I know what you mean. The way I was looking at it though, is that the problem is so
big because it's complicated. Students today seem to be under a different kind of
pressure - some of it is coming from society, but it is also perpetuated at home.
The pressure for the best grades, the best schools, working toward the "best" jobs
has created an unhealthy environment. Students are expected to participate in
extracurricular activities because it looks good on their transcripts. These same
students many times have jobs in addition to all of the above. Time becomes an
issue. Everyone can't do everything well.
I find, as a librarian, that the research process suffers also. Teachers are under
time constraints because of all of the requirements placed on them to help students
pass standardized tests. In my school, the class load has gone from 5 to 6 classes,
with class size remaining the same. That especially impacts on Eng. and Hist.
classes. Those teachers assign the majority of the research papers, but with
numbers of students increasing, it is harder for them to budget time for these
assignments. Shortcuts are taken by students and teachers don't always have time to
pursue questionable papers.
Add to all of this the view taken by students, and probably justifiably so, that
cheating is rampant in our society by people in highly esteemed professions, and we
have a big problem that isn't easily solved. The students interviewed all
recognized that what they were doing was wrong and seemed to indicate that they
didn't feel good about themselves as a result. But they also indicated that they
would do whatever it would take to achieve their goals.
Whatever happened to raising fairly well-rounded children who take pride in their
accomplishments but also have a strong sense of ethics - who grow up to lead
reasonably happy lives? Children today are over-scheduled and don't seem to have
down time. If they do, they don't know what to do with it, they're "bored."
Just a few thoughts off the top of my head - hope I don't sound too negative.
Lyn Grund, Librarian
Middlesex High School, Middlesex, NJ
lcgrund@yahoo.com
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