KEEPING VALUES NOT REPLICAS
Being a student of a university, I am intelligent beings and we need not claim the
reminded that my being part of the academic
community is both a privilege and a
responsibility; privilege because not all
students are accorded the means to study in
a university; a responsibility because a
student should be mindful of his actions and
be careful in his scholastic works. It is in my
scholastic works where my abilities and
values are honed and put into practice. Yet
for some, these are rather the opposite of
good intentions.
As I came across newspapers and the
internet the issue of UP student Mark Joseph
Solis plagiarizing other photographs for his
own credit in an international competition, I
am reminded of the fact that there can never
be a second chance for one who fails honor
and with it, pride. In the case of Mark, he
suffered from choosing between the honor
of recognition and the moral high ground of
his own humility. He opted the easier way of
fulfilling his desire for a worldly fame by
stealing the work of another. In the process,
he sacrificed his personal honor and even his
standing in the university as a student.
The Merriam-Webster online
dictionary defines plagiarism as the act of
using another person's words or ideas
without giving credit to that person. In our
attempts to secure recognition, we fail to see
the value of responsibility and discernment.
I am responsible for all actions I make,
commit and share with others, and this holds
true for cases such as knowing what is not
ours to own. A momentary lapse in our
judgment to know between right and wrong
is a lifetime scar we will carry. It is not
enough that we absorb what we learn; it is
also important that we maintain a moral
force within us – the good conscience
persisting, telling us that we are all
work of another as our own.
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Human compulsion moved Solis to
return his prizes and be contrite with what
he committed. Restoring his tarnished
reputation and pride is another unfortunate
result. Ours is a society that never forgets
wrongdoings and in fact, will make possible
occasions for ridiculing what is clearly a
subject of moral degradation of the youth,
instead of the opposite action addressing the
root cause of the moral problem. Was it
poverty, personality or conscience? Parental
guidance usually becomes the culprit, but
then again, societal considerations are not to
be discounted such as peer pressure.
Lessons thru values education by the
government must be reinforced by moral
practice. Moral practice dictates that we as
citizens observe what is necessarily
responsible not exactly the practical. The act
of plagiarism, in the case of Solis, mirrors a
more profound subject that is ethical
standards in the Philippine context.
Nowadays, there lies a greater propensity for
individuals to commit wrongdoings on the
account of poverty and in extreme cases,
greed. Being the minor that he is, Solis was
corrupted by false gratification he obtained
by claiming the photographs to be of his
own creativity. Yet, on a bigger scope, he
represented what should have been the
future of our youth – a creative generation
fueled by dexterity and none of “replica
work.”
- John Henry C. Jocson