You Know Who You Are

 

[Note:  Identifying information has been omitted/altered.  Much as you may deserve it, I do not now purpose to embarrass you any further.]

Not all learning is accomplished through the formal education process.

It is axiomatic that students are expected to read and understand the Syllabus document of the course, handed out on the first day of the semester.   Some of my colleagues do not go into the detail that I do when they prepare their course syllabi, but the fact that my Syllabus is in fact so detailed should be a very strong indication that I mean business.  You are expected to read -- and heed -- the information in the Syllabus (and in any other course handouts distributed by the professor).  For my part, I am expected to deliver on the representations I make in the Syllabus.

And it is no less axiomatic that you, as a student, are obligated to conform to the College Policy on Academic Integrity.  The Policy is printed at length in the College Bulletin; the fact that my course Syllabus gives the URL link to the Policy makes your failure to adhere to it all the less excusable.

In addition to the foregoing, my course Syllabus explicitly and plainly states (and I quote):

"Students who turn in a plagiarized Term Paper are subject to a failing grade of "F" for the semester."

That is why your final grade was "F."  You submitted a plagiarized Term Paper.  I have some very damning well nigh incontrovertible evidence that the Term Paper you submitted originated at one of those term paper mill websites.

So now, you come to me with all of your sob stories about how you had to deal with some pressures from various sources, how you had a family emergency that required you to go back to your country, and how you will now need to retake a course, even though you marched in your gown and mortarboard at the graduation ceremony a few days ago.

But you made a decision to submit a plagiarized work, and I caught you.  Understand that you have insulted my intelligence.  Understand that, notwithstanding the anonymity of the process, I now need to impose the promised sanction upon you or else I will be a smacked toochas with no credibility in future semesters.  And understand that you, and you alone, placed me into a situation where I am now compelled to take this action against you.

In addition to your failing grade, I can now pursue disciplinary charges against you.  I'll forgo that option, however, because it would only consume my time and yours and that of the College Judicial Officer; time that could be better spent by me in my scholarly research or my law practice, and better spent by you studying for the course you will need to retake.

I have made my decision.  You have the right to appeal it to the Assistant Department Chair in the first instance, and from thence to the Scholastic Standards Committee, but, as I have said, the documentary evidence against you is overwhelming.  [And if you elect to play the race card, I am prepared to demonstrate that the penalty I am now imposing upon you is identical to the penalty I imposed upon a student a year ago, in a similar incident where the student was of my own ethnic background.  I am quite evenhanded about these things.].

And so, you have nobody but yourself to blame for your current predicament.

But as Long as They are Happy!

            To those who have asked, my wife and I are having a wonderful time in Israel; as usual, we are accomplishing things we hadn't planned to accomplish, and missing out on some things we had hoped to accomplish.  We spent a few days with our son, whom we hadn't seen in a little over a year, and we will likely be spending Shabbat with him.

            Oftentimes, when someone's (usually adult) child makes lifestyle decisions which do not fulfill the parents' expectations, the parent or parents resign themselves with an utterance to the effect of "But as long as they are happy, I really cannot complain."  And so, the parent(s) end up doing anything and everything to try to make the child happy, spoiling the child in the process.  Amy Fisher, Patty Hearst, Bill Ayers, the Kramer boys, and others of their ilk are often the result.

            It is good parenting to set expectations for one's child, and to communicate those expectations to the child.  It is also not unusual for one's child to deviate from those expectations to one degree or another.  Nor is it unusual for the child, in deviating from the parental expectations, to really, really get himself or herself stuck in a tough spot as a result of the child's ill-advised decisions.

            I myself made (more than) a few suboptimal decisions during my teenage and early adult years; fortunately, I was able to see the errors of my ways, and, after revising my life plans, was able to become a successful contributing member of society (and maintain a marriage nearing three decades and still going).

            If truth be told, my own son made his share of bad judgment calls.  Nothing that would put him (too much) on the wrong side of the law or anything like that, but ill-advised enough to set him on a path to nowhere.  Like his father, he also had an epiphany or two, went back to the drawing board with his life plans, and, as is now evident during our visit to him, is now on target for success in life (though not necessarily the executive suite of a Fortune 500 company).  A little dose of tough love, requiring him to live with the consequences of his decisions, can go a long way.

            Is his life simple and comfortable?  No way!  Is he happy?  Happier than he ever has been in his life, I daresay.  Are my wife and I happy that he is happy?  We are most ecstatic!

            But what makes us most happy is not that our son is happy, but that our son has shouldered some significant life responsibilities, and is successfully dealing with the challenges of adulthood on his own.

            How much longer he remains abroad has yet to be determined.  But his parents are more confident than ever before that he will make the correct decisions with his life.  And that really, really, makes us happy.

Rosen Assumes Responsibility

The posting of 8 November 2009 mentions the incident of 7 November 2008 involving a high and soused SUV driver who ran down a pair of joggers, killing one and seriously injuring the other. The surviving jogger, Vincent Saunders, had recovered sufficiently to do a run along the jogging route in memory of Amanda Malloy, his running partner who was killed in the incident.

The driver, Shea Rosen, has pleaded guilty to 2nd degree vehicular manslaughter and 1st degree vehicular assault. He could have faced 2 1/3 to 7 years if convicted, but his attorney has worked out a plea deal for 1 1/3 to 4 years. Rosen will be sentenced in September.

Amanda's mom, who was in the courtroom to witness the guilty plea, had no comments to give the members of the press, but the DA's spokesman indicated that she and other members of Amanda's family acquiesced to the deal in order "to avoid the trauma of a trial."

If full justice for Amanda Malloy and Vincent Saunders were the sole criterion, Rosen would serve the full 7 years of cold, hard jail time he so rightly deserves. But circumstances are not ideal. Without being judgmental, I note that Amanda and Vincent were more than just "jogging partners." Amanda was apparently trying to resolve, one way or the other, a marriage that existed on paper only, and Vincent was apparently the third point of the triangle.

The way I call it, that fact played into Amanda's family's aversion to "the trauma of a trial." The matter of Amanda's personal relationships would not have affected the outcome of a trial, or any sentence (the evidence against Rosen was quite overwhelming), and, more likely than not, would not even have been mentioned at trial. But Amanda's saga with her estranged husband has probably taken its toll on Amanda's family over the years. The plea deal enables them to move forward without adding too much more to the trauma they already have undergone, knowing that Shea Rosen will be paying something in the way of prison time for his irresponsible crime. My congrats to Mike Soshnick, Rosen's attorney, who, in all likelihood, recognized this situation and used it to negotiate a good deal for his client.

In addition to the reduced sentence, Shea Rosen receives another benefit from the plea deal. For at least 16 months, his facilitative parents will not be able to continue coddling him, and he will have to learn to man up and take responsibility for his actions, irrespective of any trust funds his parents may provide or have provided for him. This benefit would inure not only to Rosen, but to society as a whole. If Rosen plays his cards right, he can become successfully rehabilitated.

And so, under the circumstances, the deal was a good one for all parties and for society. Unfortunately, it cannot bring back Amanda Malloy