Students are, IMHO, like your own kids: they're capable of genius from
time to time, and much of what they do does have a sort of design behind
it, but sometimes they're just mean little s***s who do stuff just to see
if they can get away with it and for purely selfish interest. It's not
fair to assume that your kids always do everything out of
selfishness, and it's not smart to assume the opposite, either. Same
for students, I think.
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>From Mark Gellis:
"Personally, I would give him 24 hours to do a rewrite, and make it
absolutely clear that what he did was unacceptable, considered cheating
by many, but that I was giving him the benefit of the doubt and the
chance to prove he was capable of doing the work. And then I would
dock the grade for lateness.
Harsh? Perhaps. But odds are the kid thought he was pulling a fast
one, not actually cheating, but using a loophole. As a teacher, the
purpose of a test is just that, to test, to determine whether people
understand concepts or have learned to employ certain skills (essays
are, for this reason, nothing more than "take-home exams") under a
certain set of circumstances. This kid did not complete the
assignment in a way that proves his knowledge; therefore, one
cannot assume the knowledge exists and one cannot give the student
the same credit one gives to a student who has clearly demonstrated
what they know."