Essay Cheat

Maclean's July 2, 2007 THE ANTI-CHEATING WAR MAIL BAG; Pg. 7 169 words The McLean High School students who object to Turnitin's retention of their essays argue that John Barrie is profiting from their work ("How not to catch a thief," Education, June 11). Bilge. His fortune is being made, it seems to me, quite morally by providing an important service by indexing the students' essays. He is not looting the essays for research so that he may plagiarize and publish. In Canada, doctoral dissertations, unlike high school essays, go to Ottawa to be microfilmed, catalogued, and then lent out to anyone anywhere who wants to read them. The writer retains the copyright on his material, but has no control of its use, and there are no royalties. These students have no use for the essays after grading; they certainly can't make any money from them. To object to their use to combat plagiarism is selfish and, frankly, makes them appear rather suspect. Having one's high school essay on a database helps prevent my accomplishment from being debased by a cheater. Eric R. Griffin, Dundas, Ont. June 29, 2007 ENGLISH Magazine Copyright 2007 Rodgers Publishing Ltd. All Rights Reserved