Remember when...

I remember when I was first asked the definition of the word “rhetoric”.  I was only a freshman in Composition 102 and I had no idea what it meant.  The best I could come up with was that it was the “fluff” that politicians used to make people vote for them. 

As I went on in that class, and eventually onto other higher level classes, I have learned what rhetoric is and what it takes to be a rhetorician.  Though I cannot use one line or even many more to describe the true meaning of rhetoric, I would say that it is the art of speaking, writing, and arguing.  Rhetoric is used in every aspect of life.  From winning an argument against your spouse/parent to backing up a point in a master’s thesis, the art of rhetoric is essential to master.

It is a beautiful thing as well.  Have you ever been taken back by a speech given by a true rhetorician?  I know that in my life there have been times when I am truly amazed by the power of one’s words.  Whether the words are used to hurt, to help, or to praise, they are most definitely powerful. 
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Common-Place Cheating

PROLOGUE:   Cheating in not accepted in an academic setting.  This holds true from kindergarten all the way through college.  In college, though, students receive much harsher punishment if they are found cheating.

CONTRARY:  Rules about cheating are present in academic communities because the act of cheating does not benefit anyone.   Students who show that they can complete their assigned work without having to take from outside sources are the ones that really succeed in school.

EXPOSITION:  However, it is those that feel the need to take the works of others and pass it off as their own work that do not succeed.  By “cheating the system”, they are really just cheating themselves.

COMPARISON:  When a student cheats on a test or paper, it is as if they are showing their professor that they have not ethics and morals, and that they do not respect authority.

INTENTION:  Most people who cheat in an academic environment do so because they feel that it will be easier than doing the work, and they believe that there is not possibility of being caught.

DIGRESSION:  A person that cheats is not learning the things required to make it through their course of study.   There future, in that sense, is not bright, because they will struggle through life trying to cheat off others rather than accomplishing anything by themselves.  No one likes a person like this.

REJECTION OF PITY:  It seems easy to try to justify the reasons that a person cheated.  Maybe the cheater lacked a sound code of ethics because of his or her upbringing, or the stress of college and just life in general FORCED them to want to do well and eventually cheat.  These reasons, and the many others that come to mind, are not reason to cheat.  Leaders in institutions cannot condone the act of cheating, because in the end, it just leads to and understanding by students that it is ok to cheat.

LEGALITY:  If praise is given to those who are honest and do good work, then, along those lines, criticism should be given to those that are not honest and turn to cheating.

JUSTICE:  It is therefore just that those who are found cheating be dealt with according to university rules and not overlooked.

ADVANTAGE:  Catching and punishing those who cheat will cause other students to realize that cheating rules should not be overlooked. 

POSSIBILITY:  New technology is making it easier to catch those who cheat.  It is the duty of each professor to punish those guilty of this.