In an ideal world plagiarists would always be caught and always be failed. No need for dire consequences. Just no rewards. In the real world, most plagiarists are never punished even if they are caught. If you're a TA or prof and you think you've been given plagiarized work, you need to have iron-clad proof before you can even think about breathing the 'P' word. You can easily wind up in as much trouble as the student if your proof isn't solid! You have very little to go on if the student is at least smart enough to paraphrase and avoid copy/pasting complete sentences. I've been given work I was 99% sure was plagiarized but, since I couldn't prove it, I couldn't do anything more than give it a low grade. Even when you can prove plagiarism has occurred, you're in for a lot of extra work. Usually it's easier to just talk to the student and tell them to withdraw from your class.
Since plagiarists are so hard to catch and punish, it's important to make examples of the ones who are caught. You can argue that this was "just class homework", but students who plagiarize homework are the same ones who hire ghost-writers to do a one-off term paper or thesis for them. If they can get by without doing the unimportant work, odds are they won't learn how to do the important work.
In this case, absolutely make this kid's life hell. It doesn't matter if he only cheated that one time or if that's how he got his entire degree. What's important is that other students see that plagiarism can come back to haunt them long after they've gotten their degrees. The student's profs ought to be made to sweat a little too. Missing or failing to punish plagiarism is entirely forgivable for the reasons I have stated above. Giving a passing grade to an obvious joke paper shows that they were negligent, and that's another matter entirely.
"Do you honestly believe you can judge the abilities and work ethic of this guy based on one essay?"
His abilities, no. His work ethic, and ethics in general, yes.
I've been the hard-working student who sat back and watched other kids buy their grades. It was truly disheartening. Students who cheat have zero respect for the work of their peers and deserve no respect in return.
If you don't understand why taking credit for work you have not done is wrong, then there's absolutely nothing more I can say to you.
I'm a pathetic bleeding heart, give the world a hug, make love not war, hippie tree hugger. Second chances that aren't earned are often wasted. It's often a cruelty, not a kindness, to be too easy on people who are going around fucking up. It frequently fails to foster real change and just helps people stay trapped.
Not saying one should always be a hardass. But defaulting to candyass isn't any better. It's got to be a judgment call.
Sounds to me like you are making a judgment call based on "it's a single essay" -- ie not a pattern of behavior. Frankly, I haven't read through the whole thing, so you may know more than I do about this specific case. I am not saying you are wrong in this instance. I am only suggesting that sweeping statements like "someone always deserves a second chance" should not go unquestioned.
I am slow to condemn people and fairly quick to forgive and quick to have compassion. But I am equally clear the minute you make it policy that "everyone always gets a second chance" and then advertise that fact, you grow your problems rather than shrinking them. My personal policy is "forgiveness is a gift but trust is earned". Somehow, people are quick to ID me as a forgiving sort and then promptly conclude I'm a doormat and they can shit all over me to their heart's content. Doormat? Maybe. Toilet? No thank you. Take your personal crap elsewhere. So I am very clear that sweeping, publicly advertised policies of "guaranteed second chance" cause more problems than they solve and tend to create situations where you have no choice but to be harder on people.
I agree with you, but disagree on the probability that this is a trivial instance in which the alleged culprit had a slip of duty. Re-read the original essay and then the new essay, and admire the work that had to have been invested in perpetrating this fraud.
You really think that could be the product of someone who has never plagiarized? In order to know how to game the cheating system (even poorly in this case), someone is likely to have, well, gamed the system.
I have empathy for the millions of students who get through university (or college) on the basis of their own abilities and hard work. These are the people who truly deserve it!
Since plagiarists are so hard to catch and punish, it's important to make examples of the ones who are caught. You can argue that this was "just class homework", but students who plagiarize homework are the same ones who hire ghost-writers to do a one-off term paper or thesis for them. If they can get by without doing the unimportant work, odds are they won't learn how to do the important work.
In this case, absolutely make this kid's life hell. It doesn't matter if he only cheated that one time or if that's how he got his entire degree. What's important is that other students see that plagiarism can come back to haunt them long after they've gotten their degrees. The student's profs ought to be made to sweat a little too. Missing or failing to punish plagiarism is entirely forgivable for the reasons I have stated above. Giving a passing grade to an obvious joke paper shows that they were negligent, and that's another matter entirely.