Academic dishonesty (was "Apologies and responsibility")

[lealess]

No: HPFGUIDX 139394

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Matt" <hpfanmatt at g...> wrote:
--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Matt" <hpfanmatt at g...> wrote:
> <BIG SNIP>
> As I said in the prior post,
> it does bother me a bit that Harry doesn't disabuse Slughorn of the
> misconception that his potionmaking is intuitive, but what is being
> taught is the ability to successfully make the potion, not 
> intuition.   
> <MORE SNIPPAGE>
> In the RW, in fact, there's considerably more protectable 
> intellectual property in a pharmaceutical or food formula
> than in unpublished literary annotations.)  And when I conduct
> classroom discussions, I'm far more concerned with students'
> understanding of the ideas they are expounding than with the
> originality of those ideas.  
> 
> -- Matt

The problem I have with Harry's use of the notations: he didn't do 
the work (research, or even finding and buying cheat sheets) to get 
the notations on his own and yet he is passing off the improved 
potions he gets as his own innovations.  He seems to enjoy the 
acclaim he gets from Slughorn, but he doesn't really earn it; he's 
just following instructions like everyone else, only he has a better 
set of instructions, and that acquired only by luck.  It's more like 
a researcher stealing a colleague's notes or methods and then 
publishing the work as his own.  Your analogy to intellectual 
property is apt.

Harry doesn't take using the notes seriously because he is not going 
to pursue a career in potions, he's used to dancing on the edge of 
propriety, and he's used to having extra help.  He thinks of the 
Prince as a friend, who's not only allowed him to do well in class, 
but allows him to be at the front.  I wonder how Slughorn would feel 
about Harry using the notes?

Anyway, it seems like a kind of cheating, though perhaps not 
technically -- more of a moral failure, to me.  It's just 
not "upstanding."

lealess