Mimi was in eighth grade when she was accused of plagiarizing a paper. Being an over protective mother, her mom immediately made an appointment with the AP and the teacher. She could not believe her little darling would do something like that.
Mom and Mimi were presented with her paper and another one exactly like it. Both girls had copied text from the same book. Mom had to agree that the teacher was correct. Luckily for them, the penalty was not too severe. The kids were young and were treated like kids that made a mistake. The teacher explained that sometimes kids don't understand when they need to credit sources. Mimi never made the error of plagiarism again.
Mimi was wrong. The difference between her treatment and my student's treatment were world's apart. She was presented with the evidence of her "crime". She was forced to acknowledge what she did wrong so she would not make the same mistake twice. The kids in my class never had a chance to look at their identical answers. Their parents were never informed. That injustice was as big a crime as the cheating they were accused of.
4 comments:
I think it's worse than that. I do not know that the consequences are defensible. When was the last time you looked in the Regents administrator's handbook? (or whatever that's called?)
I think there are real procedures, clear consequences, and it sounds like your admins winged it.
And when admins wing it, injustice is sure to prevail.
Do the parents of your students know at all about the accusations against them?
It is so, so sad the different treatment at-risk students sometimes receive. Without advocate parents, some kids become even more at-risk because they only learn that the people who work in schools are the enemy.
I've tagged you dear, if you are interested in participating.
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