I do think that universities need to keep up with what is going on in high schools. If for no other reason than to keep an eye on retention rates. College is not for everyone and freshmen hold many different expectations out of a college classroom, but this is no reason that freshman courses should be ice water awakenings. After twelve years of learning under one condition it is unreasonable to expect students to know how to perform under a brand new condition. Junior, senior, and graduate courses are different from freshman courses.

Freshman courses do not need to replicate high school experiences (ugh!), but they *do* need to keep in mind how the students have learned to learn and the type of environment they are coming from.

I have never been told that you start at 100 points. At my high school, teachers harped on your C level. You were average under you swayed the teacher otherwise. Your classroom behavior was a large (if unmentioned) part of your grade. People failed classes for having blue hair. Attendance factored in hugely**. It wasn’t until my favorite prof in undergrad announced that everyone still had their “gentleman’s B” at midterm that I had heard of starting at any other point. (When I went to State, each course reported your midterm grade to your parents. Which discusses parental involvement in higher education again…)

Anyway, yes, universities do need to consider the tone in high schools– but not necessarily to continue it. (It does also effect what needs to be taught. Haven’t you noticed a shift in your student’s abilities since the introduction of the first “No Child Left Behind” students?)

(**And that wasn’t new. When did attendance become such a large part of education and assessment? My dad was able as an elementary student to miss large parts of school to help out on the farm. They could feign this in high school as well. Just a few years later, mom flunked a course for attending a protest. Maybe this plays more with the excused/unexcused policies?)

I google papers when I see something that catches my eye, and only then – a dramatic change in rhythm or thinking level, usually, or writing that doesn’t mesh with what the student’s been turning in. I have no problem with that as I have probable cause to suspect something, to keep the police metaphor, rather than searching every paper I get. Turnitin has no probable cause, only a stereotype that any student may plagiarize at any time.

It’s interesting that you note HS education has changed in tone. Does that suggest that we need to teach according to how they’ve been taught previously, or that we need to break that pattern? There is a difference, certainly, in telling students they start with 100 points and either keep or lose them during the semester, or telling them they start at 0 and need to earn points toward 100.

I don’t think distrust has to be part of the university. We can treat students as adults without expecting them to always measure up, instead of assuming they won’t, treating them as would-be criminals, and acting all upset when they fulfill the expected prophecy. Speaking as an established cynic, this may prepare them for a cruel world, but it won’t make them better human beings.

… I did have to turn papers in through turnitin.com for two of my graduate lit courses at your university. I thought it was kinda weird, but I did it anyway. I thought it was strange because the profs only had about seven of us in either of the classes, each of which had multiple written responses built into the course structure. Shouldn’t the Profs have been able to recognize my writing and my argument’s style?

But. Freshman courses are very large. Plagiarism needs to be taught at the freshmen level. Some students simply will not *get* plagiarism until they unintentionally plagiarize and are pulled aside for a “this is what happened in this paper, this is how you should do it” conference. Your suggestion of “jumping for joy” at occurrence of classroom plagiarism works for these students. But it only works if the student *wants* to learn. Some of our students want to see what they can get away with. Again, freshmen comp courses are large. In a course which expects change in style and ability, an instructor may overlook mis-cited material without the use of a program like Turnitin.com. So the student is able to continue with poor habits unchecked. These habits will be caught down the road, with much harsher penalties than a teacher conference.

I have used turnitin.com. I do not like that it stores papers or that it has fishy copyright ideas. I’ve talked to students about the site and its implications in the classroom (as I’m sure you have). My students were not bothered by the site. Many saw it as part of the grading process. It was as usual as turning work in to a prof.

Those that knew they were cheating either formed different habits and hopefully became comfortable not cheating or they cheated anyway and I was able to discuss their work with them. Confused students were able to “click” after reading their source percentages. It provided a kind of visual aspect to research and citation.

But, these are also largely students who *did* have to go through metal detectors everyday in high school. They are accustomed to proving themselves through checks for negative aspects. You graduated before metal detectors (and seem to resent them). So maybe you are not used to proving yourself “worthy” by proving you lack negative aspects rather than by showing that you embody positive characteristics. (Kindof a ‘my dog is good because she does not bite’ versus ‘my dog is good because she learned to sit.’) But this is how are students are being trained before they reach the university.

For the record, my high school introduced detectors during my sophomore year, and tested irregularly through junior and senior years. They were annoying because you never knew what would be taken from you when. I lost several butter knives to school officials so I associate metal detectors to having to peel my oranges and grapefruit forefinger and thumb, which invariably resulted in citrusy contact lenses. A joy.

Still, turnitin has pointed out sections in papers that I honestly would not have looked twice at otherwise. This has been rare, but still. These were sections that I would not have even googled. By the way, would you google a section of a student’s work?