Plagiarism is rampant in the school systems nowadays. Everywhere you turn, some student is copying another's work, or something of that sort. I shouldn't care so much, because as I always say, all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. Anyone has the rights to copy other's work, so why should I care? As a future teacher, plagiarism is extensively harmful for a student. They don't get to think for themselves, and they just leech of everyone else's work. Is this fair? By no means. However, what further worsens the situation is when they see people in the media essentially stealing other's work and making it their own. Two major examples I have seen recently are Melania Trump's Republican National Convention speech, and Instagram's new Story feature.
In her convention speech, Melania Trump gave an address that, although varying in difference greatly, still contained some similarities to a speech given by First Lady Michelle Obama in 2008. When comparing the two transcripts, there are words, phrases, and whole sentences that match up in exact order. (Although I prefer her copying Rick Astley, saying her husband will "Never give you up, and never ever let you down, mirroring the smash hit "Never Gonna Give You Up.") And some may argue that she did not write the speech herself, that her speech writers crafted the majority of it, and she only approved it or didn't even see it before it was given, and that's fine. Then the blame falls on those writers, and they should be blamed. Whoever wrote it should have realized this and cross-referenced anything that may have been similar beforehand. To play devil's advocate, many of the words in the speech were blanket, political buzzwords that many have used in speeches before, but the wording was just so exact it seemed to not be coincidental.
The other major issue is Instagram Stories. The other week, Instagram released a new story feature, where you can share pictures or videos for up to ten seconds that disappear after 24 hours. You can draw on them, add filters, and other effects. Sound familiar? It's because this is quite literally the exact thing that Snapchat has had for how many years now? I understand corporate competition and sales necessity, but at the same time -- really? It's basically the same thing. Plus, Instagram is for more timeless, permanent photos, everyone knows that. The best part for me is that the majority of these stories I have seen have all been requests to follow them on Snapchat with their tag included in the photo.
Regardless of intention, plagiarism is crucial to weed out. It hurts the youth because when they see it in media, they assume it's OK to continue and use in their work. And will it always happen? Sure, because we are human. We just need to realize this, and try to help remedy it. Because, as I always have said, to err is human; to forgive, divine.
