[Labov]

I took computer science for a year before flunking out. My parents pushed me into college. My father didn't want me to join the Navy like he had done, when he was a young man. A lot of conversations about my future earning potential with an undergraduate degree took place in the lobbies of payday loan joints.

I plagiarized quite a bit in school. I'm not proud of it. Desperation and poor role models can create all sorts of negative outcomes, though. I was taught how to survive, not how to live ethically.

You can try to filter the plagiarists, sure. But uh, I'm not sure if it will work. The plagiarists are in league with each other.

[Wobbles42]

I don't like cheating, but honestly I find your behavior hard to judge.

The reality, to me, seems to be that universities sell credentials with learning as a sort of sideshow or window dressing.

I've met a lot of excellent engineers who didn't have degrees. I have met a lot of terrible ones who did. I can tell you which group has an easier time getting hired... and I don't think I am focusing on edge cases. The system is broken.

So do whatever you have to to get that permission slip to work from the education-industrial complex. By all means, please learn your trade as well, but let's not pretend like "knowledge" is what you are paying six figures for at a university. Knowledge is available for free. It's certification that costs as much as a house.

[ivape]

Yours is probably the most important comment. It's always important to understand why the person is doing the wrong thing. It's a serious lack of integrity to cheat, and what child is born dishonest? Something pushed these young people to these levels and that's the real thing that, no pun intended, needs examination.