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The story about how Jumi Bello ended up plagiarizing her way through college and a Iowa Writer’s Workshop fellowship is interesting. Her debut novel and subsequ

The story about how Jumi Bello ended up plagiarizing her way through college and a Iowa Writer’s Workshop fellowship is interesting. Her debut novel and subsequent apology were not her first time plagiarizing. She reportedly plagiarized during college, but was able to manipulate people into letting her get away with it. It would have been better to fail fast, fail early, recover soon, than to get away with plagiarism until this late in the game and then get caught so publicly.

pc86 4y ago
Better for whom? Plagiarism is a pretty serious offense, and being willing to do it (whether you're a college "kid" or not) says something striking about your character, and something that I think should follow you for a long, long time, especially if you are trying to make a living in writing/publishing.
- Aditya_Garg 4y ago
  Probably better for the perpetrator. If you think stealing is good idea, its better to learn that its not by getting caught stealing something small when you're young, than to be successful at it initially and getting caught later when the stakes are higher. ^That's a terribly written sentence but at least its not plagiarized
  - cat_plus_plus 4y ago
    If someone just made a copy of my car without depriving me of the original, I wouldn't be THAT mad.
    - tpxl 4y ago
      It's not the copy that's the problem, it's the lack of citation.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
- JadeNB 4y ago
  > Plagiarism is a pretty serious offense, and being willing to do it (whether you're a college "kid" or not) says something striking about your character, and something that I think should follow you for a long, long time, especially if you are trying to make a living in writing/publishing. I have not done it, but I'd be shocked if it wasn't the case that almost every college kid engages in plagiarism at least once. (Plagiarism includes downloading answers off Chegg and submitting them as your own, an activity sufficiently common that some of my students complained to me about the injustice of not getting points because the answer they copied off Chegg was wrong.)
- klodolph 4y ago
  Better for everyone. People learn. It is easier to learn to change your behavior when the consequences are low. Learning environments are constructed in such a way so that people can make mistakes and learn from them. The way it was described, it sounds like in college, the author would incorporate texts into her own work without citation. A likely consequence for this behavior, in college, is to fail the course. Reportedly, she manipulated people into letting her get away with it. As a result, it was easier for her to believe that what she was doing was right. > [...] being willing to do it (whether you're a college "kid" or not) says something striking about your character [...] Character is somewhat malleable and most morals (like "do not plagiarize") must be taught. I agree with Xunzi's take on human nature here. At birth we are self-centered and have no moral compass. We have the capacity to become good people through education and discipline, although not everyone does.
- Thorrez 4y ago
  >Better for whom? Everyone, right? If she gets caught early and stops, that's better than her doing it a ton because it means there's less plagiarism.

pc86 4y ago

Better for whom? Plagiarism is a pretty serious offense, and being willing to do it (whether you're a college "kid" or not) says something striking about your character, and something that I think should follow you for a long, long time, especially if you are trying to make a living in writing/publishing.

Aditya_Garg 4y ago
Probably better for the perpetrator. If you think stealing is good idea, its better to learn that its not by getting caught stealing something small when you're young, than to be successful at it initially and getting caught later when the stakes are higher. ^That's a terribly written sentence but at least its not plagiarized
- cat_plus_plus 4y ago
  If someone just made a copy of my car without depriving me of the original, I wouldn't be THAT mad.
  - tpxl 4y ago
    It's not the copy that's the problem, it's the lack of citation.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
JadeNB 4y ago
> Plagiarism is a pretty serious offense, and being willing to do it (whether you're a college "kid" or not) says something striking about your character, and something that I think should follow you for a long, long time, especially if you are trying to make a living in writing/publishing. I have not done it, but I'd be shocked if it wasn't the case that almost every college kid engages in plagiarism at least once. (Plagiarism includes downloading answers off Chegg and submitting them as your own, an activity sufficiently common that some of my students complained to me about the injustice of not getting points because the answer they copied off Chegg was wrong.)
klodolph 4y ago
Better for everyone. People learn. It is easier to learn to change your behavior when the consequences are low. Learning environments are constructed in such a way so that people can make mistakes and learn from them. The way it was described, it sounds like in college, the author would incorporate texts into her own work without citation. A likely consequence for this behavior, in college, is to fail the course. Reportedly, she manipulated people into letting her get away with it. As a result, it was easier for her to believe that what she was doing was right. > [...] being willing to do it (whether you're a college "kid" or not) says something striking about your character [...] Character is somewhat malleable and most morals (like "do not plagiarize") must be taught. I agree with Xunzi's take on human nature here. At birth we are self-centered and have no moral compass. We have the capacity to become good people through education and discipline, although not everyone does.
Thorrez 4y ago
>Better for whom? Everyone, right? If she gets caught early and stops, that's better than her doing it a ton because it means there's less plagiarism.