I once submitted a school assignment minus any citations and watched as my teacher tossed it away, relegating it to a filthy dustbin of a messy classroom. I was embarrassed and equally hurt that my work would be subjected to that sort of treatment. I was just 11 years old!
The fact that I got a big fat zero on that assignment did everything to increase my shame and the lesson has lived with me ever since. I was one of the ‘knowledgeables’ in the classroom; boasting about everything from my flawless English grades to my scores in Science and Social Studies, Mathematics was always tricky for me.
I cried a good cry that day and when I finally summoned the courage to ask for an explanation for the harsh treatment. The teacher was adamant that, “It’s not your work!” and for the next ten minutes she tried to convince me that I was passing off someone’s work as mine by not crediting it.
Well so many years later and after a personal redemption, I could throw a few people into the dustbin because they shamelessly pass off others’ work as their own.
I know a few career plagiarists and in this internet age they have been able to flourish; ripping people’s work from websites and packaging it as their own. What eats away at me is the fact that you hardly get an opportunity to call them out because so many other people really don’t care. But I do! I believe we need to start naming and shaming these lazy copycats.
With access to information being so much easier these days you would think that people would at least spend time analyzing the information they source. And would it hurt to give credit where it is due? Why would people think they can take someone else’s work, slap their own byline on and sit back and collect kudos and money for it? That is just so barefaced. There, I said it!
I have seen stories I wrote passed off wholesale in other sections of the local media without any reference to the original author. These are stories I spent time on; fleshing out ideas and tying every word together to present a piece of work I am proud of only to see them splashed someplace else without any credit. Whether it is chopped up, or cut and paste, I would recognize my work anywhere because it all starts with an idea.
I would feel really inadequate if I had to depend on other people to do what I am being paid for. If I couldn’t write I wouldn’t have joined this profession; it’s that simple. There are others who see your work; like it; want to use it and do so without even calling you up to say, “Can I use your story?” You are not even afforded this courtesy.
There were a few plagiarists who pranced around the University of Guyana (UG) campus during my time engaging in the purloining of others’ ideas and work. Some lecturers were hesitant to call them out, but their grades told the story. If the assignment was out of twenty marks and a six ended up on your paper chances are you had little input if any.
One of the lecturers had an interesting way of putting it – he called them “internet generated papers”. From the minute I spotted grades in the vicinity of ‘three and four’ I knew instantly who the plagiarists were. Unfortunately, many shamelessly went through UG like that and now hold a degree which they obviously did not work for. Is it any wonder that we come across so many functional illiterates in senior positions and wonder how on earth they got the job?
I remember confronting someone about using my work and hearing the lame excuse, “I forgot to source it”. I don’t plan on asking next time though; I am shaming! It’s time we stop sugar-coating things and creating little catch phrases for them; let’s name and shame. (thescene@stabroeknews.com)
