<p>Maybe the original poster likes to start interesting threads...this sure is one! As I read it, the guilty party was warned the first time, with the threat that it would be revealed if he/she did it again. It was done again, and the poster told the head of the publication, who then told the guilty party's teacher. I think there's more than just morals in play here. If I were a contributing writer to a school publication, I'd be really mad if another writer on staff was stealing material. It would reflect badly on the publication, and on me. In all fairness, the guilty party was warned, and the poster didn't tell the kid's teacher, just the head of the publication. It was done in the most benign way possible that would still bring it to light. Once one of my kids was taking a test for entry into some gifted program. A little boy, whose parents had been urging him to do well in the hallway before the test, cheated from my daughter's paper. My daughter felt confused (only 5th grade) but ultimately decided to tell the proctor anyway. I think in the long run that kid was better off. Hope his parents took the hint to lay off a little.</p>
<p>I just don't feel as if it is your business unless you are legally resoinsible for reporting it. If I was a teacher and I saw cheating I would feel morally obliged to call it out and act accordingly because it is among my responsibilities as an employee. As a fellow student I find it rarely is your business how other students get things done, if they cheat you might feel as if it is hurting you. Without your help usually such behavior catches up to the perpetraitor, but with your help you can ruin someone's career, a huge price to pay for some ethical misdirection when you're so young in life.</p>
<p>At college I find a lot of people use things that would be considered "morally questionable". Bibles (a book of all the homeworks and tests from the previous year, often frowned upon for a class), using other people's homework at the last minute because you were busy, etc. But I've always looked upon it as the same as when I see my under-21 year old buddies drinking. They're not hurting me, and the cheating is often just due to stress and the overwhelming amount of work some people have, not some evil plot to screw everyone else in the class. As such, I treat it just like smoking weed or drinking, I won't tell anyone unless it becomes a serious problem that NEEDS fixing, and it rarely is.</p>
<p>If it is a publication that will be shared with others, that is why it must be reported</p>
<p>By not reporting it you are hurting the entire institutution by letting them publish plagerism, and some legal ramifications can come from that</p>
<p>its called doing the right thing</p>
<p>if for instance someone helping to do research takes shorts cuts, etc, while there may be no legal obligation there certainly is a moral and ethical one</p>
<p>i am not sayiny tattle on pot smokers, but I am saying when their are others involved, and in a publication there are....you must report if someone is cheating</p>
<p>I would apologize -- although it's his right not to be your friend anymore -- and don't repeat this.
In my view, snitching is the most horrible thing a friend can do.</p>
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<p>You do know that diamonds at most stores in the US are CERTIFIED right? Meaning they go through a rigorous test before they are even accepted into the US.</p>
<p>And please, stop with the insults. This is a college forum where will discuss post secondary education, not beating someone up and throwing them in trash cans because they did something ethically right.</p>
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<p>There is a difference between letting someone copy your homework willingly and someone copying your publication behind your back. It's called plagiarism and people get expelled for that because it is so morally wrong.</p>
<p>And as the original poster said, he did warn his friend, telling him he will report another offense if committed. One warning is enough but his friend decided to do it anyway. So there was nothing wrong with the poster's actions. You don't get second chances in life and his friend is better off getting caught right now than ruining his reputation in the future.</p>
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<p>yeah, i agree. i know in this case people say it's "morally right thing to do," which i admit is right, but it's just wrong doing that to a friend.</p>
<p>i consider it the same as backstabbing. </p>
<p>i was in a situation before in middle school where my closest friend told on me because i changed my mile-run time. and this was something EVERYONE did because nobody cared (and the teacher said we ALL had to get a certain time or he'd make us run even more for the next week. we were all good runners but the slow people changed their times), and she knew it too. but she told on ME and i got the blame for something that was so common, & something that everyone else did. yeah, it was wrong, and she told me it was wrong too. but i just remember being so shocked & p!ssed that she'd do something like that. it's just an unwritten rule that you don't do that to your friend, lol. no words can express how i felt. it was just like, "damn. how COULD you?"</p>
<p>You know, people can say all they want about how "snitching" is the moral thing to do, even on a friend. But we all know we wouldn't say anything if it was a friend.</p>
<p>Knock them off their high horse...</p>
<p>It's been over a year since the incident. I don't think it went on his record. His counselor allegedly knows that he plagiarised, but that may not be true. Her original punishment was much harsher, but we managed to reduce it.</p>
<p>Also, I didn't purposely analyze his style. I lent him a book and a few weeks after he wrote the article I read the book, and I obviously noticed that lines were lifted verbatim.</p>
<p>Some of you guys are fricken pathetic.
I know I'm saying it bluntly, but thats the only way it can be said.</p>
<p>Getting on oab's case for turning him in?</p>
<p>Copying someone's work and passing it off as your own is a crime. People can go to jail for this. And if you're still in high school, you probably won't go to jail, but you sure deserve to get punished. </p>
<p>I think oab did a perfectly honorable thing. I mean, he gave him a chance, I don't see how you can get around that.
The guy ignored him... did just what he was called out for doing again...
there you go.</p>
<p>And I personally would like to thank oab.</p>
<p>If someone like that is contending for the ivy leagues, or top colleges (or any other places I might look at for that matter), I have to say, I would rather they weren't part of the class, and don't think they deserve to go there.</p>
<p>Haha long live the troll! The OP is probably laughing his butt off right now, seeing as he has just started an extremely popular and controversial debate.</p>
<p>My thoughts...two things:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Cheating was wrong. He deserves punishment for what he did. </p></li>
<li><p>You don't deserve to call him your "friend".</p></li>
</ol>
<p>it was a "she" who cheated?</p>
<p>It would be unrealistic for me to say that I would thank you if I were that guy. Plagiarism is a serious offence. You did give him warning but he chose to do it anw. I think it's fortunate that he had learnt his lesson (well, I hope he had), otherwise he would continue doing that in college and may get expelled.</p>
<p>For those who are still in the strong urge to beat up the OP, pls listen to this story: A friend of mine is an extraordinarily smart student. She got straight As, got accepted to Oxford University. Yet when they went through her profiles, and check on her sample works submitted (unlike the app essays for American colleges, these things are merely a formality and the college hardly ever looks at them), they discovered that she did plagiarise from a website for one of her homework. She was consequently rejected. She always regretted that nobody ever told her how serious an offence such as plagiarism was.</p>
<p>oab729, def would not want you as a "friend"...like where you seriously trying to teach her a lesson...by trying to ruin her life. I know what she did was wrong but let her know "karma". The actions you took seem pretty vindictive.</p>
<p>Snitches get Stitches..lol</p>
<p>you suck :)</p>
<p>Is getting caught plagiarizing going to ruin your life?
I think some people need to reevaluate what life is</p>
<p>Yes it will, no one said your going to be put in prison. But something like that is like a domino effect. You could be expelled (depending on severity) and in this case his plagiarized work was published. If your expelled say goodbye to any good college. The author could sue you. Damaging to your reputation...i could go on</p>
<p>I can't believe you guys are all defending the plagiarizer.
One of the WORST things an elite college can see is a history of cheating. And serious cheating like publishing plagiarized works? Should a student like this be allowed into a serious institution of learning? The student was WARNED; he deserves punishment for what he did. His FUTURE is not screwed over, incidentally: he is simply, and rightly, banned from accessing a top of the line education. He will probably still be accepted at a state school that's number based, if he submits an explanation and shows repentance; or at the very least community college, where he can transfer out for graduate school, if he so chooses.</p>