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cmxc
Joined: 19 May 2008
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 Posted: Thu Mar 28, 2013 2:16 am Post subject: Plagiarism in Korea compared to the West? |
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I�ve been living and working in Seoul on and off since the year 2000. For 13 years I�ve been a daily reader of online English language Korean newspapers, including the Korea Times, Korea Herald, Chosun, Joongang, Yonhap, etc.
I�ve really lost count of how many times over the years I have seen a headline news story regarding some prominent Korean politician, or celebrity, etc, who turns out to have plagiarized her or his thesis.
Does anyone have any insight as to why plagiarism in Korea seems to be so common? Is plagiarism and fraud in academic credentials as wide spread in the US and or Europe?
The challenge as an educator is the hypocrisy of disciplining and punishing Korean students who try to copy or cheat on exams and school assignments, while it seems to be an almost accepted practice to lie and cheat and misrepresent one�s academic achievements and credentials, by even the people in the National Assembly and the celebrities and role-models on TV, including Kim Hye Soo!
Articles like the below piece from the Korea Times seem to blatantly suggest that as long as one is beautiful enough, it�s totally OK to lie and cheat one�s way to success:
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/opinon/2013/03/264_132894.html |
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coralreefer_1
Joined: 19 Jan 2009
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| Posted: Thu Mar 28, 2013 3:41 am Post subject: |
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Personally, I think it makes so much more news here because people seem to eager to break another down, ruin their life..find fault with them.
I cant speak for other countries, but in the US (and this is simply my opinion) people such as celebrities have 3 different kinds of followers A) Those who love them, B) Those who hate them but are rather indifferent, and C) Those who hate them and want to hurt them..but usually people somehow related in some way (competing politician, rival singer...etc)
In Korea however...there seems to be a 4th type..D) The people who hate you, and totally unrelated in terms of social circles/industry/status..and yet will spend hours defaming/digging up dirt as if it were a sport.
I wont say its more common here (plagerism) than other countries...but I feel comfortable in saying that many seem to not regard it as a big deal...and because of this, many know that if they want to hurt someone with advanced degrees, digging up their research is a good place to start. |
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le-paul
Joined: 07 Apr 2009
Location: dans la chambre
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| Posted: Thu Mar 28, 2013 6:25 pm Post subject: |
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my (trying to be as objective as possible explanation for this but probably sounding like hate crime) guess is that;
i read that in china, one of the reasons that the west overcame and conquered, was that the Chinese used the same designs of weaponry, technology etc and didnt try to branch out. when the time came, inventiveness of the west won the day (leading to the opium problems/trade defeat by france uk). china then began (for the first time in its history) to attempt to copy everything the west did with the hope of learning our secrets and eventually defeating its enemies. china- korea close = same mentality? (cultural influence)
i read in a book ' samurai invasion of korea' that while the chinese and some korean soldiers were first trying to defend the mainland, alot of korean people posed as japanese and went about pillaging and raping their neighbours.
While the book didnt state the exact numbers, it seemed to suggest a lack of community cohesiveness. with regards to your op; a feeling of being able to act deceptively with an outcome of causing actual harm to your neighbours (this was 500 years ago though, i doubt anyone had much regard for anyone but themsleves at that time...) was maybe already evident in korean society at that time.
in the journal of hammel in korea, i remember reading that they observed that koreans would often cheat each other. he wrote that if a korean cheated something from someone, it was considered something that one could be proud of.
id maybe tie that in with (my limited understanding of) Confucianism, and perhaps its roots lie in todays plagiaristic attitude of Chinese and koreans ( and when i say plagiaristic im talking about copying cars, technology and music - something the Chinese were doing along time before the koreans were noticed for it).
thats as best as i can do from what ive read about korean history. |
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sublunari
Joined: 11 Jun 2009
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| Posted: Thu Mar 28, 2013 10:13 pm Post subject: |
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| le-paul wrote: |
my (trying to be as objective as possible explanation for this but probably sounding like hate crime) guess is that;
i read that in china, one of the reasons that the west overcame and conquered, was that the Chinese used the same designs of weaponry, technology etc and didnt try to branch out. when the time came, inventiveness of the west won the day (leading to the opium problems/trade defeat by france uk). china then began (for the first time in its history) to attempt to copy everything the west did with the hope of learning our secrets and eventually defeating its enemies. china- korea close = same mentality? (cultural influence)
i read in a book ' samurai invasion of korea' that while the chinese and some korean soldiers were first trying to defend the mainland, alot of korean people posed as japanese and went about pillaging and raping their neighbours.
While the book didnt state the exact numbers, it seemed to suggest a lack of community cohesiveness. with regards to your op; a feeling of being able to act deceptively with an outcome of causing actual harm to your neighbours (this was 500 years ago though, i doubt anyone had much regard for anyone but themsleves at that time...) was maybe already evident in korean society at that time.
in the journal of hammel in korea, i remember reading that they observed that koreans would often cheat each other. he wrote that if a korean cheated something from someone, it was considered something that one could be proud of.
id maybe tie that in with (my limited understanding of) Confucianism, and perhaps its roots lie in todays plagiaristic attitude of Chinese and koreans ( and when i say plagiaristic im talking about copying cars, technology and music - something the Chinese were doing along time before the koreans were noticed for it).
thats as best as i can do from what ive read about korean history. |
This was cool. I read another theory somewhere about the Confucian exams swallowing up most of the brightest people in the Far East. Rather than trying out new ideas to get rich, Chinese and Korean luminaries spent all of their energy preparing for the gwageo exams, which would guarantee their family's wealth for as long as they lived. Correct me if I'm wrong, but these exams weren't really very popular when China was pumping out the world's first paper, gunpowder, compasses, and other amazing inventions.
But there are other reasons. The idea of the individual has only been around in western culture for a few centuries, starting maybe with Petrarch...? In Korea I'm not sure it's really caught on yet. |
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javis
Joined: 28 Feb 2013
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| Posted: Thu Mar 28, 2013 11:10 pm Post subject: |
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IMO it has more to do with degree inflation and an overemphasis on having the right specs. When everybody is getting advanced degrees simply to check off a box and build their resume, it sets up an adverse incentive to cheat one's way through.
I saw this myself on a smaller scale during my brief foray into the ESL business when I came to Korea as a student. A friend introduced me to a gig editing essays at an agency that puts together packages for Korean students to study abroad. The work that I actually found there was different from what was described in that I was given some garbage, half written essays cobbled together that didn't even apply to the long list of essay topics that if needed to produce. I complained about this and was told to write the essays from scratch if there wasn't anything applicable to edit. This tipped off my spidey senses, so I quit and left the entitled little shit to pay someone else to get him into college.
Last edited by javis on Fri Mar 29, 2013 1:45 am; edited 1 time in total |
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jvalmer
Joined: 06 Jun 2003
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| Posted: Thu Mar 28, 2013 11:38 pm Post subject: |
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| le-paul wrote: |
my (trying to be as objective as possible explanation for this but probably sounding like hate crime) guess is that;
i read that in china, one of the reasons that the west overcame and conquered, was that the Chinese used the same designs of weaponry, technology etc and didnt try to branch out. when the time came, inventiveness of the west won the day (leading to the opium problems/trade defeat by france uk). china then began (for the first time in its history) to attempt to copy everything the west did with the hope of learning our secrets and eventually defeating its enemies. china- korea close = same mentality? (cultural influence)
i read in a book ' samurai invasion of korea' that while the chinese and some korean soldiers were first trying to defend the mainland, alot of korean people posed as japanese and went about pillaging and raping their neighbours.
While the book didnt state the exact numbers, it seemed to suggest a lack of community cohesiveness. with regards to your op; a feeling of being able to act deceptively with an outcome of causing actual harm to your neighbours (this was 500 years ago though, i doubt anyone had much regard for anyone but themsleves at that time...) was maybe already evident in korean society at that time.
in the journal of hammel in korea, i remember reading that they observed that koreans would often cheat each other. he wrote that if a korean cheated something from someone, it was considered something that one could be proud of.
id maybe tie that in with (my limited understanding of) Confucianism, and perhaps its roots lie in todays plagiaristic attitude of Chinese and koreans ( and when i say plagiaristic im talking about copying cars, technology and music - something the Chinese were doing along time before the koreans were noticed for it).
thats as best as i can do from what ive read about korean history. |
I don't think it's just an Asian thing. We just noticed it more because most of Asia was, and still is poor. Poor as in, most of the population isnt' living that differently from 200 years ago. With the exception of limited electricity and maybe cold running water.
Honestly if you were dirt poor, and had to put food on the table, you'd cheat others if you can. Most of Europe was a cesspool of filth and gunk until maybe 100 years ago, and even then most of us probably would dread living in those conditions.
Remember, at least half the Korean population grew up in a dirt poor Korea. |
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le-paul
Joined: 07 Apr 2009
Location: dans la chambre
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| Posted: Fri Mar 29, 2013 1:39 am Post subject: |
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maybe youre right.
cheating (or cunning is probably more fitting) is still however prevalent today. i cant count how many times ive been ripped off here just for a few pennies or had a sticker stolen or something like that. on the other hand, ive left my bike keys in the ignition twenty times and no ones taken it.
ive come to have the impression that if people think they've got the better of me somehow, they think theyve achieved something.
the exact opposite of uk. the more difficult the challenge - the better the esteem that would come with it.
most of the (theft for example) crime ive observed here has been petty and hardly seemed worth it ( im not talking about high level crime like corruption). id wager that if you left your vegetable store out all night it wouldnt get touched. but if you padlocked it, someone would try to screw the lock.
its weird and i cant fathom it. thats why i referred to those texts.
anyway, with ref. to the op, i was mostly trying to ascertain why copying is so common in asia ( specifically china and korea) eg sheep and apples. |
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atwood
Joined: 26 Dec 2009
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| Posted: Fri Mar 29, 2013 5:58 pm Post subject: |
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| jvalmer wrote: |
| le-paul wrote: |
my (trying to be as objective as possible explanation for this but probably sounding like hate crime) guess is that;
i read that in china, one of the reasons that the west overcame and conquered, was that the Chinese used the same designs of weaponry, technology etc and didnt try to branch out. when the time came, inventiveness of the west won the day (leading to the opium problems/trade defeat by france uk). china then began (for the first time in its history) to attempt to copy everything the west did with the hope of learning our secrets and eventually defeating its enemies. china- korea close = same mentality? (cultural influence)
i read in a book ' samurai invasion of korea' that while the chinese and some korean soldiers were first trying to defend the mainland, alot of korean people posed as japanese and went about pillaging and raping their neighbours.
While the book didnt state the exact numbers, it seemed to suggest a lack of community cohesiveness. with regards to your op; a feeling of being able to act deceptively with an outcome of causing actual harm to your neighbours (this was 500 years ago though, i doubt anyone had much regard for anyone but themsleves at that time...) was maybe already evident in korean society at that time.
in the journal of hammel in korea, i remember reading that they observed that koreans would often cheat each other. he wrote that if a korean cheated something from someone, it was considered something that one could be proud of.
id maybe tie that in with (my limited understanding of) Confucianism, and perhaps its roots lie in todays plagiaristic attitude of Chinese and koreans ( and when i say plagiaristic im talking about copying cars, technology and music - something the Chinese were doing along time before the koreans were noticed for it).
thats as best as i can do from what ive read about korean history. |
I don't think it's just an Asian thing. We just noticed it more because most of Asia was, and still is poor. Poor as in, most of the population isnt' living that differently from 200 years ago. With the exception of limited electricity and maybe cold running water.
Honestly if you were dirt poor, and had to put food on the table, you'd cheat others if you can. Most of Europe was a cesspool of filth and gunk until maybe 100 years ago, and even then most of us probably would dread living in those conditions.
Remember, at least half the Korean population grew up in a dirt poor Korea. |
Poverty typically leads to higher crime rates, but to use it as an excuse for the type of endemic behavior in the post you quoted is taking it too far.
Koreans don't consider it cheating unless they get caught; until then, it's cunning and is admired by many. That's quite a different mindset than stealing because you're starving.
Besides, the concept of cheating is different in a society that worships its ancestors and where learning is based in rote memorization. Confucian education is all about copying. |
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