Go with the flow or take a stand?

Observation: A huge stack of homeworks - hundreds of pages - sits on the table and emits that unmistakable aura, which forces you to sigh on sight. It is time to grade, so you familiarize yourself with the questions and make sure that the logic behind the correct answers is clear. Then you pick up the first page, briefly scan the answer to question number four and repeat the same for a few more homeworks. Having gotten the feel of the students’ minds, you start to grade this question for all the homeworks.

You read each line attentively, looking for the keywords and trying to understand the student’s thought process at the time of writing the short answer. The answer is not exactly right and unsure how many points to give, you move to the next homework, hoping to get something easier. However, what you discover is a nearly identical copy of the previous homework’s answer. More than that, the answers to the other questions are also identical, the graphs are the same, the spelling errors are the same, and the responses are even written in exactly the same areas of the page.

Thought: As a grader you must make a choice between acting and avoiding action. On the one hand it is possible to grade both homeworks as usual. It will surely make the students happy; it will not cause a confrontation, and will definitely take the least possible amount of time. This is the lazy and weak approach. It is lazy, because by avoiding action on plagiarism, you are choosing to do whatever is easiest, and weak, because you are trying to avoid committing yourself to giving a student a zero.

On the other hand, you can choose a strong and principled approach by giving both students zeroes and explaining to them why such decision was made. Yes, there most likely will be a conflict; however, this conflict must be viewed as an investment, which will pay off in the form of original work from the students on their later assignments. As good educators, we must choose this approach in order to “graft” good habits to our students. It is much better to get  a zero on a homework due to plagiarism, learn your lesson, and never do it again, then to get a full grade, continue to plagiarize, and one fine day get fired from your job, which is a very real possibility in American society. Besides, doing your own homework helps you understand the abstract ideas much better. Young students are not always responsible and mature enough to recognize it, because all people mature at very different ages. Therefore, it is the role of the educators to help young students by enforcing the good habits such as “do your own work and do not cheat”. Educators have a great opportunity to help develop a student’s character in addition to knowledge. Not all take this opportunity, but in my opinion, it is an axiom that the best ones do.

Find a way!

Observation: Last time you saw your parents was six months ago. For years you live far from them and you meet only once or twice a year. But you still talk. You talk regularly. You exchange messages by e-mail and Facebook, you talk on Skype and phone. You see the dear faces thanks to webcams. You talk about the important things. The dreams, the plans, the problems, the achievements, the moods, the thoughts, the people, the places, the things. But eventually you start to feel that something is not right. Some days you feel great after talking to your family. Other days you don't. But you love your family and you think about what you can do. You decide not to talk about the sad and instead focus on the cheerful. You begin to find brighter sides to everyday things, so that you can share them with your family and cheer them up. You try harder to make them proud. And it helps, but only for a little while. The thought that something is not right comes back sooner or later. And this happens between old friends, too.

Thought: It does not feel right, because you are not meant to live like this with your closest people. Your closest people are the ones who you love most and who love you. They are the people with whom you want to share your life. It is because you can share your life with them, living is enjoyable! But when you live apart, you cannot do anything together really, only virtually. You cannot sit together, you cannot eat together, you cannot walk together, you cannot watch together, you cannot build together, you cannot play together, and you cannot touch each other. Staying in touch is not a complete substitute and cannot prevent you from growing apart. The only solution is to bend the world in such a way, that you can be closest to your closest people.

Clean up!

Observation: Small pieces of paper, spaghetti, and other trash including hair and dust.All of that is comfortably relaxing on a kitchen floor. One sink is clogged, because a raw fish was asked to swim down the pipe and unfortunately got stuck. The second sink is full of dirty dishes and decaying remains of some old leftovers. No sight of insects yet - they are missing out on a great home. The counters are full of more dirty dishes and grease stains. The couch looks comfortable and very inviting. For a few seconds after sitting down, it provides you with a sense of relaxation. After the first few seconds, it starts to provide a stinky smell. I can go on...


Thought: Continuing to live in a place looking like a beginner garbage heap is a sign of a weak character. Weak, because the person adapts to the surroundings, which is the easiest thing to do. A strong person will change the surroundings for the better, regardless of how much effort it takes.