“Downloading is a transitional technology,” says Mr. Hoek. “Downloading is going to be the punch line to jokes the way eight-track tapes are now.”

fter reading your article, I feel sorry for the author.  I do not know the identity of the alleged plagiarizing, font-adjusting, slackers are, but they certainly did not attend any four-year university I, or my family has attended.  I agree with Hannah Dodd that you show nothing but "complete contempt and loathing for" your students as well as for her career.  This author's experience sounds like high school, but the truth is that universities require most papers be submitted through programs that scan essays and compare the writing with hundreds of thousands of sources to expose plagiarism.  This article is extremely insulting to every student, including me, who ever wrote a college essay.   Essays written for the history department of CSU Long Beach had to pass the plagiarism test, as well show that the student can think critically and relate that critical thinking to a PhD-holding professor.   Those few who do not pass muster will eventually find themselves outside the halls of the college, as California universities do not tolerate plagiarism or patterns of poor grades.  How dare this woman belittle the hard work of tens of thousands of hard-working, INTELLIGENT students and professors.

Ultimately, only a federal court can determine whether a particular use is, in fact, a fair use under the law.

The act of teaching is becoming more about designing the educational context and engaging students as they learn to approach material in more insightful and demanding ways. We are not transmitters of knowledge very often today,