Copying: A High School Epidemic

There's an epidemic spreading through the school where students wait until the very last minute to do their work. It seems to have turned into a competition, and you see students frantically working in the hallway, hoping to finish on time. Of course, my reaction to this has always been to just do the work, but it seems like this contagious mindset has convoluted into something involving ego and pride. "I can't do it because XX didn't do it and he's cool" has become the undertone to every argument that I hear about why people didn't do their homework. However, while some have adopted speed-reading and randomly writing down answers in hopes of a completion check, others have found a new way of doing their work quickly, accurately, and efficiently-- Copying.

Relatable.

Copying is somewhat easy to recognize nowadays. Simply look for an a-little-bit-panicked person with two sheets of paper while quickly looking at one and writing on the other. Normally, you'll be able to spot the person who supplied the homework looking bored and low-key angry at the other person for being so slow. I have been put in this situation before and have refused to pass over my homework done the night before, and it has seemingly scorched the railings of some of my bridges. People say, "Why?! Please?!" and "It doesn't even matter that much", but I stand my ground. And the reason that I stand my ground is because I hope that you learn something from an experience where you don't have your homework because you didn't do it. I hope that you stop procrastinating or using other people's work. I hope that you stop not doing your homework because you realize how harmful it can be. If not clear enough already, I'm all for the "tough love" mentality, and will explain my reasoning for my refusal below. Here's a link to the Purdue Exponent about the same issue. Here's a link to MIT News about the same issue.

People can learn to embrace laziness. If they have been able to pass a class with flying grades by being lazy and copying, this encourages the lazy mindset. People will begin to see laziness as an essential tool to success when it truly is not. The idea is simple: people notice patterns. When people notice that their work is normally not as good as their lunch table's work, they will begin to use the lunch table's work more and stop doing their own.

Copying takes credit of other peoples' work. Your friend did this,

Let's hope that this hasn't actually
happened before.

but you turned it in. That doesn't seem right, does it? Homework is expected to be one's own work, not an outright exact replica of another person's. Unless the teacher says it's fine (which I highly doubt), people should be doing their work separately and consulting one another for help on trouble spots.

Each time you copy, you put yourself at risk for getting caught. It may not seem like a big deal, but copying can be considered cheating and/or plagiarism, and has big consequences in our school. Two (only!) offenses can kick you out of National Honor Society and other prestigious clubs, and copying your homework from others simply increases the chances that you're caught.

Copying requires no reading/analysis/comprehension of actual homework and does not actually teach you anything. I've heard people say, "Oh, it's okay. Just give my your homework. I understand the concepts already; I just didn't do the homework", but for me, this is confusing. If you understand it, then why didn't you do it? Understanding it makes homework feel like a breeze. Not only that but what if you don't understand it but think you do? This makes for a nasty surprise on the test where you find yourself confused by questions that you thought you understood. Copying doesn't actually teach you anything-- you simply read individual words and copy them over. It doesn't test your understanding of a topic or teach you anything new about a topic because that's the purpose of doing your homework.

There are many other reasons as to why I personally discourage copying and have never copied off of others because I "didn't feel like it". This is also why I refuse to supply my homework to people who didn't do their homework. I'm sorry if I come off as "salty" or "too sensitive" or "caring too much", but I feel like as a peer, I have every right to do my best to help fellow peers. While I may not be correct about everything I do, this idea that I have isn't an easily arguable one. If you have a differing opinion, feel free to leave it below.

This idea is not meant to be shaming, hurtful, or maligning in any way. I am simply trying to put my ideas forth in hopes that others will agree and follow along. This idea is meant to be helpful and insightful and hopefully change behaviors to lead one to one's path of success.

Megan