Don't Take This the Wrong Way...

Since we've been given a lot of freedom with these blogs and are told to write whatever is on our minds, I'm going to do just that.  And what's on my mind right now is plagiarism.  I recently got in trouble because a paper that I wrote comparing two poems was too similar to that of another student (who will remain anonymous).  I'm not denying that they were similar, but I have a few things to say.

The student in question was absent the day that we were assigned this paper, which I'm sure is a common excuse for plagiarism.  However, in class the day that we were assigned this paper, we went over the rubric, which was to compare the literary elements used to develop tone, and our teacher essentially told us which literary elements were present and what tone they helped to establish.  Needless to say, the only step we as students needed to take from there was to add more words to what she had told us.  Therefore, it was inevitable that the majority, if not all, of the papers be overwhelmingly similar, considering we were essentially told what to write in class.

The student who got in trouble alongside me was not in class and therefore was not spoon-fed the answers.  So to help him, I let him read my completed essay as an example, knowing that they would all be, in essence, the same paper.  However, and not to put the blame on him, but he did not know exactly which ideas were mine and which ones were given to us in class.  The result was too papers that were a little bit more similar than the rest.

I'm not saying that I wasn't in the wrong and that anyone in particular is at fault, nor am I trying to gain anything by saying this.  But if the purpose of plagiarism is to prevent us as students from stealing each others ideas, then when the ideas were not really mine or anyone else's to begin with, but rather the ideas and knowledge forced upon us by the county curriculum.  I could understand if it was math or another subject where the prevention of plagiarism is actually ensuring that students retain the material, but what is there to retain in an instance like this?  The point of comparative essays is to better our critical thinking and analysis skills, which can't be done if we are given someone else's analysis.