Schools and Education - Understanding the Rise in Apathy, Cheating and

The Rise in Apathy, Cheating and Plagiarism – Understanding the Problem Over the past ten years teachers have witnessed a drop in student preparation and a rise in apathy and cheating. Students who cheat do so from a variety of motives. Making this situation even more difficult is that faculty members do not even define plagiarism the same or punish it consistently (Howard, â€Å"Sexuality† 473). Some surveys even show that teachers simply ignore the problem or do not report plagiarism because: â€Å"they do not want to be bothered, because they think only the student who cheated is actually harmed, or because of the unpleasant bureaucracy and documentation ramifications† (Moeck 484). Alschuler and Blimling add to this list the fear of litigation, student reprisals, administrative reprimands and lack of support (124). With such diversity and outright dissention among teachers, finding solutions to these problems will require not only a common purpose but also an understanding of what may be at the heart of these issues. One potent ial answer lies in educating ourselves about the history and nature of plagiarism. Another potential answer lies in analyzing how so many students arrive at college ill-prepared and apathetic. Freire’s theories on banking education may explain some of these problems concerning student preparation and academic integrity. First, we must understand the history of plagiarism and the problem many instructors have in separating original thinking from collaborative thinking (that which is influenced by those who have come before). Western thought traces its roots to the great civilizations of Classical Greece and Rome. The nature of much writing from this period up into the 19th Century was ... ...n, 1993. 17-24. Howard, Rebecca Moore. â€Å"Plagiarisms, Authorships, and the Academic Death Penalty.† College English 57 (1995). 788-806. ---. â€Å"Sexuality, Textuality: The Cultural Work of Plagiarism.† College English 62 (2002). 473-91. Jeffers, Thomas L. â€Å"Plagiarism High and Low.† Commentary 114 (2002). 54-61. McCabe, Donald L. â€Å"Students Cheating in American High Schools.† The Center for Academic Integrity. 2002. 10 Nov. 2002. . Moeck, P. G. â€Å"Academic Dishonesty: Cheating Among Community College Students.† Community College Journal of Research and Practice 26 (2002). 479-91. â€Å"Statistics.† Plagiarism.org. 10 Nov. 2002. . Roberts, Peter. Education, Literacy, and Humanization: Exploring the Work of Paolo Freire. Ed. Henry A. Giroux. Westport, CT: Bergin & Garvey, 2002. 54-73.