Although I teach high school students, as an English teacher my greatest motivation is to ensure that my students develop quality writing skills that they wil take with them for the rest of their lives. Based on my previous blog, you already know I think the internet could prove a hindrance to that pursuit. However, if nothing else, informal contexts such as MySpace, LiveJournal, and even blogs provide adolescents opportunities to write work that is their own. There are almost always two sides to every story.
Except this one:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/10/weekinreview/10mcgrath.html?pagewanted=1&ei=5070&en=d0b5ca1f6c885cf0&ex=1174190400.
The New York Times researched a number of internet sites that allow students to purchase " 'A' quality" college-level research papers for as little as $9.95 a page. My brain wanted to crawl out of my ear: I'm happy to say I was picking my ear as I read the article, so I still have all of my mental faculties.
Two college professors were interviewed for the article, and each offered fairly scathing reviews of the papers obtained by the Times. While both professors agreed that the essays they had read were not "quality" papers, even by an average college freshman's standards, I can imagine, somewhere, that papers purchased from the sites mentioned in the article -- as well as similar sites -- have passed for acceptable. These sites would not continue to exist if this were not the case.
Aside from the obvious, there are several problems here, though two stand out above the rest:
1) The obvious lack of either confidence or pride in one's writing
and
2) The obvious lack of professionalism of some teachers and professors
Somewhere along the way, we must be cognizant of the implicit messages we must teach our students. As the sites mostly advertise and sell to college students, those purchasing the papers must have some -- if even the most basic -- college-level writing skills. Remedial courses notwithstanding, getting into college would, I hope, be an impossibility otherwise. Therefore, the students who purchase these papers must have learned that it is okay not to take pride in their writing. Teachers and parents alike bear the brunt of responsibility for this lapse.
Also, as it is clear that some professors accept these papers and students earn passing grades on them, we must do a better job as a community of educators in determining clear guidelines for what is acceptable work (as a whole) and requiring students to live up to those expectations. Allowing students to pass without meeting minimum requirements is not doing anyone any favors.
5 comments:
"My brain wanted to crawl out of my ear: I'm happy to say I was picking my ear as I read the article, so I still have all of my mental faculties."
LOL at your quote above. You have a very witty writing style. Intriguing choice to round out your blog posts for the week! I was particularly struck by your mention of MySpace, Facebook, etc. as a means for students to at least write work that is their own, although I couldn't help thinking of some poor high school wannabe letting some "in" kid spice up his space a la Cyrano de Bergerac.
I also teach at a community college which has adopted the services of turnitin.com to screen papers for just such instances. I don't know a lot about it, but know that it still doesn't prevent all occurrences.
Previous to this year I had taught high school students as well. As a Spanish teacher I often had students who quite obviously had written something entirely in English and then pasted it into a free translation website and called it good. Those free translations are usually extremely subpar and spit forth such obvious errors that it made them glaringly not their own. The students are looking for a quick fix and an easy way out.
Thinking back to my high school days, and even my undergraduate work in college, I would have never thought to buy my paper over the internet. That might be because I didn't have internet service at the time, or it could have been because I had a conscience. Or, it could have been that I loved to write.
Either way, it is disheartening to believe that we live in a society that so accepts this practice that a common internet search for "buying term papers" generates an obscene amount of hits. I was amused by several of the site names: www.oppapers.com(other people's papers), www.cheathouse.com (self-explanatory to say the least), www.freeonlineresearchpapers.com (which is not free at all, by the way), and www.ezwrite.com--just to name a few.
Many of the sites did offer "freeviews" of their papers, and I must admit that even these sample pieces were quite atrocious. Even if I had ever thought of buying a paper from someone, I would have at least required it to be of a professional caliber.
What is happening to our students?
Little rascals, huh? :)
I must say that although this atrocity of buying papers online makes my skin crawl, the idea of not caring about your writing has been around for a while. Of course the internet facilitates this deception, but before www.cheathouse.com there was your nerdy next door neighbor who would gladly accept $20 to write a research paper. The really sad part about that is that the nerd really had talent, but still lacked pride! If I remember correctly, this was an epsisode of Beverly Hills 90210.
Relating back to other recent posts we've discussed, pride is one of those skills that may not be a state standard and may not be tested, but can be learned at school and is a teacher's responsibility. Obviously it can't be taught in one year, but it should be a thread carried with each child as they grow. I distinctly remember my teachers having numerous unscheduled heart-to-hearts with us to teach us character and pride. That's a rare thing to observe these days.
Well written article.
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