Not Maximizing One’s Potential, Essay Example

For many individuals, it is inherently integrated into their individual minds to always look for the easy way out of things. This can mean that often times individuals may find themselves searching for easy alternatives to the most difficult problems. What this can mean at times is that when the going gets tough, individuals have a tendency to lose motivation. Such is the case with many college students, who stop attending certain classes because they may be “too difficult” or “too demanding.” The fact of the matter is that when individuals start missing these kinds of classes and stick to only the easy ones, they find themselves not being able to challenge themselves. In fact, some of these individuals ultimately end up being afraid of a simple challenge. Such is the case when students begin to buy their notes from other students. Not only is this completely ethically incorrect, but it also prevents students from using their maximum potential in order to excel in life.

The first reason as to why it is completely wrong for a student to buy someone else’s notes in a very rigorous class is because of the fact that only one side of the deal is gaining something. The person who takes in the time to make the notes being sold is ultimately the one that is learning all of the material while he or she is taking the notes. In addition, this individual might have certain note-taking methods that the buyer might not understand. Furthermore, the note-taker might hear something in class that he or she does not take down because he or she may already know that specific fact. The buyer, however, may not know these things. The buyer might not be fully aware of the kind of transcript that is used in the seller’s note-taking process. In addition, the buyer might not know all of the things that the seller knows in the course, and therefore requires more extensive notes.

For a student to pass off a class and later obtain the class notes from someone else is something that should never be done because in a college setting, competition often takes place. Despite the fact that the buyer and the seller might be the best of friends, there is nothing to prevent the seller to take down incorrect notes for the buyer so that he or she fails a certain exam. Although the likelihood of this taking place is not very high, it is certainly something that should be accounted for. Due to the fact that everyone in a specific course might be competing for the highest average, the seller might be cognizant of this in a manner that the buyer is not and therefore, the notes that are provided to the buyer might not be the best one available.

Besides the fact that the buyer might be putting his or her grades at a potential risk by counting on someone else to provide a certain course’s notes, it is also ethically wrong to use someone else’ s work for your own advantage, even if bought. In every student handbook, cheating, plagiarism, and copying are explained and prohibited. The buyer of a student’s notes would invariably be partaking in all of these three factors. The buyer would be cheating the college by not attending the course at hand and taking the easy way out. Plagiarism would be applying in this case because the buyer would be using another individual’s work for his or her own advantage, even if the work was bought with permission from the seller. Lastly, copying would be a major factor in this because of the manner through which the buyer would be incorporating the same exact material that the seller would be using. Not only that, but it goes without saying that the buyer would not be learning as much as the seller because of the fact that he or she would not be the one attending the course lectures and asking the important questions throughout the class.

Not only is it completely ethically incorrect for a student to purchase notes from another student, but it also prevents students from using their maximum potential in order to excel in life. Allowing this type of behavior within a college indicates that the academic honesty of the college is not very prestigious. For the sake of the individual and of the college, it would be best advised that students take it upon themselves to do their own work in an honest, traditional fashion as opposed to trying to ditch class and obtain notes from another student later on in the day. The latter only leads down a road of failure where only one side of the deal gains an advantage while the other has to deal with mediocrity. In order to completely avoid this altogether, all students within a certain educational institution should aim for excellence in all that they do, especially academically. Through this manner, everyone will be able to maximize their fullest potential