Complaint Review: James Kenneth Terry - Daly City California

First of all, the APA style is more anally retentive than Sigmund Freud's worst nightmare.

 

No more so than MLA or any other style. 



God Forbid someone would ever omit a comma in the reference page



This isnt about a missing comma. Its about plagiarism.



Your students will leave your classroom, enter the real work world, and discover how out of touch you are in that ivory tower of yours.



Hardly. My job is to prepare my students for graduate school and/or entry into the work force. I do an exceptionally good job of this (along with my fellow faculty) because we have standards and expect our students to meet them.  My college has a very high student satisfaction rate, a high grad school acceptance rate, high scores on the GRE, and a decent job placement rate.  By any and all standards we do a very good job. 



In addition to teaching I consult to colleges and universities on different issues. My customers expect high quality work and thats what I give them. How do I do that? By making sure I adhere to the standards of my profession. I never plagiarize, I have everything proofread to ensure I havent overlooked an error, and I learn from any mistakes I make. Mr. Terry would do well to do the same.



You are only attacking me personally because you have no logical argument to counter mine. Mr. Terry has yet to respond with examples of why he was expelled, so theres nothing left to discuss until he does.

First of all, the APA style is more anally retentive than Sigmund Freud's worst nightmare. God Forbid someone would ever omit a comma in the reference page. That would knock five points off of a term paper in many schools. And we all know how unprofessional it looks when we make a mistake and look human, don't we? No, better to stay above the fray and let others see how vastly superior we are with our doctorates based mainly upon theoretical understanding of that which we cannot readily observe, test, or repeat necessarily with any validity. Hey, a philosophy doctorate looks so good on the wall, doesn't it?

Your students will leave your classroom, enter the real work world, and discover how out of touch you are in that ivory tower of yours.

While I applaud your willingness to work with high risk groups, you still haven't answered any of the questions I posed which might clarify your position.  This issue has nothing to do with your work experience. Rather, you have posted a complaint against a university and I am merely pointing out the fallacy of the logic behind that complaint.



When I evaluate a student's paper for plagiairsm I take several things into account: previous feedback,  whether it was intentional or just a missing citation or quotes, etc. You, yourself, stated that you had difficulty with this.  That sort of begs the question that if you can't understand something as straightforward as APA style, how can you understand the complexities of human thought and behavior?  Apparently you're capable, as your work history demonstrates. So what's the problem?



Perhaps you could give us details about the alleged plagiarism. That would help a lot.



By the way, I do not now, nor have I ever worked for any proprietary institution. I teach for a small, private college that prides itself on establishing and maintaining high academic expectations of its students.

I find you to be very critical of me and my letter. To answer your questions, I do have a masters degree and I have been fortunate to have had some excellent working positions. But, I am not a licensed mental health professional. Being licensed would open more doors of opportuity and give me more creditability. My thinking was, when I retire in five years, at age 66, I would volunteer at the local free clinic and work part-time at a prison. During my previous employment with a penal institution, I observed  the poor mental health services that were offered / available to the inmates. While employed I was requested to create and facilitate a sex offenders treatment program. There were a number of inmates wanting to understand and change their behaviors. I enjoyed my work and would like to think I assisted a number of inmates to understanding and changing behaviors. When you spend your valuable time finding and correcting my minor grammatical errors, you fail to hear and / or understand my opinion. Therefore, "your" opinion is never challenged.   
I hope you are satisfied.    

Walden is ripping me off for $515.00. I've decided to pay them even though I shouldn't.

Ah, but the payments they will receive from me, via money order, will be for $5.00 per month. (Things are very tight for me financially. Imagine that.) By the time Walden receives its $515 in full, that same $515.00 will be worth half its present value.

Having spoken with Walden's financial services department recently, I'm informed that they are willing to accept small payments. I would have opted to pay online, but I don't trust the university. Specifically, I believe it wouldn't be past Walden to attempt to seize the amount in full. That would leave me unable to pay rent, not that Walden cares, of course.

I'm sending payments to:   

Walden University

15297 Collections Center Drive

Chicago, Il. 60693

Another option you have is to send your loan guarantor a personal check with payment written on it. Be sure to include "For Walden Tuition Accont Number XXXXXXX  -Paid In Full" on the memo line of the check. If they don't cash it, you tried. If they do cash it, they legally agree that the account is, in fact, paid in full.

There are always options when dealing with crooks.

 "I admit I had difficulties with my documentations, with the paper, but nothing I could not have learned. But Walden was not willing to attempt to teach me. Walden's solution was to expel me. Permanently. Walden failed to consider what I had invested into the Walden University program. Walden had received $80,000.00 from me and they owed me nothing in exchange. I found suspicious behaviors and conflicting attitudes around the "Turnitin." A number of my professors failed to understand "Turnitin." When I asked questions concerning "Turnitin" I was given different information. Finally, a different person would step in and tell me I was wrong..."

Those are the student's words and the context in which they were communicated. When you say the student "admitted" plaigiarism in your comment, you do so with your focus entirely on the student. What about Walden? Walden has no response to the issue. One would think that Walden would be concerned about sustaining a black eye to its reputation. Eighty thousand dollars may not be much money to a school with such a large enrollment, but such a debt can be catastrophic for one person. As I've stated repeatedly, Walden cares so much about the eighty thousand dollars that it would avoid the student's protests regarding what he or she sees as a ripoff. I must tell you that I'm inclined to agree with the student; Walden is currently trying to force me into "repaying" five hundred dollars which I don't owe. I'm not under any contractual obligation to Walden, but they keep harassing me for the money they will never receive from me.   

Anyone who signs any contract or agreement should, of course, be fully aware of any responsibilities before signing. I certainly agree with you on that point.

I'm not sure Walden is hiding behind anything. Like every college they have a policy on how they deal with plagiarism.  From the Student Handbook:  "The consequences of plagiarism and other forms of academic dishonesty can include nonacceptance of work submitted, a grade of "NC" (No Credit) or "F"  (Unsatisfactory) for the course in which the violation occurs, written reprimands posted to the student's file, and suspension or dismissal from the University."

As the OP has already confessed, he has problems understanding plagiarism and correct documentation. It's entirely possible this wasn't his first offense and that the school finally said, "Enough" and dismissed him.  No conversation is necessary because at the graduate level this should already be understood and mastered.

I teach undergraduates and use turnitin. The program gives very clear feedback on where the plagiarized material came from, how much was copied, and tells you where the original source can be found.

The only part of the OP's report I might agree with is that he should have been treated respectfully.

Missing in your response is Walden's preference for hiding behind policy (there's no better way to phrase it) rather than address these issues as they arise. That makes me suspicious of Walden's decision-makers. Specifically, it tells me that those who make decisions at Walden have developed a seriously wretched heuristics skill set. If their rule-of-thumb regarding such cases as the one presented above is to respond with, "sorry, but we think you committed plaigiarism, so we're kicking you out -period", then they're hurting themselves a little and potentially destroying a person's life in the process.

I question the competence of those at Walden who refuse to even consider the possibility that they are wrong here. Blindly and obediently follow policy isn't professionalism. It's irresponsible, cowardly, and possibly unjust. 

Walden has falsely claimed that I owe them over $500. I've provided full documentation to show that I owe nothing. I can't afford to pursue it legally, but I will repay them at a rate of $5.00 per month. If they accept the first $5.00 money order, then they will have legally accepted the repayment schedule. (Can't imagine how worthless $5.00 will be when I finally get done.) 

If Walden refuses payment, then legally I owe them nothing. It's their choice.  

Walden gains nothing by expelling a student without cause. Whether he graduates or not they have his money. But their accreditation and ranking is based, in part, on their graduation rate. So by expelling him without cause they are only damaging themselves.

"I had difficulties with my documentations, with the paper, but nothing I could not have learned. But Walden was not willing to attempt to teach me."

Apparently, he can't learn it based on this comment he made on another consumer website:

"Yes, I successfully completed two courses they recommended to teach me about plagiarism, but I failed to be able to incorporate what I learned into my writing. "

Therefore, I would have to assume they had good reason. As the OP states, he was accused of plagiarizing "several sections".

It isn't that hard to learn the rules because they're pretty straightforward.  Unless Mr. Terry comes back with an example, we'll never know. Based on his writing here (several grammatical errors) he is not necessarily the kind of student I would want to graduate.

Lest you think I'm being too harsh, I would like you to know that I frequently run my student papers by my daughter who teaches high school. I ask her, "Is this something a high school student would know? Am I being too picky?"  The answer is always the same: "Mom, how did this student get into college???"

It is a sad reflection on a society when their college students can't write without plagiarizing. At the very least it demonstrates a lack of critical thinking and a blatant disregard for the integrity of one's work.

The greater point here is that Walden refused to even listen to his complaints. They took his money and ran, leaving him in serious debt. The charge is plaigiarism. Evidence? Well, turnitin identified a strong similarity between something the student wrote and something which had already been written and documented.

Depending on the word count in question, Walden is hiding behind policy rather than addressing the issue. The student clearly believes Walden is wrong here. I hope the student pursues this with the Office of The Inspector General at the US Department of Education. If Walden is deemd wrong, they would have to refund the student's money. From my own experience at Walden, I have little reason to doubt this student.

I'm familiar with turnitin. It works by means of probabilities.

No it doesnt. It works by comparing a submitted paper against papers already submitted and those available on the internet. Theres no probability to it. 

There's a very real chance that the student simply erred,

Thats possible, and the only reason Walden should re-consider and give the student a chance to explain himself (e.g., forgot to insert a citation). But if he truly plagiarized hes screwed.

The OP has failed to respond with more details so I guess well never know.

I'm a former student of Walden. Walden is clearly more concerned about following its policy (reflexive subsitute for rational thought) than it is in hearing that student's concerns. I'm familiar with turnitin. It works by means of probabilities. You know that as much as I do -moreso, if you're an instructor at Walden. There's a very real chance that the student simply erred, but Walden's reflexive response was to keep the student's $80,000 and expel him.

Walden wasn't willing to discuss the issue, which makes Walden appear highly suspicious. Your response to the student is so shortsighted as to be myopic. One would think that a university instructor would be a little more objective than you are regarding that student. Apparently, you seem to prefer defending a university which, by any reasonable view, is unethical in its treatment of that student. I contend that Walden is so insecure regarding its goof-up in failing to hear the student's argument that it has unwittingly opened itself up to a lawsuit -and one which I would wholly endorse.

I use turnitin.com extensively to assess my students' work. It's a great program if you know how it works. I'm surprised that someone who already has a Master's (and, I presume, has read some academic literature) wouldn't know how to avoid plagiarism. What, specifically, were you accused of doing? Was it a case of copy-and-paste, or lack of citations?

One of the confusing things about turnitin is that your instructor probably had the assignment set to compare submissions to not just publications and the internet, but to student papers as well. What happens then is that common phrases get picked up as "plagiarized", when, in fact, they really aren't.

Can you provide more detail?

Two other questions:  you already have a master's in counseling, so why get another?  And are you aware that you put your own name in there as the organization against whom youre complaining?  Attention to detail.....

That's the bottom line. It doesn't matter how much course work you've completed. If you commit the crime of plagiarism, all reputable colleges & universities will disenroll you. You might want to see if another college will accept transfer credits so you can complete this degree if you still want it/

I do have one other question for you. I find your report a little hard to believe. You stress you Master's degree and the scope of your employment. The question is this: Did you really plan on filing a report on yourself or was this, like your final paper, just a bad piece of work???