Plagiarism, Part II

Well, it happened again.

Another one of my students plagiarised, and I experienced the dilemma of equitable punishment. See, the first student who did it was a student who tries hard, participates in class, and is a positive element in the class. As I wrote in the last post, I felt that because of her exemplary behavior and genuine enthusiasm that she deserved another chance. Not so with student number two. Sure, he shows up every day, but he obviously doesn't give a damn about the class, the subject, or his grade. Before this essay, he had a whopping 41% on the grade sheet, primarily because he wasn't turning anything in.

When I found the essay he purchased (yes, it was off of one of those buy-an-essay websites), my first reaction was: Buddy, you're screwed. We're going to have a parent conference and you get a zero for the grading period. Of course, I quickly realized that this could backfire on me. What if he found out that I gave Student 'A' a break, but sent him to the gallows? Would I be able to justify my actions? I decided to give him the same offer (see below), knowing that he wouldn't produce anything (god, I'm already cynical).

He didn't produce anything.

The one positive thing I took from this was that now I have a great, real-world example to use next time I teach Macbeth. This student's actions paralleled Macbeth's actions in that he followed his ambitions (to pass the class), yet neglected his morals (by plagiarising) to do so. I pointed this irony out to the student, but I think he was too scared for it to register.