed.com/blogger.htmlBy Dave
July 16, 2006 3:52 PM | Link to this
Scott, you seem a little quick to read details into the scenario, when we don’t even know what subject this was. And since homework is supposedly an “aid to education”, a note in the permanent record is PROBABLY far too harsh. With rare exceptions, homework is NOT an exam. Yes, many parents over-react (in both directions), but the same can be said for bloggers who decide what “probably” happened and “flame on” from there.