Wtf? 'All my own work' course?
From 2008 HSC any student enrolled in one or more courses must satisfactorily complete this course.
Program developed to improve the capacity of HSC students to follow principles and practices of good scholarship.
This includes understanding, valuing and using ethical practices when location and using information as part of their HSC program.
Sections are:
- Scholarship principles and practices
- Acknowledging sources
- Plagiarism
- Copyright
- Working With Others
Ok basically, we were informed today that if we don't complete this 'course' on plagiarism and when they say course, they mean an online quiz with ridiculously simple questions like 'Is it ok to rip music off the internet?', that the BoS won't give us our HSC.
You know what I think? What kind of a retard does the BoS take me for? What? This little 'course' i.e. quiz is supposed to improve my scholarship skills? It's gonna stop me downloading music cause it's wrong? I'm gonna go write out a Harvard style bibliography for every source I use? Fuck. Off. If they think this little initiative of theirs is gonna change a thing, the education system really has no hope.
Today, I was even told that a boy who did the test without any studying or any effort got 100% in the online quiz. Does the BoS really think we're stupid enough to put answers like 'Yes' to questions like 'Is it ok to rip music off the internet?' and lose our HSC over this shit? 'If you don't get > 90% in this test, you won't be entitled to your HSC.' You know what this is? it's just plain insulting to our intelligence.
How many of you have been completely honest in your lifetime? How many of you have never copied anything without complete acknowledgement, never downloaded music illegaly, never cheated in a single thing in your lifetime? Adults do it all the time. I'm sure people working in BoS have done that shit in the past and probably are still doing it. They honestly couldn't care less and yet here they are acting like the 'good guys' trying to 'set an example for the younger generation'. My IST teacher last year, handed out textbooks that came with a CD copy of it. You know what he said? 'Well, pretend you didn't hear this, but you might want to burn yourself a copy.' Same happened with maths too. [sarcasm]Wow that's so surprising isnt it? I never would have thought![/sarcasm] I say: Get lost you hypocritical retards.
Lets think logically here. For those who plagiarise, are they going to answer in the quiz honestly and fail their HSC? No. When we put it this way, this course ENCOURAGES people to lie. In fact, I'm going to walk into the library at my school tomorrow, lie the shit out of that test, get 100% and be eligible for my HSC.
Really, what. the. f***? has the education system come to? First, they blocked hotmail + gmail and introduced the DET email accounts + massive information censoring and what did that lead to? A bunch of high school students wasting time trying to get around the system + a lot less work done. My visual design work with photoshop last year was basically halted in its tracks because I couldn't use google images + majority of websites containing the images were blocked. And now, apparently a page on philosophy is categorised as 'gaming/personal use'. Even multiple teachers at my school have admitted that the system is useless and is an obstacle to work. And so, the DET has moved to a new level of idiocy, with this 'All my own work course' You know what it is? It's their way of saying 'Hey! I tried my best! I told you plagiarising is wrong! So now you can't say it was our fault for not warning you!'
'Program developed to improve the capacity of HSC students to follow principles of good scholarship.'
More like an excuse for the egotistic hypocrites of the BoS to say 'We're making a difference in education!' Truth is, they don't give a shit about us, the students. Almost no one does. And so we're forced to endure bullshit like the School's Certificate (not that i did too badly, all band 5s) and BoS policies. I even recall reading a newspaper article last year stating that School's Cert is encouraging people to drop out of schools and should be abolished. The current education system is moving DOWNHILL each year. Thank *** (censored in case i offend christians etc. by misusing ***'s name) that I finish high school at the end of next year. For the Year 7's who have to endure another 5 years of this bs, you have my pity. Really, all you can look forward to are being with your friends who have to stick it out with you. They are your ONLY comrades.