So, What Do Montana Teachers Have to Say About Plagiarism?
They’re obviously against it, right? I mean, it’s one of Academia’s cardinal sins.
So they must be aghast at the prospect of a plagiarist being elected to the US Senate, right?
Not so fast. According to Eric Fever, president of the Montana Education Association-Montana Federation of Teachers, it’s no big deal:
Husband, father, soldier, straight talking, no bullshit Democrat, Walsh is in his own words “no academic.” His bout with plagiarism proves that. But his bout with plagiarism has harmed no one but himself.
I can’t wait to see how Montana teachers react to the “it didn’t hurt anyone else” excuse when they catch someone using an obviously-plagiarized paper for their classwork. Based on the above, I guess they’ll give the perp a pass – as well as a passing grade.
And Fever is hardly alone. Here’s a quote from an article posted by Montana teacher Don Pogreba on his blog Intelligent Discontent:
Let’s get one thing out of the way: it was plagiarism. Some, eager to defend Senator Walsh, have suggested that because he cited the material in footnotes, he wasn’t plagiarizing, but that’s a too-generous, and incorrect assessment….
A person’s ethics are hardly defined by one error in judgment.
I guess Pogreba hasn’t gotten around to reading the 9-page DAIG 2010 Report of Investigation concerning Walsh’s other little bit of “interesting” conduct while serving in the MT ARNG. That report substantiates different misconduct on Walsh’s part that IMO also calls his ethics into question.
Or perhaps Pogreba is simply OK with politicians using public resources improperly, and using their public position for for private gain. As long as he agrees with their politics, of course.
Ya know, for some reason I keep hearing an old Randy Newman tune playing in the background when I read those articles: “It’s Money That Matters”. But then again, I tend to hear that every time a union flack opens his or her mouth these days.
Category: "Your Tax Dollars At Work", Schools, Unions
*Groan*
I live in Montana. God, this is SOOOO embarrassing…
If I can ever convince my wife, I am moving to Cameron MT.
If you move here or just come to visit again, please contact me. Jonn has my contact info. I would consider it an honor to get to meet you and Mrs. TSO!
Liberal academia has been strangely silent on this subject. They do not like the military but plagiarism is a “hanging offense” in institutions of higher learning.
Also, did Walsh forget the whole Officer – Soldier – Scholar thing.
There’s an apologist piece written by a prof over at Ricks Foreign Policy. If academia at large has any comments, my guess is they will be laden with relativist excuses.
They’re union. Teachers union is the single greatest destructive force in our education industry.
And, unions know only two things.
1. Support the union, no matter what.
2. Support the left and leftists, no matter what.
1 depends on 2 which also depends on 1. They’re all into that kind of inbreeding, real and metaphorical.
You do that and I’ll see you at former Long Branch Saloon in Ennis, THEN take you fishing the Big Hole River and show you around my old stomping grounds, brah. Might even be able to round a rank bronc for you to ride, too. 😎
quick picky note, the ORIGINAL Long Branch Saloon was in Dodge City. Ancestors of a departed ex-pilot (Vietnam and commercial) friend appropriately named Rowdy (I am told his callsign was 3-Wire for any of you Navy pilot types) owned it. God bless him.
And I will marry a round American woman. We will raise rabbits, and she will cook them for me.
Way to go, Montana. Way to beat that sheep banging stereotype.
Get some gunpowder therapy, PN. Or hit the archery range. Get a one-off T-shirt that says ‘Walsh is an asshole’.
Just do something constructive.
That sounds like my kind of therapy. I think I will! 😉
Start a one woman campaign busting war. I helped Max get elected the first go-around like a dumbass because we didn’t have the info available that we have now. Need help? Holla!
It’s politics that matters, dems are not alone in their love for their own liars and frauds while hating on the liars and frauds on the other side of the aisle. But, they sure seem to have raised it to an art form over the last 20 years.
Character no longer matters much to either side of the aisle. They all talk a good game about “family” values or some other such bullshit but they don’t mind if their guy cheated on his wife, or shot a buddy in the face, or got 80 people killed while serving a warrant to one guy in the group as long as it’s their guy in the power seat.
Consequently we have the government we have today, because the electorate doesn’t demand anything better. The ruling class has done a great job of co-opting the media as lap dogs to tap dance around the fire pointing at those other guys while disregarding their own guys.
200,000 dead Syrians and all I see on the news is where Kanye and Kim are headed next, a few hundred Palestinian dead and Israel is the most evil regime on the planet. The media is the voice of the ruling class, divided by party and view only slightly.
Without a doubt. You are correct. I’m not surprised. Their loyalty lies solely with the teachers union, which donates a lot of money to the Democratic party.
VOV, Thank you again. I met a young college student today at physical therapy. The subject of the current education system came up. I should have known better than to engage her. Listening to her speak I would have guessed 3rd grade not 3rd year university student. As we talked I asked her about English, its composition and grammar and such things. I have a pet peeve about dangling participles which she was dropping ad nauseam. I asked her how she did reports and other English papers. She said, quite proudly because of her Google skills, that she had found a site where she could input her paper and it would correct the “grammar stuff and all that spelling and the pargriffs, hehehe”. I replied, “you mean paragraphs” I imagine. She looked at me and said, “whatever”! I knew then I was speaking to an example of a large segment of our present and future product of the current education system. What amazed me the most, was her lack of care. As long as she could get it done, without learning anything new or substantial, she was fine and considered herself, “an above average student”, her words, not mine. Maintaining a 2.9 GPA. Really!!!!
There was a scene in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. The maitre d’ of the restaurant paused after they were seated and said, “I weep…for the future”. How true. I also weep for this nation’s future for many reasons. Not the least of which is the current intellectual capabilities of the present and coming generations. Sheepeople at their best, none caring, ill informed, nose ringed for control, drones at their worst. Okay rant over. I’m just saddened I guess. I have learned my lesson though. Before engaging a “college student” again, listen to their English first. Then decide.
Sorry my above post was off topic to plagiarism. But the young lady left me with no doubt, she plagiarizes and cheats at every opportunity. The “what ever it takes to get by because the end justifies the means”, attitude. The same as Senator Walsh.
No apology needed for me dude….your point is spot on the mark, not only do the professors forgive this asshat Walsh their students don’t even see an issue with allowing software to help with the heavy lifting to properly structure their paperwork.
I do a lot of mentor work in both athletic refereeing and the graphic arts business that I am in. I see a wide gamut of ability, and a wide gamut of attitudes.
For what it’s worth there are a lot of ambitious and intelligent kids out there, but there is a sizable minority of kids who lack any ambition at all. Those kids end up wasting a degree on a retail job at the mall.
In athletics I tell people you can’t coach guts/heart either you have it or your don’t, in business you can’t mentor ambition people are either ambitious or they are not. You can make a good athlete with guts into a great athlete and you can make a kid with average academic ability into a decent technical graphics person if they are ambitious. All the skill in the world won’t make up for a lack of guts or ambition.
These professors are showing that a lack of character is acceptable to them as long as they like your politics. As Hondo points out they probably are not thinking about how that affects their student body, I can assure you the student body is well aware of the hypocrisy of their teaching staff. Those who are smart and manipulative know they can use those professors to advance their own academic score by mouthing words the professor wants to hear and putting out substandard work as good enough.
And that should be cause for concern for anyone who pays for an education at these institutions of supposed higher learning.
Sparks, I was a beat cop on the west coast of Oahu.
I dealt with a fair amount of juveniles during my time copping. First, I scratched my head at how often we had to go to the school for incidents. I honestly can’t ever remember ever seeing a police officer at my high school or any school…EVER.
But, the most distressing thing was the functional illiteracy of the teenagers that I saw everywhere. Many people on that part of Oahu speak pidgin all the time and I found out pretty quickly that they wrote pidgin too. They couldn’t write standard English. Really, really depressing.
I remember a controversy years ago when it came out that teachers in the school system taught in pidgin! They refused to change, saying it was a cultural thing. Well, they were successful in their efforts.
The rare time that I met a teen who wrote proper English I was ecstatic.
One time I needed to get a statement from an adult, probably 40 years old. I gave him the form and he gave it back, saying, “Can you write it, officer? I go school Hawaii.” By that time, I knew exactly what he meant.
MustangCryppie…I feel what you’re saying. I remember many years ago when some school systems in L.A. wanted to teach and promote “ebonics” because it was “an inherently cultural and valid language being practiced”. In other words, why try to teach them proper English, just let them speak “street” in class. Then years later Bill Cosby, for one came out and denounced ebonics and the poor English of the black community as simply being too lazy to learn and practice better. Instead of support, the mainstream media, the Jesse Jacksons of the nation and the black community at large, derided him as a turn coat, “Uncle Tom” for his views. Sad. Really sad indeed.
People think I’m wierd because I actually spell out and punctuate the content of my text messages.
Example: instead of “were r u”
I text “Where are you?”
I have caught my nephew writing notes and even school papers that way! He was actually surprised when I admonished him and pointed out that, even as a 9-year old, he’s smarter than that. The worst part was that one of his teachers actually let him get away with that shit!
“But his bout with plagiarism….” His bout with plagiarism? Give me a break. Some years ago now, a (ahem) journalist for The Baltimore Sun was caught stealing some other writer’s work. That ended the very long career of the plagiarist, Michael Olesker. Guess what he did for work after that. Go ahead. Ready? He taught jourmalism at a Maryland college! I have always wondered how he lectured on ethics in that ccourse.
I think you know how he lectured on ethics in that course, it’s similar to Ted Kennedy as Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee lecturing people on appropriate Judicial behavior….
Once again the hypocrisy of our democratic friends knows no bounds.
Well, you have to admit that Teddy had more experience with the legal system from the defendant’s perspective than most of his peers in the Senate . . . .
“Walsh is in his own words “no academic.”
Let’s be honest. Most teachers aren’t “academics” either.
“Those who can DO. Those who can’t TEACH”
…and those who CAN, also TEACH, usually VERY WELL.
In some rare instances yes. Our educational achievement standards in this country would say otherwise my friend.
Sadly, many of our teachers can DO and Do what they do – TEACH very well. (My daughter, aka my hero, teaches full time, raising 4 boys – impeccably! – and is working on her Master’s degree at the same time carrying a full course load. Sorry, Major, until you can match that on a daily basis, I respectfully suggest you put a lid on it.) Most teachers now are shackled by a politician-induced system of standardized tests and politically correct curricula which leave them no time to do anything but ‘teach the test’ most of the year.
Look, character defects only matter if the politician is a Republican. It has to be something pretty darned egregious, with no other Democrat waiting to step in (like in the case of Weiner for example) for the Dems to get fired up over one of their owns discretions.
Were he a Republican, I can just about guarantee that all those stating it is no big deal would be up in arms ready to tie them to the stake in the town square.
Not that Republicans are not as capable of protecting their own, they just do not seem to have the same tenacity that Dems do for it.
“no bullshit Democrat”
ROFLMAO what an oxymoron
“But his bout with plagiarism has harmed no one but himself.”
It has NOT hurt him, nor will it until he gets his nuts in a wringer about it.
Montana residents that actually give a hoot, need to get started yesterday making this jackasses run for Senate, a most memorable one. It doesn’t take many to do it, just like the left, you gotta be loud n proud. Or like we used to do back in the day in Whitehall…Take it to ’em. It was a Butte/Whitehall thang…Anybody remember when the MHP riot squad was deployed to Whitehall, summer of 1972? HEHEHEHE…..Fun, fun, fun!