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Plagiarism; Is Cheating Ok?

By: Adam Papa

Many individuals disregard the fact that plagiarism is just like running away with a stranger's car. The definition of plagiarism is simply the action of stealing someone else's work and claiming it as your own. Despite efforts to stop plagiarism many find that merely keeping academic integrity is more rewarding than just getting by in high school/college. Articles written by Kathy Slobogin from CNN and Nahal Toosi from the Journal Sentinel express their growing concern for cheating in America. These two articles show that the justification of plagiarizing is to get ahead in life. The reason that these students excuse plagiarism is due to the growing competition of getting into college. Things such as cheating to get through high school, growing internet influences and educational approaches to fighting back at plagiarism are all factors that are brought up in these articles. As a result individuals use plagiarism to bring undeserved success into their lives. Furthermore it's found that the competition to get into college has influenced students to plagiarize without the consideration of the consequences.

Slobogin from CNN writes that some students find it acceptable to cheat because as B student Newhall quoted "what's important is getting ahead" (Slobogin 1). Alice Newhall is a seventeen year old girl that is a student at George Mason high school. Her outlook on cheating is that in the real world cutting corner to do better is what will really show. "The better you do, that's what shows. It's not how moral you were in getting there" (Slobogin 1). This mindset on getting ahead in life should be confronted not by threatening punishment but by teaching dignity to the students

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