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Honesty is always the best policy

University Wire September 27, 2007 Thursday Honesty is always the best policy Staff Editorial, Daily Collegian; SOURCE: Penn State EDITORIAL 369 words DATELINE: UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.

Big Brother might be watching you.

Or at least, he might be reading your term papers.

Recently, PSU professors vowed to get serious about catching students cheating on schoolwork.

About 50 percent of all faculty think academic dishonesty is a huge problem, according to John Harwood, senior director of Teaching and Learning with Technology at Penn State.

Right now, the faculty are enforcing the university's academic honesty policies using websites such as Turnitin.com to scan papers for plagiarism.

At this week's open house, the university will unveil new cameras and technology used to catch the wandering eyes of test-takers in the new Pollock Computer Lab's testing center.

It's meant to catch people who cheat on tests for web classes.

Penn State professors aren't trying to be mean, old Grinches stealing the fun out of college; they just care about learning.

Really, a professor's job description shouldn't include acting like a vigilante.

Students are wasting their tuition by writing vocabulary words on hat rims, rather than buying flashcards and learning them.

Someday, when you're performing surgery, your patient will want you to know what "pericardium" means.

Sure, students face a lot of pressure, as the number of jobs gets smaller and the amount of qualified people gets larger.

Nowadays, more emphasis is placed on extra-curricular activities and making your resume look snazzy.

But that's no excuse for biting off more than you can chew.

Yeah, we're here to watch football and enjoy a tall glass of beer every once in a while, but ultimately, we came to Happy Valley to learn how to become the next Van Goghs, Mark Twains and Milton Friedmans.

I assure you: Twain didn't cut and paste The Advestures of Huckleberry Finn onto his word processor, and Van Gogh didn't use paint by numbers.

And by now, we all know what "plagiarism" means.

Most of us learned its meaning in elementary school, and teachers continued to nag us about it middle school and high school.

If you're still confused about what it means, any professor will gladly explain it to you.

So next time, skip the scribbling on your arm or clothing.

Instead, open a book, sit your butt in a chair and just do it.

(C) 2007 Daily Collegian via U-WIRE September 27, 2007 ENGLISH Newspaper Copyright 2007 Daily Collegian via U-Wire