他为什么被美国的学校开除

前几天一个家长来咨询，他的孩子刚刚被美国的中学开除了，原因是剽窃。家长给我看了学校关于这个学生的官方文件，上面清晰写明，因为学生在完成一项英文作业的时候有剽窃行为，违反了学校Honor Code，之后在被警告过之后，学生又三次犯了同样的错误，因为学校决定开除学生。

Plagiarism，维基百科的解释是：抄袭，亦称作学术剽窃、剽窃学术研究成果、违反学术诚信，是对于原著未经或基本未经修改的抄录，这是一种侵犯著作权的行为。

不同学校对于保持学术诚信有不同的要求。简单一点的，会要求学生在提交习作时，要附有至少5个或10个参考书目。亦有学校会要求学生在递交功课时连同一份有法律效力的声明一同递交。严格一点的，会禁止学生把同一份功课同时交给超过一个科目。而对于违反学术诚信的学生，轻则会发警告信，重则会开除学籍。而对于违反学术诚信的教员，则会被撤职。

比如，哈佛大学对剽窃和合作的定义如下：

Preparation of Papers and Other Work: Plagiarism and Collaboration

All homework assignments, projects, lab reports, papers and examinations submitted to a course are expected to be the student's own work. Students should always take great care to distinguish their own ideas and knowledge from information derived from sources. The term "sources" includes not only published primary and secondary material, but also information and opinions gained directly from other people.

The responsibility for learning the proper forms of citation lies with the individual student. Quotations must be placed properly within quotation marks and must be cited fully. In addition, all paraphrased material must be acknowledged completely. Whenever ideas or facts are derived from a student's reading and research or from a student's own writings, the sources must be indicated.

Students are expected to be familiar with the booklet entitled Writing with Sources and Computer Rules and Responsibilities, available in the office of their Allston Burr Senior Tutor or Assistant Dean of Freshmen. Students who are in any doubt about the preparation of academic work should consult their instructor and Allston Burr Senior Tutor or Assistant Dean of Freshmen before the work is prepared or submitted.

Students who, for whatever reason, submit work either not their own or without clear attribution to its sources will be subject to disciplinary action, and ordinarily required to withdraw from the College.

学校要求，所有的家庭作业，实验室报告，论文等都要求是学生独立完成。不管什么原因，如果学生递交的作业不是完全独立完成的，或没有明确注明来源，都会被视为违规行为，通常会被要求退学。

由于在国内，大多数同学没有明确的版权和引用的概念，出国后往往会面临类似的问题。上述说的这个学生就是因为不了解情况，并且没有意识到这样的问题在美国属于道德范畴的问题，轻视了老师的警告，才导致被退学。