Plagiarism, dishonesty, selfishness...what's next?
Posted on Tuesday, 1 July 2014
Plagiarism,
dishonesty, selfishness…what next?
By Apolinario Villalobos
A senator delivered a plagiarized
privilege speech, a philantropist businessman also delivered a plagiarized
commencement speech before graduating students of a high end university. The
Napoles issue resulting from excessive greed is trending among plain rumor
mongers and the hi-tech ones via social networks. And now a UP student
plagiarized a photo which eventually
won. Where will greed bring us next?
The senator boldly defended himself with
a smile. The businessman just resigned from his top post in the university with
a sad face. Napoles is languishing in a luxurious confinement with a hearty
laugh. A teacher in UP by the name of Mendoza called Solis, the photo
plagiarist, a “good student” , although, she met him only once.
What is happening to us Filipinos? We
seemed to have lost our values. Yes, it
seems. And, I am not surprised because
the GMRC (Good Manners and Right Conduct) as an important integral component of
basic instruction to students by the time they set foot on the school ground is
practically eliminated. I am sure the reaction to this statement would be that
it has been “improved”, hence, “replace” with another subject. If so, are the
same values still taught? Take note of the following:
-students no longer know how to kiss the
hand of their elders which is part of the Filipino culture and tradition
-seldom can you hear youngsters use the
“po” , “ho”, “opo”, “oho” (though some still due to the insistent of their parents)
-students love to sound foreign by not
pronouncing Filipino words properly, such as the “R” (by not speaking in our
language as Filipinos the right way, we become dishonest because we do not show
our real selves)
The school through their teachers seem
deaf and blind to the above situations. I
doubt if teachers ever call the attention of students who speak in Filipino
with American twang. All those point to the failure of our education system to
inculcate in the minds of the students the honesty as a Filipino value.
Some students, in their desire to
complete school requirements to be able to graduate, “copy” and “paste”
research materials from the internet to come up with a thesis. I know this
because I have encountered materials of these kind in my job as editor. I know
that the material is plagiarized if it is very well written (too good to be
true). To confirm my suspicion, I would ask my clients to show me some of their
notes. If my client admits the crime, that’s the time that I have to rewrite,
condense, etc. the material. Most often these students humbly admit that they
find it hard to express themselves in English. Bluntly put, the school failed
in the aspect of general development of the students. A development which
should have started at an early age when parents entrusted their children to
the school. It is a sad reality that has
become deeply rooted in the personality of our youth which they manifest when
they go out to face the world teeming with the same bad attitude.
As a self-made Filipino who worked my
way into a decent life through hard work and honesty, I am saddened with the
new adage: May
the best plagiarist and most dishonest win!
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