Letter Re Coyping

T.T.J.TAYLOR P.O.Box 80551 Windhoek 2nd September 2004 The Director, Justice Training Center University of Namibia Windhoek Re

Copying and Plagiarism.

Dear Sir, With reference to your letter dated 3rd October 2003 with regard to the above matter, I wish to point out that giving the guilty parties another opportunity to do an assignment in fact gives them an unfair advantage over the other students who are honest. These dishonest candidates have extra time to study and as the additional assignment will normally be given after they have had the benefit of attending lectures they can and will do better in the second assignment. This was shown in the papers that I have recently marked. Marks are considerably higher than in the first assignment I am not aware how these new marks will affect the candidates continuous assessment but in my opinion it would be grossly unfair to the honest candidates if the dishonest students are able to gain benefit from their dishonesty. I am in favour of awarding zero marks to students who copy or allow other students to copy their work. I feel that this matter should be reconsidered and would suggest that a discussion with the examiners may be advisable to obtain the views of all concerned. Yours Faithfully ……………………….. T.T.J.TAYLOR