Copying Homework, Part II
Almost a month ago, I made a post in reply to an anonymous letter one of my classmates wrote for the opinion magazine we put together. In her letter, she claimed that copying homework is ethical. She made some very weak arguments, to which I responded in my original post.
We have already published this magazine, distributing it to all the juniors in our school, so now I want to quote a few more letters and write my opinions on them.
Two issues were discussed in this issue: copying homework and quality vs. quantity in teaching. In this post, I will address the former. Quotes are in italics.
Doing [homework] myself or copying from someone else will take the same amount of time, and if someone is willing to give me her homework, why shouldn't I accept it?
Why shouldn't you accept it if it's easily available? Oh, I don't know... maybe because it's wrong?! We have been taught so many times that the easiest way out is not always the best thing to do. It takes strength of character to do the right thing even when it is the more difficult option. The issue here is not how much time you spend, but how you spend it.
The girl claims that since it takes the same amount of time to copy the homework as it does to actually do it yourself, you might as well just copy it. I don't see the logic there, though. If it takes the same amount of time (which I think it most certainly does not) then why not exercise those brain cells?
Another girl wrote that although copying homework is wrong, there are many students who copy homework for the reason that, and I quote, "We feel doomed if we don't." High school drama and teenage angst -- all over the simple matter of homework!
I'm guessing that most of my readers are no longer high school students, so please answer this: What do you think when you hear teenagers claiming that they feel doomed if they don't copy their homework? Do you feel that they are overreacting? Don't you think that they should just do the homework themselves instead of spending half the evening texting? Maybe then they won't feel doomed if they don't copy their hard-working friend's homework?
High school is just practice for real life. After graduating, what will those students who copied their way through school do when they feel overwhelmed? If they could not handle the workload of high school, how will they ever be able to handle college, a job, or life itself? Not always will they have an obliging friend who is willing to give them the answers. Shouldn't they learn how to react properly now, when it is all on a smaller scale?