<p>In the same high school some teachers report a minor unintentional plagiarism case while a other teacher may not. So an unlucky student has to go through the whole process of honor code violation hearing and is disciplined severely. The student is genuine and has inadvertantly, under time pressure paraphrased 4 lines in a written paper. These lines are used while analyzing the paper using the textbook. However, the student has not used these plagiarized lines in the conclusion or Author's response section. The student failed to cite the source. How should this be handled? Is it fair that some students get by and some are stuck. The students are learning and are unmatured in high school and should such a violation arise to a severe disciplinary action for such students? Did any parents go through such a similar experience? If so, what was the outcome?</p>
<p>Life is not fair.</p>
<p>It will help the students to learn proper siting rules in HS. If they make the same mistake in college, they might get kicked out. In HS the system is usually more forgiving, especially for the “first time offenders”.</p>
<p>Thank you for your thoughts. But the student may get suspended as the school is very strict on rules. Should parents attempt to fight the case or be accepting? Shouldn’t the same rule apply to everyone? This jeopardizes the grades and a promising future of a very hardworking and aspiring student.</p>
<p>If teacher A turns in multiple students a year for plagarism, and they get suspended, while teacher B does not, wouldn’t the principal notice?</p>
<p>Life isn’t fair. If teacher A has a reputation for doing this, why did you do it anyway? Surely you must have known that the teacher disapproves of this conduct.</p>
<p>By the way student did not even realize the mistake until the teacher notified the student that the violation was going to be reported. And students are not aware that this teacher has notified several students before on plagiarism. After all they are kids… Also, though some of the school officials admit that some teachers do not report they still feel that since this was reported it needs to follow the handbook rules and disciplinary actions.</p>
<p>This is an argument I’d make to the principal. It isn’t fair, life isn’t fair…and talking to the teacher or principal can possibly make it a little fairer. Myself, for a freshman I’d take off points for a missed citation; for a senior I’d be harsher. But the principal knows what’s happening and is the logical next step.</p>
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<p>I think the hearing will give you the opportunity to present your case and they will act accordingly.</p>
<p>i certainly hope you plan on calling the police the next time you notice yourself driving a bit over the speed limit.</p>
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<p>This sums up our experience on the matter. My freshman shared a homework answer and was shocked to be “written up.” He was referred to the assistant principal, who gave him a brief lecture. I think it was brief because she knows this teacher’s history and also my son’s history (never been in trouble). Even though my son considered it a minor infraction, I think he learned a valuable lesson.</p>
<p>Well, plaigarism is a big deal, a big fat deal. Personally, I think it would be wrong to ask the school to be lenient just because not EVERY teacher would have reported this incident.</p>
<p>If you truly want to be fair, you could request that the other teachers follow the harsher standards that this teacher set. That would be fair, right? Same standard for everyone.</p>
<p>However, my guess is your issue is really wanting the kid to get off, not “fairness.”</p>
<p>I think that your case should be that this was a first time, and an honest mistake/misunderstanding, not that “it’s not fair that others did not get reported”.</p>
<p>If you as a parent get involved, your point could be that the process is there to teach the kids to do the citations properly, not to punish them for the sake of punishment. So if the student is a “first time offender”, and honestly misunderstood the rule, there should be a punishment in place that does not leave his/her record tainted. (Getting an F on the paper, for example, should be enough of a punishment)</p>
<p>Go to the hearing and make your case. It’s always worth making the argument, and then the school has the option to accept it or not. Your child did break the rules, whether knowingly or not, and there should be some consequence, but suspension seems a bit harsh. He should know by now how to cite, and he should be very careful becuase in college they will definitely be harsh about this. Some teachers may be more strict about enforcing the rules than others, but the rules exist for everyone. Just because other students have broken them without being punished does not mean that your son’s offense is any less worthy of punishment.</p>
<p>The OP is a student (see her first thread under What are my chances?).</p>
<p>^^ Ah, OK. Well, the same message applies. It sucks that you got caught and other people didn’t. It sucks that it was uninentional, but it is not as if the school’s rules were never explained to you or the importance of citations not explained. But the simple fact is that you broke the rules. The school has the right to enforce the rules. I would definitely make your case and show that you are contrite and willing to accept some kind of lesser punishment - detention maybe, or a lower grade for the paper (you may be forced to accept a zero for the paper. Apologize to the teacher and offer to apologize to you class if they want you to.</p>
<p>I’ve always wondered about how so many students get to college and apparently have no idea what plagiarism is or why it is wrong. It seems so common sense to me; you wouldn’t steal someone’s money or a purse that doesn’t belong to you, so why would you steal something someone else wrote? Do they actually teach students about it before they graduate high school?</p>
<p>You are welcome to make your case at the hearing, but my personal experience as a former professor was that professors and teachers did explain plagiarism and its consequences. Some students, though, who eventually got caught didn’t pay attention to those explanations or forgot about them in, for instance, the students’ haste to finish work at the last minute.</p>
<p>I also think that all students who plagiarize should be reported. Otherwise, it’s not fair, and some students may be able to lie and repeatedly plead ignorance after deliberately breaking the rules.</p>
<p>Unintentional plagarism struck me as an oxymoron. If you are looking at selective colleges you should know what is and isn’t plagarism. Go to the hearing, state your case and I do wish you good luck, but playing the card that “other teachers don’t report” is not going to help you one bit.</p>
<p>I agree with Northstarmom. As a former HS teacher and working with college students now on references and citations in a college library, I see it time and time again where a student does not read the class syllabus or listen to the teacher in class when he/she goes over his/her plagarism/citation policy then same student cries “unfair” when they violate the policy, unintentionally or otherwise. It does not matter what other teachers’ policies are. You are only governed by the policies in YOUR class.</p>
<p>That said, I think the OP’s best course of action is to show remorse, not indignation, at the hearing. Humility may get you more than righteousness. Explain that it was unintentional and a very small percentage of your paper. Do not mention any other teacher’s class policies. That doesn’t really matter. If you are a consistently good student, I think that the principal will take that into account. You may have to take this as a life lesson and really learn from it. Better this to happen in HS than in college. Good luck to you!</p>
<p>I agree that remorse and “I’ve learned a valuable lesson” are the way to go.</p>
<p>OP, you need to suss out each individual teacher’s requirements/quirks/preferences/rules, not assume that because one allows something, they all will. I’ve had teachers who mark off points if you don’t use their preferred font and many who couldn’t care less as long as the font is a “typical” size. I’ve had many teachers who won’t allow Wikipedia as a source, a few who do allow it, and one who encouraged it. Don’t use a one-size-fits-all approach.</p>
<p>Just a side note to any students on here - I don’t suggest using Wikipedia as a source when you go to college. Just a suggestion due to working in a college library for the last three year or so. :)</p>