<p>Recently, I noticed that a friend's piece of writing had startling similarities to a piece in a book. At some points, whole paragraphs seemed to have been lifted from the book. I gave the student a warning, telling him/her that although I'd give him/her the benefit of the doubt this time, this would not be the case if he/she repeated the incident. Unfortunately, he/she published yet another piece of writing that had sentences lifted from various sources, so I told the head of the publication, who eventually told the plagiarizer's teacher. Now, he/she will have that on his/her permanent record - something that I tried to not have happen. </p>
<p>He/she was a very smart student with an immaculate gpa and perfects on his SAT, SAT II, and AP tests. </p>
<p>So, is what I did wrong; and how will this affect his/her future?</p>
<p>Mind your own business. Unless what he/she was doing was impacting you directly, you shouldn't have done anything. I have little sympathy for cheaters of any sort, but you should have given him/her more of a chance to consider his/her actions. If he/she is a truly smart person, then he/she would have probably stopped. You don't know if this was a chronic problem or just a phase because of pressure. You pretty much screwed their future, hopefully they're not well connected.</p>
<p>both could be true; some very smart people (2400 SAT's) also lack ethics.</p>
<p>what would be better is if there were some process whereby the student could defend or explain himself before this death-mark goes down on his permanent record.</p>
<p>I wouldn't want to have you as a friend. You seem to have gone really out of your way and at lengths (analyzing your friend's work for plagiarism and checking for the source and then even going to the head of the publication) to get your "friend" in trouble, knowing at least vaguely the kind of consequences he/she would suffer. Sure it's wrong, but what you did seems cruel.</p>
<p>It's like the question one gets asked at job interviews. "If you saw your friend steal a coke, would you tell?" Of course one would reply "Yes," but in a real life scenario, that wouldn't likely be the case.</p>
<p>I have to agree with cwatson. Don't consider urself a hero because you ratted someone out; you probably did not even care for this "friend" but innately you wanted this person to suffer becuase he/she was taking the easy route on things while you were doing it the hard way. Not only that, you gave your friend an out. Instead of getting caught and having to blame him or herself for cheating, that person will only blame you instead of blaming themselves.</p>
<p>Oab is a troll account, or an account by another member of the CC forums who wanted to test something. This is an exact copy of that Harvard book girl thing.</p>
<p>Still, some of the comments posted here seem ridiculous. You should have given him more of a chance, especially if he was your friend. </p>
<p>Flong...what are you saying? In one half you're saying he did it for selfish reasons, but then you continue "not only that, you gave your friend an out." What the...</p>
<p>Whatever. Cheaters suck--this kid wasn't just copying a little math worksheet, he was participating in some pretty serious plagiarizing. You already gave them the benefit of a doubt/warning that this wasn't cool--you absolutely did the right thing. Ethics and morals come before friendship, in my opinion--again, this isn't stealing a $1 coke. This is a seriously bad habit that the kid should be punished for. </p>
<p>I'm sure I'm going to get into an argument, but snitching is cruel? Are you kidding me? This kid was a MULTIPLE plagiarizer--plagiarizing is illegal, last time I checked, when it comes right down to it. The OP didn't "go out of his way" to get the kid in trouble (and, even if he did--so what? He didn't make up the cheating offense--the kid had to do that himself)--he made sure of the veracity of the allegation that he was making before he made it. Who CARES if the kid suffers from his actions--that's what happens when you do something wrong. All this sounds like first class justifying to me, and I think it's BS. You have zero obligation to be loyal to serious cheaters--it's not cruel to turn someone in when they plagiarize. It's wrong not to.</p>
<p>of course why dont u read it completely. Not only did Oab do it for him or herself, accidently Oab gave his friend someone to blame rather than him or herself.</p>
<p>Advantagious none of us are saying that that person cheating was good or anything like that. The fact is if he/she was cheating, that person is only hurting him or herself by either getting caught later on by the teacher and failing the class or suffering in college because he/she can not keep up. The punishments will eventually catch up. However, if someone rats out the cheater, the cheater does get in trouble but in his or her mindset its not their fault they got in trouble, but instead the pesron who told on them.</p>
<p>I totally advocate letting someone crash and burn. But don't shoot them down.</p>
<p>they will never ever recover from that. no elite college will ever take them. In fact, they'd be lucky to get into the worst state school in whatever state they are from. you just destroyed their future... congrats.</p>
<p>totally just kidding on that one, though it was funny. seriously though? it's a really tough call. I think since you warned that person once you weren't totally out of line. I probably wouldn't have said anything, but if that person cheated after being warned then they deserve a blemish on their record. Their future isn't screwed, they will take a hit in their college admissions search but a lesser school will leap at the chance to get a kid with perfect stats and a blemish on his record. This kid lost any chance at an ivy or top twenty school, but they will still get to go to college, and hopefully they learned an important lesson in the process.</p>
<p>don't call him your friend if u snitched on him. mind your own business kid, u sound like a hater with too much time on his hands to do research on the guys copying</p>
<p>"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing"</p>
<p>Words to live by. I hate cheaters but I hate snitches too and in my opinion you are not a snitch because you did confront him privately about his unacceptable actions first. You did the right thing man. I feel sorry for the person, but he shouldn't have cheated at all on something that important you know? Though I know the snitcher did the "right" thing, its sometimes hard to do the right thing and I hope you're happy with your decision- I hope I never have to face a situation like that. Nonetheless, I support you for doing the right thing.</p>
<p>on a side note, you guys should watch the ESPN movie "CodeBreakers" which touched on the 1951 cheating scandal at West Point where several cadets were dismissed because of their involvement in a cheating ring. One guy ratted them out, and he was hated. But he did the right thing. Now whether or not thatd be worth it in the end is a matter of personal perference.</p>