out any field, even those that don't genuinely rely upon the skills one might gain in a traditional liberal arts and sciences education. Furthermore, students don't believe that they will ever "need" communication skills. The first question that one student asked in a college-level writing class that I took at a community college while I was still in high school was "Why do I need this course?" The teacher was taken aback, obviously feeling that the answer was self-evident. However, most teenagers have worked, mostly in service-related businesses, and few have been called upon to write. The only time students are required to write (and probably read) is in academic situations. Failure to write well does not seem to be a handicap to most students. In real life situations, they are rarely called upon to do it. When English teachers tell their classes that they will have to know how to write for the future, they are echoing years of educational prophecy that never comes true. So, when students are forced to write, many have litte compunction about stealing the ideas and words of another, because the written word has no authentic meaning to them. They don't value it. It's regarded as a stupid requirement.The last reason that I feel that internet plagiarism is predictable is that we now live in a world of information sharing. It's the information age, afterall. "Sharing" is the key word--not "generating." The internet, which is a marvelous tool, diminishes the value we place on "the word." The written word is transitory, impermanent, quickly erased. In my grandfather's day, creative ideas were published in books that were housed in libraries, which were carefully organized for the sake of the public good. No ideas are cheap, even free. ...
