Plagiarism and Chinese students (pt 1)

“…the ethics of research demand that writers be credited for their work and their writing. Not to do so is to plagiarize…”*

Today Chinese students comprise the largest overseas student population at most English speaking universities around the world. This is a positive thing and has lots of flow-on effects beyond the financial - though one nagging issue that requires attention is that of plagiarism.

For several years now the issue has simmered, not just on foreign campuses but increasingly domestically with regards to foreign educators and their experience here marking papers and giving grades.

At a broader level I feel the relationship between the pirating of goods, infringement of intellectual property rights (IPR) and plagiarism, the 3P’s, is linked, but for the sake of simplicity let’s limit our discussion here to the latter.

Collectively many factors here encourage ‘rote-learning’ and mass regurgitation of facts and figures which impedes the fight against plagiarism.

Teachers are under extreme pressure, usually over-worked, under-paid, dealing with huge class sizes and being driven by students’ parents and department heads to get students to pass key exams for highly coveted, limited places in key schools and universities.

If you think the road to an Olympic Gold medal is tough, you should look at the path to a place in a top Chinese university. Particularly for students coming from the countryside or less developed cities, the competition is grueling and regrettably life-determining.

Less time to check papers thoroughly for teachers, coupled with traditional modes of teaching also contribute to a situation where more quantitative styled assessment, in the form of yes/no tests or fact recall rather than qualitative coursework, in the form of critical essays, gets favored. This stunts individual creative expression from the student setting them up for a fall, particularly if they study abroad later as their academic literacy is less robust than their foreign peers.

Another strong influence is the traditional notion in Asia that teachers are always right and students are there not to question or propose new ideas. Typically in Asia a good student will listen, absorb and be a passive receptor. In such an environment, creativity again is stifled and memorizing texts and copying and pasting from the internet the norm.

This is the situation particularly at junior and senior high schools though it is here that the initial foundation into ‘international standards of referencing’ will be promoted and adhered to. At the same time it deserves to be coupled with improvements in teaching styles and curriculum design. The notion of cultivating good habits has a lot of sway here in China and proper referencing is just another essential tool and habit required for getting ahead in the world of academia and beyond into the business world.

From a student’s perspective, all their school life they have been taught to copy and memorize. To then be placed in a different environment where they have to cite sources and generate unique viewpoints, is a radical change.

From a humanistic perspective Chinese students need to be treated less as robotic study machines and more as unique individual minds.

Teachers also need to be given more rope from parents, administrators and society to allow their pupils to expand beyond the text and begin to apply core ideas to real world events so education is more functional in the 21st century. There is a lot needing work and it requires a holistic approach to combat plagiarism.

To get an idea of what is meant by an international standard of referencing go online to Wikipedia and check their brief article on the topic. Often the ‘Harvard Style’ of referencing is required by universities though students at each different campus will be instructed as to which style is required by their lecturer or tutor.