Plagiarism is a dirty, dirty thing to do. There's a special place reserved in hell for those who try to cheat their way to college. But at UR, we just can't wait for Satan to do his work, so we've taken it into our own hands.
Many a year ago, 'students' decided to set up an 'Honor Council'. Basically, it has three parts- a pledge you sign at the start of college, a pledge you sign on each assignment/test and an enforcement mechanism. Its concept is that students use their 'honor' to regulate themselves and eachother. Bizarre frankly.
During my orientation week here, we were dragged into a room and told all about this noble institution. What our rights are if accused, how the 'trial works' and what the punishments are. Then we were given an 4 page exam on the topic (I passed) and made to memorise a pledge that we have to write at the end of each assignment/exam, which is as follows-
"I pledge that I have neither received nor given unauthorized assistance during the completion of this work."
I'm a reasonable person. I don't have problems with 'honor' and I've never cheated on an exam. I do have a problem with this bizarre, 'Lord of the Flies' trial procedure. This people can have me expelled and there's nothing the College can do about it! Luckily I haven't paid $40,000 in fees and I don't intend to cheat so I'm good. But it is strange how they keep selling it as a 'voluntary' pledge when really you're forced to sign it. And the people who are on the 'honor council' are complete weirdos.
'Cultural understanding', its a bitch!
3 comments:
Remember:
If you steal from one author, it's plagiarism; if you steal from many, it's research.
(I just made that up myself...good, isn't it?)
Dude change the colour scheme! Good to hear from you, hope you're well.
Hurray! Somehow I have snuck passed my ever vigilant IT department to finally comment on your blog.
Too many pedantic edits!!! Where to begin!!! AAARRGGGHH!!
Ewan
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