APA Newsletters
Fall 1999
Volume 99, Number 1

Letter to the Editors

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Dear Editors:

Peter Simpson's article on preventing plagiarism by having philosophy students write essays in class includes a claim that needs critical attention. This is his claim that "[t]he exercise in [the case of disabled students ] might ... turn out to be completely different. But let that be. The difficulties students with disabilities face are such that their very struggle to learn and get a degree at all requires the development of skills and qualities of character of a very high order. That is enough for me" (vol. 98, no. 2, Spring 1999, 167).

This sentimental and patronizing claim overlooks the individuality of disabled students. There is more than one way to respond to difficulties. Difficulties in getting an education may build character and skills but they may also promote cheating, malingering, procrastination, settling for poor performance, etc. I have had disabled students in my classes. Some have fine characters and skills and some do not-just like nondisabled students. If a professor uses plagiarism-prevention procedures with nondisabled students, he should use equally stringent plagiarism-prevention procedures with disabled students, even if the disabled students submit their work in a different form (oral rather than written, for example). Disabled students need practical accommodations. They do not need the sentimentality that stereotypes them as secular saints and denies their individuality.

Yours truly,

Felicia Ackerman
Professor of Philosophy
Brown University