Personal experiences and reflective learning

Moral Dilemma

Jane thinks of herself as a good and moral person. She goes to church on Sunday and tries to treat others fairly. She is a senior in college. Soon she will have her degree so she can teach school. When she was a freshman, towards the end of the term, she got sick with flu and had to be in bed five days. She had a paper due and was too sick to work on it. Her sister suggested that she buy a paper on the Internet. Desperate, Jane ordered a paper for the class. She felt kind of guilty about it, but what could she do? Nothing bad happened. She wasn't caught, and she got a good grade in the class.

Gradually, over the next couple of years, Jane got into the habit of buying papers. When she wanted to go on a holiday, for example, she ordered a paper instead of staying home and writing one. If the topic for a paper was boring, or too much work, she ordered a paper. It became a rather frequent occurrence. Now, however, Jane has started her practice teaching. She wants her students to learn how to write, so that when the No Child Left Behind Act is enforced by testing, her students will pass. If they don't, it will reflect on her. How can she demand that her students do their own work and not cheat, when she cheated herself -- not just once but many times?

Jane has to realize that she short-changed herself. She paid good money for tuition and didn't take advantage of her opportunities to learn. She also lost out on increasing her self-esteem in a natural way by rising to meet challenges and doing her best. Instead of feeling proud, she felt guilty. If she confesses to her school, she will probably be kicked out and it will be on her record forever. She is not likely to do that. However, because she is going to be a teacher, herself, she can talk to her students about her experience honestly and have meaningful discussions in her classrooms. She can tell her students that if they get sick, they can call her, and she will make arrangements to postpone the deadline. Jane wishes now that she had got caught the first time she did it -- then, she never would have done it again. So, she can purchase TurnItIn, software designed to catch plagiarism and put a stop to it immediately when her students get involved in buying papers. Finally, if it is a first offense, she can remember her own behavior and show mercy for the student even though she confronts him/her, and she can make an effort to keep track of that student's progress afterward.