what to do about plagiarism by emigres
Emil Draitser
edraitse at shiva.Hunter.CUNY.EDU
Wed May 8 20:19:05 UTC 1996
I second Professor Hunter's opinion on how plagiarism of the Russians
should be handled.
Emil A. Draitser,
Hunter College
On Tue, 7 May 1996, Robert Hunter wrote:
> After retiring from public school teaching in the US I taught in
Russia
> for a year and then established a year-long high school program for students
> from the cities of Novgorod, Borovichi, and Staraya Russa to come to upstate
> New York. While teaching in Novgorod (high school and university), I was
> appalled at the extent of all kinds of cheating. Openly sharing answers,
> shpargalki, and plagiarism were the norm --- except during the oral part of
> final examinations. To expect Russian students to come with an understanding
> and willingness to abide by the American norms regarding academic honesty is,
I
> believe, naive. One of the major issues covered in the orientation of the
> Russian students coming to the US to study is the very different approach to
> and standards regarding cheating/plagiarism. Going over the meaning and
> implications of cheating/plagiarism at the beginning of the semester is, I
> contend, insufficient. I believe the Russian students should be given a
chance
> , i.e., when caught cheating/plagiarizing, repeating the explanation, and
> permitting the student to redo the work according to US academic standards.
> In explaining the meaning and implication of cheating/plagiarism in US
> academic institutions, I believe it is important to emphasize how this fits
> into the larger cultural picture. This is important because the Russian
> understanding of and respect for rules and law is different from the American.
> In Russia, rules and laws and impediments meant to be circumvented one way or
> another. Here is a recent example. A Russian businessman was learning about
> Rotary. At a Rotary meeting in the US, he said that he had only one question
> regarding the possibility of organizing a club in Russia --- how important was
> adherence to rules? He then commented that, for cultural reasons, it would
> be very difficult for future Russian Rotarians not to attempt to circumvent
the
> rules.
> I believe we owe Russian students, be they exchange or emigre, care
and
> consideration in learning our culture. After having been given fair
> explanation and warning, rigid adherence to standards should be the norm.
> Dobro,
> Robert Hunter
>
> ***************************************************************************
> Robert Hunter, M.Ed, M.A. 8 Red Fox Run
> Psychology Department Pittsford, NY 14534-3428
> Monroe Community College Voice: (716) 248-5075
> Rochester, New York Fax: (716) 383-8723
> rhunter at eckert.acadcomp.monroecc.edu
> ***************************************************************************
>
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