ethics test - quick- don't answer!

We're living in a state whose governor just got thrown in jail for allegedly selling Obama's senate seat. Twenty steps down or so, the president of the university is still defending himself against plagiarism charges, and then there's yokels like myself, holed up at my desk, reading reams and reams of final exams, all with bad grammar, by people with ready access to all kinds of technology.

Now actually plagiarism at my level is a pretty small-time thing. Because their grammar is so bad, I can tell within minutes that something is plagiarized, just because of its flawless grammar and its academic attitude. So lately I've gotten pretty good at finding it and rooting it out at its source, very early. But at a price: I have to accept their bad grammar, at whatever level they are. If I tell them their grammar is simply too low, I up the pressure; I make it so they have to cheat in order to pass. And then I have to catch them in order to prevent it.

That's no fun. So, I accept their grammar. I work with them on it. I do as much as I can about it in one term. But, I don't see any more plagiarism. Amazingly enough, they figure it out: they're here to learn to write, not to copy.

Eventually they'll all be in positions of power. Then watch out.