Online cheating for term papers? Atrocious.

Philippines
September 13, 2009 9:28am CST
My homepage is locked on to the yahoo.com site. Upon opening my browser, this news greets me: In US, some students buy--not try--to excel at school. I was surprised. With the dawning of a more technologically advanced world, kids nowadays are surprisingly "resourceful" - in a such a way that it destroys learning. Here's the link to the article: news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090911/pl_afp/usededucationobama I could say that a lot of students nowadays could really be so attached to worldly things. I'm sorry to say that. I know that term papers could be so tiring, but that's where I learned how to patient. In school then, we had term papers done by groups or pairs. This was a great way to develop camaraderie and the "you've got my back, i've got your back" attitude. Buying their way into excellence totally destroys the essence of learning. I'm just baffled why they have to resort to doing these kind of things. It never occurred to me that I had to cheat on my very own term paper. I wanted my grade to be worth it, one that I worked hard for. What do you think?
1 person likes this
9 responses
@rg0205 (2636)
• Hong Kong
13 Sep 09
It disgusts me but personally, I feel sorry for those people. You can only lie so much and get ahead so much through cheating before people realize that you're actually really dumb. That happens when you're finally out in the real world, working a real job. Then, when you dont know what you're doing, you'll either get fired or you'll have a hard time. It's really only a staple solution. I dont have much respect for cheaters but I do feel sorry for them because they are ruining their own futures. I wouldnt want to cheat because I want to achieve through hard work. Otherwise, I won't appreciate what I have. It would hold no value.
@rg0205 (2636)
• Hong Kong
13 Sep 09
Very well said! I admire your perseverance and your values. I wouldn't be surprised if you are excelling in your work/school. Thanks for posting. Very interesting topic because I think we all know people who have tried to cheat in their exams. Cheers.
• Philippines
13 Sep 09
Thank you :) I do try my best in everything I do. It's not for personal glory, but for my own growth. I feel more fulfilled when I work hard for something. Thank you for replying to my post :D I really do love your views and I hope to see you more here in myLot :)
• Philippines
13 Sep 09
I do agree with you. People who cheat through things end up appreciating what they have less. Pretty soon, everything they have will hold no value. Cheating has an appeal of its own, being the easy way out, the shortcut to things. Life is sometimes hard, you'll just have to learn how to deal and cope with it. Hard work actually develops a person to become better. Though things may seem very hard to achieve, with hard work, determination, and prayers, all things are possible :) Though the way to success may be rough, all your efforts and hard work will be rewarded in the end :) Sweet :D
@cbakin20 (149)
• United States
13 Sep 09
This is a horrible and disgusting way to cheat. I can't stand hearing about this. I have never known anyone who has actually bought a paper someone else has written for them, but I still think it is horrible. Buying anything and masquerading it as your own is not only plagiarism (although it can be argued that they bought the rights to the paper, the school wants the paper written by the student specifically, so they may still count it as plagiarism) but is also useless and unhelpful because you don't learn anything at all from not doing the work yourself.
• Philippines
13 Sep 09
I just don't get it why they have to do this. If I were in their shoes, I'd save the money and give my all in all (sweat and tears included) just to get that high grade. Nothing feels better when you know you've worked hard for something. And grades mean a lot more when you know you deserved to get that grade because of the effort you've put into achieving that :)
@cbakin20 (149)
• United States
14 Sep 09
Yeah, that's all well and good, but it isn't the way kids do it now. Kids have a hard time staying focused and working, and don't care to put in the sweat and tears. A lot of kids have had their whole life handed to them and are used to being able to use money to solve all of their problems. It is a little bit of a problem in highly developed countries now, and I think measures really need to be taken to stop it, but I don't know what anyone could do. Schools try their best to keep it from happening but they really have no control because the students don't look up to the people at school. The schools are the bad guys in this situation. So basically, now there is no feeling of accomplishment, and there's plenty that feels better than doing hard work and finishing what you set out to do. The mentality has changed completely, and it is quite a turn for the worse.
• Philippines
14 Sep 09
Exactly! I've known a lot of students from lower batches that would give up on their studies in exchange for having a good time. I'd say they were most likely used to getting what they want. And I do agree with what you said about kids nowadays not looking up to their mentors in school. I met a few of my high school teachers recently and they opened up that they had a hard time dealing with their students now. It was just so different back then, a few reprimands would be enough to keep us quiet. I hope this hard-headedness would dissipate soon.
@ladyhope (377)
• Canada
13 Sep 09
Although it may seem like a scary thing, that someone will be passing based on someone else's work, there is hope. There is technology out there which teachers can use to scan a paper and see if it appears anywhere else online. My teacher showed it to us on her big screen when I was in 9th grade.
• Philippines
13 Sep 09
That's really cool. I don't know if it's used here already in the Philippines. I haven't heard of anyone buying from the internet in my school yet, or maybe I just don't know. At least, there are already ways to detect such things going on.
@Tantrums (945)
• Philippines
13 Sep 09
This is scary and resourceful at the same time, I bought a term paper from the net during my college years but I only used it for references... But man! internet is unfair nowadays, it took me hours to research for some info in our library but now Wikipedia is here! I should have been born later.....
@Tantrums (945)
• Philippines
13 Sep 09
I get your point... but hey.. the power of copy paste (and slight edit) hahaha!
• Philippines
13 Sep 09
Actually, in the university where I went to, our teachers didn't approve of getting data from Wikipedia since many articles aren't really written by experts. I think you can see that in their articles that they have a button or a link somewhere where you can report/edit things.
• Philippines
14 Sep 09
This is indeed sad news. I personally would not let somebody else determine my grade and even if I did get a high mark for the paper I submitted, I wouldn't be proud about it either knowing that I learned nothing in the process and it was not a product of my own hard work.
• Philippines
15 Sep 09
I agree. This is a serious issue because if students had to keep doing this, then it inspires the question on what the future will be like if these young people will learn nothing from school.
• Philippines
14 Sep 09
I really couldn't fathom those who would be proud of passing a subject due to cheating. I'd be prouder when I know that the output was a product of hard work. I know that life has a means of catching up on you, more commonly known as karma. And I really do believe in this.
• China
14 Sep 09
maybe someone have to cheat for the reason that can't tell anybody, why not have a comprehensive heart?
@vinay316 (300)
• India
13 Sep 09
there is no crime unless you are caught.
• United States
13 Sep 09
yeah that would have been helpful for me when I got some papers in English and History classes, if I ever used that I would probably put it in my own words though I am not the greatest in English class so my teachers would know.
@hexeduser22 (7253)
• Philippines
13 Sep 09
The internet is a big place and it has many things to offer. We cannot control people on how they would use the internet for their advantage. What we could do is counter technology with technology. On how to do it, that I don't know.