edumakayshun

so, this week i'm a substitute in the student center @ the jc i work @. the student center is a place that's sorta computer lab/math& english help. it's pretty cool that they have this, as i think it really offers help for student success.

anyway, i'm working in there this week. yesterday, i was reviewing the roster for one of my classes. on the roster i saw the name of a student i had previously had in a class. this student was on academic probation, and needed to pass my general ed class to stay in school. this student came nowhere close to passing. the student failed to even turn in most assignments, missed a quiz, and scored poorly on the tests. so, the student should've been terminated from school. yet, there the student still is. (as an aside, the roster changed and i won't have that student next time, but the student is in another instructor's class.) today, i saw another student, that in my opinion, has no business being there any more. i've had this student in 2 classes, both of which the student failed. and, in both classes the student was caught plagiarizing. according to school policy, one incident results in disciplinary action (it goes on your record) and a second incident is supposed to result in termination. furthermore, this student was also on probation and needed to pass to stay in school. didn't pass. caught plagiarizing twice. wha?

i'm all for giving people chances to improve and redeem themselves. but, in the academic institution we need to also maintain a high level of academic integrity. there are certain things that must not be tolerated (like plagiarism). as an instructor, how can i feel that the school is going to do anything when i report future violations? why should i even bother enforcing the policies other than my own desire to teach and try and maintain a fair environment for all? well, fair to the extent that a student caught plagiarizing is probably going to fail my class and you might pass, but outside of that...

yet, so many smaller institutions are caught in a trap of having to fight for dollars. you can't afford to throw out students left and right. you sometimes lower your admission standards. you aggressively market your "product," that is, your school and hope that you can grow and build but how far do you compromise what might have gotten you started in the first place?

i don't have answers to these questions. mainly because i don't think that there are simple solutions most of the time. well, except for on the plagiarism deal. you've got a rule. follow it. no student's tuition is worth compromising the educational environment.

fun times

doing my monday night t.a. gig right now. the first hour of class, the teleconference stuff wasn't working. pretty much the only reason they have ta's @ the different centers is in the event that there is a problem such as this. the thing is, no one is really trained on how to trouble shoot the system. so, we kept trying to call the other classrooms to no avail. then, we gave up for like a half hour (after a half hour of trying). on a whim, we called again, and it worked. smooth.

so, i'm also grading papers during this time (for a completely unrelated deal). there should have been 26 papers submitted. 15 actually turned in. 5 of which contain elements of plagiarism. good times. i'm not sure if people don't know how to write papers or what. well, i do know that most understand how to write and could at least attempt to give credit. heck, at least improperly give credit. but, there is so much cut & paste going on. heck, i even found someone using a pdf file that i could find on the 'net.

for all writers out there: if you can find your info with a google search, so can i. really, that's all i do. google sentences. and when it pops up, and you haven't quoted or cited it, you're in trouble.