fossildoc
11-21-2007, 12:05 AM
Usual disclaimer: this hypothetical example does not apply to any particular school, etc.
Let's say it was discovered that students were cut-and-pasting text from the Internet, without quoting and giving attribution, to do their burdensome assignments whose only purpose is to display the authority of teachers to compel this activity -- for whatever deep-seated needs it might fulfill in said teachers. (Sorry I don't have an opinion about this.) OK, students shouldn't do that.
And let's say the response of some teachers to this situation is to require that all assigments be turned in hand-written, for the express purpose of discouraging cutting and pasting.
Here are the questions du jour: does this make sense? Does it actually inhibit the target behavior, or does it further burden fast-typing handwriting-challenged students with a complete waste of time in a stressful environment where time is a most precious commodity? Does it insult students who do their work honestly? Is it yet another humiliation, like a school uniform, to put students in their "place"? Is it an infantilizing micromanagement of a student's work habits?
Of course, I have no opinion.
Does anybody else?
Let's say it was discovered that students were cut-and-pasting text from the Internet, without quoting and giving attribution, to do their burdensome assignments whose only purpose is to display the authority of teachers to compel this activity -- for whatever deep-seated needs it might fulfill in said teachers. (Sorry I don't have an opinion about this.) OK, students shouldn't do that.
And let's say the response of some teachers to this situation is to require that all assigments be turned in hand-written, for the express purpose of discouraging cutting and pasting.
Here are the questions du jour: does this make sense? Does it actually inhibit the target behavior, or does it further burden fast-typing handwriting-challenged students with a complete waste of time in a stressful environment where time is a most precious commodity? Does it insult students who do their work honestly? Is it yet another humiliation, like a school uniform, to put students in their "place"? Is it an infantilizing micromanagement of a student's work habits?
Of course, I have no opinion.
Does anybody else?