Plagiarism Symptom of Academic Sickness for Military, Colleges

Plagiarism won’t likely be documented in universities and the military because the disease is too far spread.  Montana’s US Senator John Walsh apparently copied about 79% of his Master’s thesis for the US Army War College.

     Was he knowingly cheating–or just an innocent playing a game that seemed so normal that it didn’t come across as wrong?  After all, if everyone is doing it, and college administrators look the other way and don’t check, then what’s the problem?

         Of course, Walsh has been amply rewarded for his cheating.  Money, a graduate degree, and various promotions have come his way.  So has a US Senate appointment.  Should these ill-gotten gains be returned, one and all?  Should the negligent members of his thesis committee at the US Army War College be court marshaled for malfeasance and dereliction of duty?

       No, because the officers who serve on such committees have their own careers to look out for.  Blow the whistle, and forget about your future in the military.  It is common for senior officers who seek promotion to dress up their resumes with graduate degrees.  Only the promotion is important, not the learning.  Subordinates do the research and writing.  Committee members who approve the thesis are also subordinates, and so it goes.

        Colleges are certainly no different, especially today when professors have almost no power and are forced to retain almost all of their students–or else.  “If you don’t come to class or turn in assignments, don’t expect more than a ‘B’ in this class,” today’s syllabus proclaims.

       The rights of students come first, and the legal trappings surrounding suspected plagiarism are daunting.  Faculty won’t win, but they will look bad even if they do.  If students plagiarize, that means faculty haven’t been able to motivate properly.  Besides, in the copy-and-paste world of the Internet, who can really afford the hours necessary to track down suspected plagiarism?  Will students have the opportunity to quickly “fix” the problem or rewrite the paper?  Gone are the days when cheaters would be threatened with expulsion.

      In short, the same rewards that went to John Walsh go to all students who plagiarize.  They game a system that almost prefers good-looking, though bogus, evidence of student performance.  With no one checking, who cares?  Academic sickness becomes invisible if widespread and unchallenged.