Teachers have recognized the educational potential of the internet from the very beginning, both for the educators and for students. Unfortunately, there are three areas in which the "Sleaze Factor" is ruining the internet as the powerful educational tool it should be: (1) massive amounts of plagiarism, (2) the growing number of safety and ethical issues, and (3) pornography. Until we find a way to remove these very important areas of concern, allowing children under 18 open access to the internet could actually be considered negligence. This article will deal the issue of plagiarism.
Because the majority of articles I write deal in some way specifically with mathematics, I generally start will reviewing necessary prerequisite information and the definition of terms. I decided I should check to see if "sleaze factor" needed to be defined. What do you think I found? You are correct! No definition is necessary. Whether it was husbands who go out on their wives, marketing tactics, or characteristics of certain female dates, I found many references about "sleaze factor."
What is especially sad and frustrating about this topic is that in the 3 areas I just mentioned, the people involved and possibly hurt are adults. However, when discussing educational issues, the people involved are children. We as a society should simply not be allowing these issues to even exist.
Plagiarism: A "Sleaze Factor" Ruining The Educational Value Of The Internet"
Plagiarism is becoming rampant on the internet. This has been a recent topic of conversation within an active group of ezine article writers. It is happening to me as we speak. Someone using a fake name, although I don't believe she actually exists, has stolen at least one of my articles, changed the title, put her name on it and now it is appearing on many sites and is being downloaded and emailed by people who don't know what she has done. The fact that she stole an article that is the first in a series I was announcing as well as the fact I mentioned another series I write makes me wonder if she intends to steal them all.
Because I am new to the writing field, I am finding this to be beyond belief. I brought up the issue to fellow authors, and discovered that this is happening to many, if not all, of them. It is just as troubling to them as it is to me. This problem is incredibly widespread. It is also very important! It is almost as if people don't know it is illegal. I don't know what happened to decency and honesty; and this is certainly increasing my cynicism about materials I find on the internet.
While I may be very frustrated about this for myself, I want to be very clear about why this is such an important issue for our school children. As our junior high students and high school students and even college students are doing research for a paper, just what is going to tell them that the information they are reading is plagiarized? When they turn in their research paper, it will have the name of a thief cited as the original author, which is a lie and can be verified. Students can fail for using plagiarized material.
The internet is becoming a breeding ground for "bottom feeders" because there are no controls nor punishments for the illegal things they do. If sites cannot be trusted to furnish factual non-plagiarized material, our children may just need to return to encyclopedias. They are safer in many ways.
Because the majority of articles I write deal in some way specifically with mathematics, I generally start will reviewing necessary prerequisite information and the definition of terms. I decided I should check to see if "sleaze factor" needed to be defined. What do you think I found? You are correct! No definition is necessary. Whether it was husbands who go out on their wives, marketing tactics, or characteristics of certain female dates, I found many references about "sleaze factor."
What is especially sad and frustrating about this topic is that in the 3 areas I just mentioned, the people involved and possibly hurt are adults. However, when discussing educational issues, the people involved are children. We as a society should simply not be allowing these issues to even exist.
Plagiarism: A "Sleaze Factor" Ruining The Educational Value Of The Internet"
Plagiarism is becoming rampant on the internet. This has been a recent topic of conversation within an active group of ezine article writers. It is happening to me as we speak. Someone using a fake name, although I don't believe she actually exists, has stolen at least one of my articles, changed the title, put her name on it and now it is appearing on many sites and is being downloaded and emailed by people who don't know what she has done. The fact that she stole an article that is the first in a series I was announcing as well as the fact I mentioned another series I write makes me wonder if she intends to steal them all.
Because I am new to the writing field, I am finding this to be beyond belief. I brought up the issue to fellow authors, and discovered that this is happening to many, if not all, of them. It is just as troubling to them as it is to me. This problem is incredibly widespread. It is also very important! It is almost as if people don't know it is illegal. I don't know what happened to decency and honesty; and this is certainly increasing my cynicism about materials I find on the internet.
While I may be very frustrated about this for myself, I want to be very clear about why this is such an important issue for our school children. As our junior high students and high school students and even college students are doing research for a paper, just what is going to tell them that the information they are reading is plagiarized? When they turn in their research paper, it will have the name of a thief cited as the original author, which is a lie and can be verified. Students can fail for using plagiarized material.
The internet is becoming a breeding ground for "bottom feeders" because there are no controls nor punishments for the illegal things they do. If sites cannot be trusted to furnish factual non-plagiarized material, our children may just need to return to encyclopedias. They are safer in many ways.
No comments:
Post a Comment