To What Lengths Should Teachers Go to Prevent Plagiarism?

Plagiarism is one of the plagues scourging not only the American education system, but also America itself.  Whether it is a Montana congressman or Notre Dame football players, it seems that passing off someone else's work as their own is something too many people are trying to do.

When something becomes a major problem in our country, something should be done to stop it.  When drugs became a major problem in the 1980s, President Reagan began his war on drugs.  In recent years as human trafficking has become a major problem in Northwest Ohio because of its proximity to I-75 and the Ohio Turnpike, law enforcement agencies have increased their efforts to fix the problem.

While plagiarism isn't anywhere near the importance of the wars on drug use and human trafficking, it is a problem which needs to be fixed.  College professors and high school teachers are leading the way through the use of a variety of plagiarism detection tools like Turnitin with more success every year. 

In an article about plagiarism from NPR, students seem to have mixed emotions about high-tech plagiarism detection, and many teachers appear to have the same ambivalence.  Likewise, I at times struggle to know if a student simply doesn't know any better or if there was intent to cheat.  Those times of ambivalence are often few and far between, though, because most of the examples of plagiarism I find are pretty clear cut:  the student has copied and pasted large blocks of word-for-word text from a document.  Is that ever accidental?  No. 

Will Van Buren ever start using a plagiarism detection service to identify plagiarists?  Would it deter students from plagiarizing?  Would the service ever falsely identify a student as a plagiarist?  These are all questions we would need to consider if we ever did go that direction. 

I'm interested in any opinions anyone has regarding plagiarism in general and plagiarism detection services.  It's a problem education professionals cannot avoid because we must prepare our students for college and beyond.

College Textbooks - Buy or Rent?

This post is more for the seniors, but it is eventually going to affect anyone going to college.  Is it better to buy or rent college textbooks?  This article from The New York Times discuss that quandary which many of you will face in the near future.  After reading it, you will hopefully be able to make an informed decision that will make those textbooks as economical as possible.

Will Failure Make You More Attractive to Future Employers?

This article about Amazon owner Jeff Bezos in Entrepreneur magazine discusses a shift he has undergone when it comes to hiring for his company.  He actually likes hiring people because they have failed.  Read the article to find out why and what other companies are looking at failure the same way.

Anyone Can Plagiarize - Just Don't Let It Be You!

If I haven't already said this to you, I know I will say it at some point - DON'T PLAGIARIZE! 

Yet another well-known and influential American, Senator John Walsh of Montana, has been accused of plagiarizing a portion of his master's thesis.  This article from The New York Times discusses the investigation that has been launched into the matter.

One item to note:  It is interesting that Mr. Walsh argues that he didn't do anything wrong because he didn't do it on purpose.  That argument will never work in this class (you've been learning about plagiarism since at least middle school).

Can Teachers Know Too Much About Their Students?

Can teachers ever know too much about their students?  This article from NPR about a new program being used at Purdue University raises that same question.

"I'm Not Creative" - An Excuse No Longer

Every year I have students tell me they aren't creative (I have to admit I used to use that excuse, too).  Well, that excuse is no longer valid if you read this article from Entrepreneur magazine.  While this article was written for business people, I see no reason why we can't start applying these suggestions while working in high school.  The sooner you start, the more prepared you will be to make yourself more creative (and more marketable) when you start your career.

Where's the Money?

While it might be too late to influence the career choices of the members of the Class of 2014, my sphere of influence hasn't been completely extinguished.  All of you still in high school have time to decide what careers you want to pursue, and you are hopefully considering those in addition to sitting next to the pool this summer.  This article and the chart found in it might give you some guidance regarding what careers will give you the compensation you desire.

H\T to the Business blog at The Atlantic for the original post.

A Place Where Failure is Encouraged - Google X

As a teacher, my goal is to help my students learn how to do something.  Whether it is writing a paper, punctuating a sentence, or reading an article critically, I want my students to do it "the right way."  While I hopefully allow my students to make mistakes and learn from them, there are definitely times when I'm probably too narrow-minded in this regard.  This article about Google X on the Fast Company website really opened my eyes when it talked about how a large company like Google views mistakes.

I had never heard of Google X before reading this article, but it is interesting how they ENCOURAGE their employees to fail because they will learn from those failures.  Hopefully there will be a day in my teaching career when learning from a failure will be valued as much as doing something "right" because I don't want my students to fear failure.  I can think of many times in my life when I failed but learned a valuable lesson or solved another problem on which I hadn't even been focusing.  This article emphasizes that failure can be okay, and I hope to instill that value in my students.

The Long-term Effects of Loans

In this article from NPR, three college graduates discuss their college loans and some of the problems they face because of those loans.  As the seniors get ready to head off to college and the sophomores feel like their opportunity to go to college will never arrive, I encourage you to think about how you are going to pay for college when that day arrives.

Why Does College Cost So Much?

College - it is a topic which keeps popping up at this time of year.  The seniors are almost there, the juniors are starting to think about their college choices seriously, and the sophomores are participating in shadow day to begin thinking about what colleges will lead them to the careers they want.  In this article from NPR, the focus is the cost of college:  Why does it cost so much, and how are people supposed to pay for it? 

Do Students Need More Grit?

Does failing to achieve really help a student become more successful?  Ultimately (yes, I said it again),  that is the point of this article from NPR.  Some psychologists and teachers are saying that students need to become "grittier," usually achieved by failure, while others (specifically education researcher Alfie Kohn) say this focus on grittiness is simply taking the focus off the real problems in schools and the overall education system.  I'm interested to know if you think you need more grit, so feel free to comment if you get a chance.

Weighing College vs. Career

Are there instances where a high school student is better off jumping into a career instead of going to college or, in some instances, finishing high school?  This article from The New York Times talks about some teens who have hit it big creating apps and the struggles they face when trying to make that decision.  Their parents and grandparents, as can be expected, want them to go to college and follow the same path to success that they followed.  The teens, on the other hand, see an opportunity to start a career and question why they need to follow what they see as an outdated life path.

As the seniors prepare to embark on their lives after high school and the sophomores begin the career unit, this is hopefully an article which can appeal to any of you.  If you would like, feel free to leave a comment after reading the article.

Should Teenagers Be Able to Sue Their Parents?

If any of my seniors are still looking for a satire video topic, this might be your lucky day.  This article from NPR tells of a girl who is suing her parents to force them to pay for college after they kicked her out of their house.  Feel free to leave a comment after reading the article.  I'm interested to know what you think and how you would react if you were her parent.

How Far Can Parody Go?

Check out this article in USA Today regarding a parody which might land some people in hot coffee... err...water.

The Latest Reading Swag

Has it been a while since you read a book for enjoyment?  If so, check out this list of books that The New Yorker suggests.  If none of those sound interesting, I highly suggest Monuments Men, which I am reading right now (great for anyone interested in WW II history).  The movie based on the book also comes out this weekend.  Happy reading!

Can Kids Still Be Kids?

Do we really allow kids to be kids today?  This question applies to academics (I still cannot believe what my niece and nephew had to do in kindergarten compared to what I had to do) and athletics (athletes today choosing one sport and having to devote 100% of their time to it) in our high schools. Right or wrong, we seem to expect kids to grow up more quickly today than ever before.  This interesting article from The New York Times discusses how some high school athletes are committing to colleges during or even before their freshman year of high school. 

Using Social Media for More

I am guessing many of you use at least one form of social media almost every day.  While Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat (let me know if there are others I should check out) are great ways to keep up with friends, celebrities, and the latest news from around the world, there is an aspect of those social media outlets which could be much more important to you in the future - job/career listings and advice.

Someday each and every one of you will be looking for a job.  It might be right now while in high school or it might be after high school or college.  How will you find out when and where a job is available?  My guess is that social media will be the answer to that question both now and in the future.  In order to get ready for the future, I encourage you to start following various employers on social media so you can get an idea of what they are looking for long before you really need that job. 

To start following some of these employment outlets, search "Careers" on an app like Twitter and see what comes up.  Depending on your interests, you might want to follow businesses/corporations like @ESPNCareers (you will be amazed by the variety of careers they offer), @MicrosoftJobs, @CondeNastCareer (media brands like The New Yorker),or @TWDS_Careers (Disney Studios).  You could also follow career resources like @CareerBuilder or @MonsterCareers to see what kinds of careers might be available in the future and gain advice about building your resume, interviewing effectively, etc.

Ultimately, I want you to enjoy connecting with your friends on social media, but make the social media outlets work for you in the process of planning for the future.  Dream big when it comes to your future career.  I would love to someday say I know someone working at ESPN or Disney!

Can Video Games Make You Smarter?

Believe it or not, I am not a big gamer.  I did have an original Atari thanks to my uncle, and I took a Sega Genesis to college (NHL 94 was a great game).  I even have a Nintendo Wii sitting next to my TV as I type this blog post.  Regardless of having all of those gaming systems at one time or another (I forgot to mention playing Oregon Trail on my Apple IIGS computer when I was a kid), I don't make much time in my busy schedule to sit down and play video games.  Based on this video found on Digg.com, though, I might want to start taking a little bit of time each week to play some games.  According to the video, playing video games might actually make my brain stronger.  I'd be interested to know (you could add a comment to this post) how many hours a week each of you plays video games and what you think of the content of the video above.

Happy gaming, and hopefully you will make your brain a little stronger this week!

Completing the FAFSA

The new year has begun, and that means members of the Class of 2014 need to start thinking about financial aid.  A big part of that process is completing the FAFSA ( Free Application for Federal Student Aid).  This article from the U.S. Dept. of Education gives some guidance regarding the completion of the application, but seniors are encouraged to talk to Mr. Zender regarding any other financial aid questions.

Remember - every dollar you earn in grant or scholarship money is a dollar you don't have to start paying back (plus interest) approximately six months after you graduate from college.  I encourage you to work hard to earn any money which is available through grants and scholarships.  Your future bank account will be glad you did!

To reinforce how important it is to try to limit the amount of money you have to borrow, check out this article from the New York Times.