Convicted of Plagiarism

An email arrived on my phone the other day. It was from a colleague whose job it is to be the advocate of Chinese exchange students who are studying abroad. A student had submitted a research paper that the plagiarism-sniffing software at the school had alerted to a 75% copy rate. The student was being asked to respond and defend his actions. Obviously, the copying had happened, and it was wrong, but the student had an excuse; she was hospitalized with an acute case of appendicitis just before the submittal date. A doctor’s note substantiated this claim. She had no choice but to take the shortcut of copying substantial portions of a friend’s work and adding her own insights where appropriate.

How was my colleague to advocate for this student? A difficult question considering that the response could determine the student’s future direction at the school. 

As I pondered the right response, another question, from another of my Chinese friends came to mind. He had asked whether I thought Trump was doing the right things for America or for the world? The question arose out of his concern about the disastrous consequences of the recent tariffs imposed on China. That question led my divergent mind to turn to yet another incidence of copying to which I had a personal connection.

In one of my previous jobs as a design engineer for anesthesia machines, I had designed a system that was quite avant-garde; in fact, it was so unique that the FDA refused to allow us to use it on our machines because it violated the world standards for the proper design of anesthesia machines. Our lawyers had to battle with the FDA for a long time before they finally agreed and allowed us to use it. So, one can imagine my chagrin when I took a job working as an engineering support to a Chinese anesthesia company and found that an exact copy of my hard-fought design was being used in their machines. My anger was somewhat mitigated because the design had been on the market for several years. Besides, the original firm had taken the design and moved its production back to the company's home country, causing people in America to lose their jobs. So turn around was fair play! But it left me with unassailable proof that the Chinese were not at all shy about copying other people's products verbatim. It was just as unassailable as the proof that this poor student, plagued with appendicitis, had copied another girl's work and submitted it as her own.

Both the student and the Chinese could have made the ethically correct decision. The girl could have cited her sources and the Chinese could have paid a royalty for the design. But both took the easier and more lucrative path. The school administrators were not being remiss in calling out the obvious plagiarism. And Trump is not remiss for calling out the Chinese violation of property rights. It is not a pleasant task for either party to level the ethical playing field. And it takes someone with a lot of guts to step in and call people to account. It may mean the student might not graduate and it may curtail economic growth if they enforce reasonable standards of ethical behavior. But in fairness, someone needs to do it. And for my friend, who is to be an advocate for this girl, and for myself, with deep ties to people in China who are being impacted by the economic downturn, it can be quite a gut-wrenching situation to endure.

This all suggests yet another connection which was the central theme of the book, “The Righteous Mind.” The author, Jonathan Haidt, stated that he wrote the book to answer the question, “Why can’t we all just get along?” The book is a classic in ethical understanding but still leaves one with the unavoidable conclusion that walking in another person’s shoes will always be a difficult task. Adjudicating fairness will never be easy. Just ask Solomon, who once advocated the slicing of a newborn child in two to be fair to the quarreling mothers. See 1st Kings 3:16–28. But until we find another accommodating planet or at least a deserted island to which we can take our petty grievances, we will have to learn to somehow get along. So in this, let’s all do some plagiarism of Jesus whose example tells us to relate to one another with “love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.” 1st Timothy 1:5. Allow yourself to be convicted of sincerely plagiarizing Jesus!