[scalt]

The internet is in no way ruining academics, nor is it ruining students. For those of you out there slamming all the lazy students, we aren't all bad. I WAS a horribly lazy student, I would have spent a grand total of 20 hours in class (bar compulsory labs/tuts) in my entire first year, and I wasn't much better in the beginning of my second. I was guilty of the copy/paste crime in second year because I didn't understand the fundamentals and didn't go to class. Because of this (the not understanding, not the copy/paste) I almost flunked 2 papers (read: restricted pass) and did horribly on the rest (my GPA for that year was actually slightly BELOW a C). However, I somehow managed to land a job coding that summer, found DIC (although you may not know it, half of you guys contributed to my crash course in VB.NET ) and caught the coding bug. Two years later I get an A average for my final year of a 4 year BE, topping the class in a couple of programming papers.

While copy/paste shouldn't be promoted, my point is that not all 'lazy' students are going to be failures. My parents tried the whole 'study hard' approach through high school and it didn't really work for me because
a) - Nothing interested me
- I figured out I was smart enough to cruise through

Based on my experience, I would have to say that study isn't everything. I have a couple of classmates who studied very hard through the first 2-3 years and knew all the concepts but still struggled during the last 1-2 years because all they knew was study and they found it hard to think on their feet and apply what they had learned. To actually succeed at coding (this is an opinion, I haven't acutally succeeded - yet ) I think you have to have a passion for it, and actually like what you are doing. In the end, all the copy/pasters either find their passion and actually start working, fail miserably a couple of years in, or somehow graduate then fail miserably at work. Either way, those who weren't 'born to code' are still weeded out. It may happen further along the line now, but at least that gives people like me time to actually find the passion and run with it.

For those of you read this and see it as a cop-out - with that mindset you WILL fail (I should know).

For those of you who read this and see me as arrogant/an idiot - you're entitled to your own opinion. I, however, am completely comfortable with how this turned out. I may have screwed around for a while but eventually I figured out how to work and 'pulled finger' as some may say. I would now definitely call myself a coder.

[JamesConley]

My Opinion is that the internet helps academics. A prime example is this site, I have learned a great deal about a lot of different things, not just programming. Which is a wonderful thing in my eyes.

The Internet can help someone exponentially or it can ruins someones life. It is what we/the person make of it and how we use it. Whether for Entertainment, Personal, Profit, or Educational we are all responsible for ourselves. (Children excluded)

I can admit I have the Internet to thank for me even going to college. It opened up my eyes to new people and a world of new options.

With that said:

Thanks Everyone! and Thanks DIC!!!

[EkosDeux]

I feel sometimes it does, but good teachers assign original programs. This stops this quick copy and paste trend, and the only way a student can understand what is happening is by actually understanding the fundamentals.

[cmh0114]

I am of the opinion that everything depends on the student. If he/she is academic, the Internet is a resource for information, to study. If he/she is a cheater, the Internet is a resource for answers, to exploit.
But in some cases, I believe that what most people term as 'cheating' is okay. Personally, I have a hard time when someone explains a concept to me - I need to see an example. Often, when I google something for my program, I'll find a site that explains the concept and gives examples. When I understand (most of) the concept, the code that they give for an example works, with some variable names adjusted, so I just copy and paste. As long as I understand the concept and know that I could do the same thing if I needed to, I'm fine with it. As long as a student understands what's happening and could reach the same result, it's okay. That's how most programs today are created. People collaborate and build upon what other people have done in order to do what they need done.


And when people do cheat, I just console myself with the fact that they will
A.) fail the tests and finals, and
B.) will probably never get a job in that field.

[Mused]

I don't think that internet is ruining academics. However, it does make plagiarism and/or academic dishonesty much easier, which can be seen by something as simple as replacing tedious research with reading a Wikipedia page and (not so intelligently) throwing in a few fake citations. Although, if the internet was not there, there would still be those students tat would cheat/plagiarize/etc. So really, it is the student that ruins academics not the internet.

[AlbuquerqueApache]

Well it depends entirely on the student. There are students who are genuinely interested in learning concepts especially in how they relate to the IT/CS/IS world. There are also people who jump into the IT field simply because they think its a quick buck and hey, look at what that IT guy does, he just mashes a keyboard all-day and that's it! what could be easier?!

I've seen a lot of 50 year old johnny-come-latelies to IT simply because of the money aspect and they think they can climb the chain quickly because they are "experienced" and after all, its an industry ran by "kids" Right?! How easy could it be to usurp it from them?

*shakes my head*